Forgiven

The Rev. Laurie Vischer

June 13, 2010                           
Luke 7:36-50                        



Repeat after me: Forgiven! Forgiven!  Forgiven!

    Her sins which were many have been forgiven. . .
    On the one hand, we have Simon, a religious leader.  Though we’re tempted to cast him in a negative light, really, what we know is that he was in the group of religious leaders very concerned about doing what is right.  He was deliberate in organizing his life in such a way that he would be clean, blameless and upright before God.  And he is open to Jesus.  He calls Jesus “teacher” and invites him to his home.  So, there is an openness in him, to learn about Jesus it seems. 
    And on the other hand, there is the  woman who crosses the boundaries of propriety and enters a roomful of men, uninvited.  We don’t really know the nature of her sinfulness.  But at the very least, her behavior is inappropriate for the occasion.  Keep in mind, the men were reclining at the table, so Jesus feet were accessible.  The woman enters the room, saying  nothing.  Her warm, salty tears bathe Jesus’ feet.  Her long thick, hair, unbound, wipes away the durst and salt. She kisses and anoints his feet. As she annoints with oil, the fragrance fills the warm room.   Is there a more earthy scene in the New Testament?  If we squirm a little in hearing this story, 2000 years later, imagine how outrageous her behavior was to the men in the room, then!  Especially for the Pharisees, who were so concerned with keeping order, and keeping holiness holy and pure.

    All of this happens, with no words.

    Simon’s feelings, disgust , shock , discomfort  –are all written across his face.   Then Jesus speaks the first word: “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

    Jesus then tells the story of the two debtors.  One owing about 2 months wages.  The other owing about 2 years wages.  Both are poor.  Neither one can pay.  And the creditor forgives the debts of both.  Jesus gets to the heart of it: Forgiveness is there for both Simon and the woman.  There’s a stark honesty here: Simon and the woman are both sinners.   The outpouring of love from her is the mark of how she responds to forgiveness with love and service.  We don’t know from the story what Simon’s response will be.

        (Forgiven! Forgiven! Forgiven!)   

    Can you find yourself in this story?  Can you relate more to the woman, weeping with gratitude at forgiveness?  Or can you relate more to Simon, having spent a lifetime doing things the right way, being uncomfortable with the way the woman and Jesus seem to fling the rules out the window?   
    When have you received forgiveness?   Or when have you yearned for forgiveness?

    This passage reminded me of a period in my life, when I was single, attending seminary, and deferring student loans I’d acquired from my college days.  I’d attended a small, private liberal arts college.  It seemed every year that the financial needs analysis the school did always expected my parents to come up with more cash than they were able to find.  And so, the loans grew.  And then, attending seminary, the loans REALLY grew.  I deferred payments on the student loans while in graduate school, but the burden of that debt weighed on my mind.  There were many times when I imagined that life would be just fine, if only I could pay back those loans, hanging over my head.  The prayer “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” had special for me. ( Fortunately for me, I fell in love with someone who didn’t have more loans, but savings, instead!  He graciously helped me to retire those loans, after we were married.).    
        Many of us understand the bondage of being in financial debt and can understand what freedom or release from those debts might feel like.  There are those who have piled up credit card debts or other financial obligations that keep them in bondage.  One may also be bound by family or even work obligations–all those “have to’s” one may be enslaved to.  What would it mean to be released from them all?
    Forgiven!  Forgiven!  Forgiven!
    I’ve heard it said before: for some people, church is one of the places they feel least able to be themselves. . .It may be that in our churches, in our efforts to give our best to God, we’ve been more like Simon, so intent upon doing the “right” thing, that we forget our own sinfulness.   And yet, isn’t it the very heart of why we are together: Together, we are sinners, forgiven and given new life.
    We are all connected at the deepest level.  We sometimes tend to think of sin in individualistic terms.    But sin is also in the systems we are part of.  Think about the many situations where we feel helpless shame: the oil catastrophe in the Gulf; the homeless person on the corner; the child who has disappeared; wars with no real end in sight. . .
    Preacher Fred Craddock said that there is a screaming need for communities of forgiven and forgiving sinners. I suspect the only way we draw into the church  those who are deeply in touch with the  need for forgiveness, is if we take the risk of shamelessly show our love, like the woman.  The more we try to manage and keep things “pure”,  the more distance we will make between each other.    And it may be the person we most need to forgive is ourself.
    But, Jesus forgives both: righteous Simon  and the sinful woman. 
    This story shows us not a separation of the righteous from the unrighteous, but that we are connected at the deepest level: sinners forgiven and healed by God’s grace.  God’s hospitality is extended to all without distinction–That’s a sign of the new community of those who follow the way of Jesus. 
    What would our churches be like if we could fully live this hospitality?
    This parable is not about cheap grace and easy  forgiveness.  Knowing that we are forgiven is not an excuse for irresponsible behavior toward one another.  It is the opposite of that:   But the unexpected and undeserved forgiveness that punctures the heart, bathes us in tears of thanksgiving, repentance, love.
    Do you remember the movie, The Mission, starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons?   DeNiro plays a fierce slave-hunter, Roderigo Mendoza, who has been kidnapping Guarani natives in remote South America.  In addition to stealing people, he also commits murder, when he finds his brother with his fiancee.  He kills his brother and is seized with guilt and depression.  He turns to the Jesuit priest, Father Gabriel, begging for severe penance, ready to end his life.  The steep and magnificent Iguazu waterfalls, becomes part of the penance. In a gripping scene, Mendoza’s heavy metal armor and weapons are bundled into a bag and tied to his waist. 
    Carrying this heavy burden, Mendoza, still proud and bitter despite his guilt, refuses help and proceeds to scale the falls until he collapses and cries out to God.
Despite one of the Jesuit priests cutting the satchel and releasing him of his penance, he re-ties it to his waist, because they are not whom he seeks forgiveness from. Once reaching the Guarani tribe's camp at the top of the falls, one member of the tribe comes and cuts the satchel, then releasing him from his penance.  The  armor is  thrown into the falls –a powerful symbol of the  tribe forgiving him. Mendoza then goes on to  become a Jesuit, and in time is accepted by the same Indians he used to kidnap.
    Forgiven!  Forgiven!  Forgiven!
    Jesus re-frames what looks like inappropriate behavior to seeing with the eyes of God.  Deep gratitude, joy and love.  We are invited to see ourselves and those around us with eyes like that.  The sinful woman was seen, forgiven and restored to community by God, through Jesus. 
Jesus calls us to be a community of forgiven and forgiving sinners.
    Author Madeleine L’Engle told an old legend about Judas.  The legend is that after his death, Judas found himself at the bottom of a deep and slimy pit.  For thousands of years, he wept his repentance, and when the tears were finally spent, he looked up and saw way, way up , a tiny glimmer of light.  After he had contemplated it for another thousand years or so, he began to try to climb up towards the light.  The walls of the pit were dark and slimy and he kept slipping back down to the bottom.  It took him many years to recover, all the time weeping bitter tears of grief and repentance, and they he started to climb up again.  After many more falls the efforts and failures, he reached the top and dragged himself into an upper room with twelve people seated around the table.  “We’ve been waiting for you, Judas,” Jesus said.  “We couldn’t begin till you came.”
    What would the world be like if we responded to Jesus’  forgiveness with utterly joyful love and service?  What might change in our daily lives?  What would change in our community if, out of our brokenness and God’s forgiveness, those most in need of compassion were drawn to us?  How would we be welcoming one another? 
            Forgiven!  Forgiven!  Forgiven!