|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| 2 Samuel 11:26–12:10, 13–15
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Psalm 32 |
Galatians 2:15–21
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Luke 7:36–8:3
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Chad Myers, a contemporary author and social activist, has observed that in the Gospels, people we would consider teetering on the edges, those gravely ill and even regarded as dysfunctional, are rarely portrayed as victims, but instead are seen as those who take initiative. They are the ones who become signs of God's presence at work among us all. The Gospel of Luke especially seems to be full of examples of people who in various ways took such revealing initiative. There is Mary who responds to the invitation of the divine messenger Gabriel and then runs to tell her cousin Elizabeth, singing her the song we know as the Magnificat. There is the leper who had nerve to approach Jesus for healing, the friends of the paralytic who could not get through the crowd to go inside the house where Jesus was, so they went up to the roof and cut a hole and lowered the man down. There is the instance of a Roman centurion who implored Jesus to heal his servant, Jarius the synagogue official who asked Jesus to heal his young daughter, and the woman with the hemorrhage who ventured to touch Jesus’ cloak. The good Samaritan, considered a social and religious outcast, is the one who shows the rest of us, across many centuries, what it means to obey one of the great commandments.
The story of the woman with the alabaster jar of ointment is one of these examples, too. She was obviously in distress, but felt safe in Jesus’ presence. In some way, Jesus had treated her with love, not contempt and condemnation. The woman felt worthy and confident to give Jesus a gift in the public presence of those who had condemned her. If you knew what kind of woman she was, the host would scoff, you would not allow her in your presence. Jesus did know what kind of woman she was, she was a child of God, she was not hopeless trash, but carried within her a great treasure.
Now it's easy for us to make caricatures of many of the characters in the Gospels, and that usually is a mistake and blunts the impact of the Gospel. Those who distained the poor woman, were not necessarily bad people. You can’t blame Simon the host for being miffed that this woman came uninvited to this party and made a scene. I don’t think Jesus was too insulted because a servant didn’t immediately offer to wash his feet. Perhaps the servant had gone to tell his superior about the woman who had barged in and to ask what he was supposed to do. Rather Jesus saw in this encounter an opportunity to show how God’s forgiveness really worked. God’s forgiveness was not about saying the right things in a confessional stall, or making sure the proper penalties for misbehavior were first carried out and satisfied. Forgiveness was not about a calculated procedure performed the proscribed way. It cannot be contained or defined by whatever limitations we might put on it. That is why later, when Peter would ask if seven times were enough to forgive someone for the same offense, Jesus said, “No, try seventy times seven.” Of course Jesus didn’t mean exactly 490 times and no more. Rather Jesus taught us to take the initiatives offered to us and make the choices that promote forgiveness and healing. Commit yourself to a life that leads to helpful and caring relationships with your neighbors. That is what the commandment to love one's neighbor is all about.
People of Israel believed that the commandments and laws of God were the way to a good and abundant life for everyone. Rather than a burden, the law was a divine gift meant to promote prosperity, peace and happiness. That is why at Pentecost, Israel celebrated the giving of the Law through Moses and it was a holiday of thanksgiving. Choosing to follow God's commandments was always seen as taking the side of life. The book of Deuteronomy was an honest attempt to help people of its time to understand what God was about. It covered laws we would call public health and food safety procedures; regulations designed to prevent cruelty to animals; contracts; civil disputes and criminal proceedings. Yet, in rich rabbinical tradition, if an interpretation of a certain passage was found to be oriented towards the side of alienation, oppression or death, then it was the interpretation that needed to be revised or discarded. God always sided with those who took the initiative on the side of reconciliation and life. That’s what Jesus was about.
Jesus was well aware that life could be dangerous. He knew well that there are thieves and wolves disguised as sheep. Nonetheless, we don't have to be heroes to take initiative and show the light rays of good news. Opportunities do not need to be sought from beyond the sea, nor brought down from the sky in super feats of courage and moral strength. Faith is often simple commitment to life in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity. Jesus says go and do; choose to be on the side of life. People of faith are people of faith.
Most of the examples of Luke are not of extraordinary accomplishment or require extraordinary virtue. What the woman did was, in some sense, not a big deal in that it did not require resources beyond oneself. For Jesus to acknowledge the woman wasn’t a big deal in that it took him way out of his way or delayed his itinerary for the evening. It was a big deal for her, of course, because Jesus was genuine.
That is how so much of life is like. It is a choice made for kindheartedness, a choice for companionship, and an initiative taken to share our humanity with each other.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
