Luke 7:36-8:3
One of the Pharisees asked Jesusj to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” 41 “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii,k and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesusl said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48 Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2 as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for thema out of their resources.
This week, I came across these fathers’ day stories:
One Sunday in a church a young child was "acting up" during the morning worship hour. The parents did their best to maintain some sense of order in the pew but were losing the battle. Finally the father picked the little fellow up and walked sternly up the aisle on his way out. Just before reaching the safety of the foyer the little one called loudly to the congregation, "Pray for me! Pray for me!"
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A daddy was listening to his child say his prayer "Dear Harold". At this, dad interrupted and said, "Wait a minute -how come you called God ’Harold’"?
The little boy looked up and said, "That’s what they call Him in church.
You know the prayer we say, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be Thy Name."
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A four-year-old who has not yet possessed the vocabulary of “trespasses” tried to pray the Lord’s Prayer: "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."
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Today is father’s day, but our Gospel lesson according to the Common Lectionary focuses mostly on women. It talks about a woman that came to Jesus and anointed his feet, and about “some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.”
I guess this morning God wants us men learn from the women. Let’s see what we can learn from this scripture lesson that can benefit the fathers as well as all of us. The story describes a summery what is require to beginning the journey of faith in Christ and live a significant life.
To begin the journey to a significant life I must…
1 – Face My Hypocrisy
There is an Indian story of a monk and a prostitute who live across the street from each other. Their homes are also situated in a way that they could see each other through their windows from across the street. Everyday, as he meditates, the monk inevitably sees men going in and out of the home across the street, and he says, “God this woman is such a sinner. She should be burned in hell when she dies!”
On the other hand, as she entertains her guests, the woman looks across the street and sees the meditating monk, and she prays silently, “Praise God for that holy man across the street. May God bless him! I wish I could be like him.”
One day, both of them die and met at the heaven’s gate. To the surprise of the monk, the woman is allowed to enter the gate and he is locked out. So he asks the gatekeeper why. “It was because, for years, when you looked across the street, you curse that woman, but, for the same length of time, as she looked across the street, he blessed you,” replies the gate keeper.
This is an extreme fable that was meant to stimulate thoughts. It is not justify sinful actions but to remind us of the unobvious or invisible sin of hypocrisy. But, there was a true story in today’s scripture lesson. The Bible says, Jesus was invited by a Pharisee named Simon and as he reclined at the dining table according to custom, this woman came and stood behind him near his feet. The poor people were allowed to come near those dinner parties—some came to see the rich and famous, some came to receive the leftovers. In those days they use short tables they usually reclined at the table. When they reclined they laid their feet aside. That’s why the Bible says that woman was standing behind Jesus feet.
The woman, according to the story, was a sinner. She heard that Jesus was coming to that place, so she came with a jar of ointment planning to come and anoint Jesus feet. When she arrived at Jesus feet she couldn’t hold her tears and they poured down on Jesus feet as if she was washing Jesus feet with tears. She bent down and wiped his feet gently with her hair. (This might sound unusual for some of us today, but back in Burma, I have seen the Buddhist women laid their long hair on the street for the monks to walk over, especially when some famous and highly honored monks come to town.) Then this woman opened the jar and anointed Jesus feet with the perfume.
Now Simon looked at that scene and criticized in his mind that if Jesus were to know what kind of woman she was, he wouldn’t have allowed this woman to touch him. He actually made two judgments, first he showed his contempt on the woman, and then he judge Jesus from not having a prophetic quality of seeing through things, or being able to interpret the signs.
Don’t we sometimes to that? We look down on those who we think are less righteous, and we judge God for favoring the contemptible.
However, being God in flesh, Jesus in fact has more prophetic quality than Simon thought. He saw right through Simon’s eyes and heart, and decided to teach him a lesson. Verse 40,
Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
A denarii is a day’s wage for a laborer. When Jesus asked him the question, Simon seems to have woken up and replied reluctantly using “I suppose…” The point here is some of us have messed up more in life than others, like this woman, maybe. And some of us messed up less than others, like Simon, maybe, but we all have messed up. We all are spiritually bankrupt and like the two men in the story none of them were able to pay their debt back no matter how much or how little. We are bankrupt!
Donald Tramp often told people about his situation in the late eighties during the depression. He was so deep in debt that he was about to declare bankruptcy. One day he came down the Trump Tour with his daughter, Ivanka. As they walked out their building, they saw a homeless man sleeping in front of the building. Pointing to that man, Trump told his daughter that this man was several million dollars richer than him. The young Ivanka didn’t know what her father was talking about. But, the truth was that that homeless man doesn’t have any debt, but Trump has several million dollars worth of debt.
Sometimes, the rich could be poorer. Maybe, Jesus was saying that Simon might owe more to God than that sinful woman. He just didn’t recognize it or too proud to admit it.
To use Robert Quinn’s term—everyone on earth is a hypocrite. Quinn is a professor of a business school and his books use secular terms. He said that leadership is a state of mind rather than a skill. We cannot enter what he calls “the fundamental state of leadership” unless we face our hypocrisy. In fact, we cannot accomplish anything that is of eternal value out of hypocrisy. Our life is never effective with our hypocrisy. According to the Bible, no one that does not face his or her hypocrisy could follow Christ. The Beatitudes starts with “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” They are those who recognize their own hypocrisy. When we face our hypocrisy, we feel poor in spirit. Somewhat like Donald Trump, he owns the tour, but he feels poorer than the homeless sleeping in front of his tour. That’s the feeling of a person who acknowledges his or her hypocrisy—poverty in spirit.
2 - Grow in Authenticity
The opposite of hypocrisy is authenticity. Jesus can read our hearts. In fact, if we are sensitive, some of us can be trained to read people’s mind, but of course, not like the way Jesus can because he is God. In fact, the majority of people are consciously or unconsciously sensitive to other people’s hypocrisy. I have heard that there are 12% of people who could be easily taken in by a cult because they don’t have the sensitivity to hypocrisy, as most cult leaders are obvious hypocrites. That means 88% of the population in the world would refuse to follow a cult. They would look at the cult leaders’ eyes and, at minimum, have a gut feeling of something is wrong, or at maximum, be able to tell right away that that person is a fake.
In fact, we have that kind of sense toward ourselves and our own hypocrisy. The problem is, when it comes to our own hypocrisy, we tend to ignore it, deny it, or justify it. When we do that, we lose the spiritual power, and nothing we do can be effective.
In a public setting like that of this story, who do you think is more authentic, the woman who couldn’t hold her tears in front of people, or Simon who invited a famous prophet into his house (maybe to impress people) but didn’t want to fulfill the custom of hospitality? Verse 44,
Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
In other words, the one whom nothing is forgiven, love none. Love is like the light from God. If we receive more we reflect more. It doesn’t mean that we have to commit deeper sins in order to we receive more forgiveness, so that we can love more. We just need to face our hypocrisy and grow in authenticity, and then we will find out how deep our sins are. Simon might discover that his spiritual sins are more serious than that woman’s physical sins.
We are in the beginning of another round of presidential election. You will see that some candidates couldn’t survive the process simply because of their lack of authenticity.
If you want to be effective in your life, be authentic. If you find yourself behaving like a closet Christian, you need to ask yourself a question of authenticity. The second Beatitude talks about mourning. You cannot mourn for your sins, as long have you have even a little grip of hypocrisy. Authenticity allows you to be yourself.
Many years ago, I went with my home church in San Francisco to Lake Tahoe for our annual retreat. One evening at our prayer meeting, several people were weeping as they prayed. The young people asked me later why they were crying. I said that they are just being authentic. Sometimes, when we pray and we try to control ourselves not to let go of our emotions. We try to pretend that we are not emotional because we are ashamed of being seen emotional, and we ended up not being authentic. Of course, you can pretend to cry, and that is not authentic either. The point is we must not lie to ourselves. We can lie to others and other might not say anything, or might not even notice it, but when we lie to ourselves it eats us up from the inside. Just like how King David felt when he tried to lied to himself as we read in today’s Psalm 32,
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
To be a follower of Jesus Christ, to live a significant life, we must first face our hypocrisy and grow in authenticity.
3 – Practice Generosity
Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. (Luke 8:1-3)
This is one of the few places where the entire group of followers of Jesus Christ was mentioned. It mentioned not only the twelve disciples, but also the women. Some of them seemed poor, some were rich, and others were from the royal families, or meridian households.
The generosity of a person who is liberated from sin is display in the anointing of Jesus feet by the woman with a jar of perfume. She washed Jesus feet with her tears. It could be the tear of a mixture of brokenness for her sin and joy for her forgiveness because she have obviously heard Jesus message of forgiveness before and that was why when she heard that Jesus was coming to this house, she came to see him with a jar of perfume to honor him.
In another incident that is similar to this story, Judah was judging the woman for being wasteful. He thought she should have sold the expensive perfume and gave it to the poor. Judah was obviously the least of those who understand the forgiveness of God and therefore the least of those who understand the love for God that came out of this experience. It is our liberated and worshipful heart that makes us generous. Our generosity represents our gratefulness. The psychologists often say, the healthiest emotion is the attitude of gratitude. When we are generous, we are often being grateful, as we are grateful, we live a healthier and happier life. Whenever I sat down and write a check to a charity, I cannot help but count my blessings and feel grateful for what I have been given. When I am angry or resentful, I can’t be generous.
So let us follow Christ by facing our hypocrisy, growing in authenticity, and practice generosity. At the core of these steps is authenticity. It provides the power to live an effective life. May God bless you all!
