Pastor Wesley Howell – June 10, 2007
“Jesus at the home of a Pharisee”
Jesus is a guest dinner at the home of a Pharisee. The Pharisees receive a "bad press" in the Gospels. Luke presents the Pharisee as, to use Mark Twain's phrase, "a good man in the very worst sense of the word." In other words, Jesus is at the home of a very good, very religious person.
All goes according to plan, nothing unusual but the SHOCK! A weeping, penitent woman enters, wets Jesus' feet with tears, wipes his feet with her hair, and then kisses and anoints them, it is more than the Pharisees are able to take. "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." In other words, "If this man were really religious…After all, what is religion for if not to enable one to discern between the good and the bad, the righteous and the unrighteous?”
Luke goes to great lengths to show the scandalousness of Jesus' defiling contact with this sinner. Luke paints her actions toward Jesus in the most sensual colors. And Jesus has allowed this woman to touch him. The Greek word for "touch" here is haupto, which can mean, and may mean here, "to caress, to light a fire, to fondle." Obviously, a kind of scandalous eroticism permeates this encounter, which adds to the general scandalousness of the episode. Is this any way for a real prophet to be behaving?
There are sinners who know they are sick and need a physician and there are sinners who do not know they are sick, but they are both sinners. And Jesus eats with them.
The Pharisees' charge that Jesus is a glutton and winebibber. Winebibber…don’t you love that word…which means nothing now days…now we’d say, “lush”. Here’s Jesus, one who makes friends and eats and drinks with sinners, He won’t deny it. He’s come to free us from all bondage, even the bondage of our narrow religion.
He’s come to destroy all the barriers that we erect between "sinners" and "righteous." Who are the sinners at the table? They all are.
Yellow Pages are an interesting way to take a poll of what’s important in ALL churches. Here every denominational and political divisions vanish. Churches across the spectrum compete to display their capacity for caring. Come let us love you! Where Jesus is Lord and everybody is special! We care about you!
I’d love to see a big half page ad. SINNERS WELCOME. Nope?...Just not going to fly.
Try telling a person who's been brought into the modern church that he's or she’s a sinner. A hundred years ago, a preacher would have seen heads nod in recognition at that familiar concept.
But today's we’re consumers and we’d be shocked and mad. How dare you call me a sinner? I’m not a sinner. All I knows is that I’m unhappy because I don’t have my fair share of stuff and I’m not appreciated enough by those around me.
Think about it. The number one purpose …our driving force…not to stand for justice, stand up against evil, not really to confront the brokenness of people’s live…but to be nice.
Nice people don’t call other people sinners. It’s just not…nice.
Well you (Grace) are friendly. Visitors all say it. So…great! But you are also sinners. Each one of you. You can’t heal until you name the problem. Illusion and delusion just make it worse.
In the 4th century two big names argued about the state of humanity. Augustine had beautiful insights, his love for God was amazing. When it came to humanity he thought we were the pits. Totally depraved. Sinful from birth…in fact sinful even before we were born.
On the other side a British monk named Pelagius. He didn’t deny we were sinners, but he said, Sin is more like a habit. You slide into it. Think about it. The first time you do something it’s tough. Even learning to golf or play tennis. The first swings are a nightmare and you’re sore for a week. But it’s all about habit. Practice until you swing without even thinking about it. Sin is like that. First time it drives you wild with guilt, second time not so bad...after a while, you don’t even have a second thought.
Where would you be seated at that table? I’d guess that some of us here today are like that Pharisee - good at being good, religious, and upright. Others of us identify with the woman, that publicly "sinful" woman.
For some of us, our sin is in our lifestyle,
For others of us our sin is in our condemnation of others' lifestyles. Some of us sin in our sinfulness; others of us sin in our righteousness.
But let’s start with honesty. Here’s a place where we all start out in the same place. Made in the image of God…Yes. Broken and sinners…yes. No fooling around. No games. And now that it’s in the open. Want to do something about it? He’ll be there…
