This story we have just heard is one of the most remarkable in all of St. Luke's Gospel. We see such extravagant love from the woman who comes and anoints Jesus’ feet and also such extravagant love from Jesus to the woman.
A Social Faux Pas
We are astonished at the way Jesus responds here to an incredibly awkward situation. I also sense that it reflects something very profound not only about Jesus but about a possibility that is resonant in every one of us. Perhaps we need a little background to understand the situation more fully.
By
the time of this incident, Jesus had created quite a stir in Palestine as
an original and utterly vital holy man. All sorts of people were attracted
to him; rich and poor folk, educated and illiterate, highly respectable, and
also the genuine riffraff at the very bottom of the social hierarchy.
One evening Jesus is being entertained by one of the leading citizens of Jerusalem,
and while he was at table, something utterly astonishing occurred. A woman
of the streets, a person described as a notorious sinner, which meant quite
simply that she was a well-known prostitute, broke into that scene and caused
something of a stir.
Now this action shattered every social custom of that day. This one was not an invited guest into that home. And in that day, women did not intrude into the company of men who were reclining at the table for dinner. In fact, not even the wives were often included. In terms of sheer emotion, here was as tasteless and vulgar a show of affection as you could possibly imagine. To be perfectly honest, if we had been Jesus in that situation, we would have been utterly horrified. Our first thought would have been "What on earth are people going to think? Are they not going to wonder how we ever even came to know a woman of this sort? Isn't this going to be absolutely devastating to my reputation as a rabbi and a holy man?"
Love Reaching Out
Now this woman knew what she was about. She knew how others perceived her and what her reputation was. She knew she was not allowed in with the men and certainly not allowed to touch a holy rabbi like Jesus. Yet something made her reach out. We don’t know what had been going on in her life. All we know is that somehow Jesus’ message of love had touched her and caused her to respond to Jesus.
At first she responds simply, she washes his feet – a common custom in the ancient world. In the heat and dust of Israel one would need the dust and the dirt of the land to be washed off your feet in order to be comfortable. But instead of using water and a towel she is more intimate, she washes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. Instead of using her body to cheapen herself she uses it to honour Jesus. Then she takes a jar of ruinously expensive perfume and anoints his feet with them.
This woman had gone through some experience of love which made her reach out to Jesus in gratitude. She knew her sins were many, unlike Simon, Jesus host, who did not consider himself to be a sinner, but her experience of love meant that she valued herself more and started to use her body to honour God and not to bring dishonour to herself. Somehow, she had been given to see that God's goodness was bigger than all her badness, that the one who stands behind reality is, in fact, one whose property is always to have mercy.
Whose Perspective do we take?
When we read this story or hear it being read we will identify either with the woman or with Simon. If we identify, albeit secretly and begrudgingly, with Simon we don’t see ourselves as sinners. We would keep away from people with a bad reputation. We would have been embarrassed at this social faux pas and, like Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping up Appearances wonder quite how to get the party going again whilst this unpleasant episode is put behind us.
Many of us, I suspect, will identify more with the woman. We too have been through times when we have used our bodies in ways which have dishonoured us and not honoured God. In fact every thing we do, we do with and in our body. Sometimes when we talk about “flesh” or “bodies” we think about sex, but if you really ponder it everything we do is contained in our body and we have a choice with our actions. We can use our bodies to honour God or to dishonour ourselves. This woman, we presume, had spent much of her life undervaluing herself, being used by men for money. But now her experience of Jesus meant that she had learnt to value herself more and, in the process to honour God.
As we encounter Jesus we find that our lives are transformed. Previous patterns of behaviour which dragged us down start to loose their allure. We find we value ourselves more and, consequently behave in ways which do this and expect others to treat us with respect. In the gospel story Simon had no respect for the woman which was quite different from Jesus’ own reaction.
Jesus’ Love
Jesus reaction is not what Simon expects. Simon expects and wants Jesus to shoo the woman away, to remind her that she is a sinner and a woman and not welcome in his company. No doubt if Jesus could quote some of her more serious sins too that would help. But instead Jesus turns and rebukes Simon for his judgemental attitude and lack of hospitality to him! This is not what Simon expects but it is what we know of Jesus. He turns the tables on those who think they are “up and in” in favour of those who are “down and out”. His extravagant love meets this woman where she is. He recognises her love and her penitence and assures her that her sins are forgiven. Simon, however, does not ask for forgiveness and it is not granted to him.
Still, all these years later, there are people who consider themselves religious who decide for others if they are sinners or not. Many are there to tell us, in particular, that we are sinners. They look at our communities, choose only to see the flamboyant and the outrageous and then call us sinners. Yet Jesus does not call this outrageous and flamboyant woman a sinner, instead he lets her honour and anoint him.
And So….
And so when we feel we have dishonoured ourselves by behaving in ways which do not honour God, when we feel as if we have misused our bodies, we know that we can tell Jesus we are sorry and that he forgives us. Like the woman in today’s Gospel we can use our bodies to honour God too. We do this everytime we show love to someone else through touch or stroke. We do this everytime we work for someone else without expecting reward. We do this everytime we express sorrow for our sins – then we anoint Jesus feet with our tears and dry them with our hair.
Amen.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.