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.”
Some Women Accompany Jesus
8 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 Midwest city 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!"
***
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."
***
And this particular four-year-old prayed: "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 women that came to Jesus and cried at his feet, and later in Chapter 8, mentions “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 today, 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. I see the story describes a summery of beginning the journey with 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 went in and out of the home across the street, and he said, “God this woman is such a sinner. May she be burn in hell when she die!”
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 go to 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.”
This is an extreme fable that was meant to stimulate thoughts. But, there was a real situation 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. In those days they use short tables so when you recline you lay your feet aside. 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.
The woman, according to the story was a sinner. She knew that Jesus was coming to that place, so she came with a jar of ointment planning to anoint Jesus feet. When she arrived at Jesus feet she couldn’t hold her tears and they dropped on Jesus feet. She bent down and wiped his feet gently with her hair. Then she broke the jar and anointed Jesus feet.
Now Simon looked at that scene and criticized in his head that if Jesus were to know what kind of woman she was, he wouldn’t have allowed 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 him 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. And some of us messed up less than others, like Simon, but we all 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!
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 without hypocrisy. According to the Bible, no one that does not face his or her hypocrisy could follow Christ. The Beatitudes starts with the poor in spirit. They are those who recognize their own hypocrisy.
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 did 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. That means 88% of the population 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 in this story, who do you think is more authentic, the woman who couldn’t hold her tears for her own sins, or Simon who invited a famous prophet into his house but didn’t want to fulfill the custom to wash his feet? 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 our authenticity, and then we will find out how deep our sins are.
We are in the beginning of another round of presidential election. Some candidates couldn’t stand 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 as long have you have even a little grip of hypocrisy. Authenticity allows you to be yourself.
Years ago, I went with my home church in San Francisco to Lake Taho for our annual retreat. One evening at our prayer meeting, several people were weeping as they pray. The young people asked me why there were crying. I said, they are just being authentic. Sometimes, we pray and we try to control ourselves not to let go of our emotions, we try to pretend that we are not emotional, we are ashamed of being seen emotion and we ended up not authentic. Of course, you can pretend to cry, and that is not authentic either.
To be a follower of Jesus Christ, we must first face our hypocrisy, and then grow in authenticity.
3 – Increase in 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 seem poor, some are rich, and others are from the royal family, or meridian household.
The generosity of a person who is liberated from sin is show in the anointing of Jesus feet with a jar of perfume. She washed Jesus feet with her tears. It’s a mixture of brokenness for her sin and joy for her being forgiven because she have obviously heard Jesus message of forgiveness before and that was why 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 this woman for being wasteful. He thought she should have sold the 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. It is our liberated and worshipful heart to make 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.
So let us follow Christ by facing our hypocrisy, growing in authenticity, and increasing in generosity. At the core of these steps is authenticity. It provides the power to live an effective life. May God bless you all!
