June 12, 2016 – Luke 7:36-8:3
Luke 7:36-8:3
To Forgive is Divine
Lectionary 11 – June 12, 2016
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
It’s a big day for Simon! He has a local celebrity over for a meal.
It’s hard to know exactly what Simon thinks of the local celebrity Jesus.
He seems to be in earnest in wanting to learn from Jesus.
But it seems he doesn’t take Jesus too seriously: as we learn later in the story,
he doesn’t greet Jesus in the customary way; he’s a little . . . negligent.
No cool water for his feet; no kiss of greeting; no oil to anoint his head.
But then maybe he doesn’t greet anyone to his house that way.
Maybe his culture’s custom of honouring guests is ignored by him.
Maybe he thinks he is just better than everyone else.
He certainly thinks he is better than the woman who somehow crashes his party.
Outsiders were permitted to approach guests for various reasons and she does.
She is weeping, her hair is down, and she wipes his feet with her hair.
Luke tells us she was a sinner – but we don’t know what that means.
Most Christian interpreters have assumed she was a prostitute,
or that her sins were sexual ones – but there is nothing Luke tells us to support that.
All that does is distance her from us.
These interpreters point to her hair being down, a symbol of eroticism.
But a woman with her hair down in that culture could also be expressing shame, or grief –
she is weeping, after all.
And many assume she is a young attractive woman, People magazine material.
But there is nothing to indicate that, either.
Maybe she was old; maybe her hair was grey.
Maybe she had crooked teeth, or brown teeth, or missing teeth.
Maybe her since was sexual; maybe she was cruel, or mean, or calculating.
Maybe she beat her children or poisoned little kittens.
Maybe she ignored the plight of the poor or was judgmental or did things that hurt people.
Maybe . . . maybe she was just like you and me.
Maybe.
Whatever the case, she was a sinner – she was not all that God called her to be.
She did not do with her life all that God called her to do.
And Jesus . . . Jesus forgives her.
And gives her a chance to be something other than what other people tells her she is:
a sinner. A loser. An outsider. Unacceptable.
Jesus gives her a chance to see herself as beloved, forgiven, beautiful, full of dignity and worth.
Worth someone’s – worth God’s – forgiveness.
And he does forgive her.
As I never tire of saying, the list of things Jesus actually does is not long.
He feeds, he heals, he includes, he raises to new life, and he forgives.
His last words in Luke’s Gospel are words of forgiveness.
And today as well we see him forgive.
And it is always a little breathtaking to see how he forgives.
He forgives completely without conditions.
This truly sinful woman is truly forgiven. Period.
He doesn’t say to her, “Your sins are forgive if you do five hail Marys.
He doesn’t say, “Your sins are forgiven if you do 20 hours of community service.”
He doesn’t say, “Your sins are forgiven if you have perfect attendance at church next year.”
He doesn’t say, “Your sins are forgiven if you steer a straight course from now on.”
He just looks at her and says. “Your sins are forgiven.”
Clearly he has said this before because – as he says – she is already showing her gratitude to him.
Maybe he proclaims it again to emphasize to Simon that he really is forgiving her.
Maybe he proclaims it again because he senses she can hardly believe it.
In any case, he has forgiven her, and she loves him for it.
She loves him lavishly, and shows him all the hospitality and all the love Simon should have.
And Simon, thinking he is better than everyone else and does not stand in need of forgiveness,
doesn’t get it.
Well, says Jesus, one who is forgiven much, loves much.
Simon, so convinced of his own righteousness that he does not feel the need of forgiveness,
cannot experience the love that makes it possible to forgive others.
Forgiveness, here, is powerful.
It is such good news when it is received and felt.
It can re-create you – it can make you new.
It can free you from some awful things that make it difficult for you to sleep at night.
Are there sweeter words to hear – when you know you have done wrong – than,
“It’s okay. I forgive you.”
It can set relationships on a new course.
And, at the Truth and Reconciliation process shows us, the admission of guilt and
the offer of forgiveness, can begin the process of healing entire nations.
Forgiveness is powerful and it is one of the ways in which God’s rule of grace comes among us.
It is one of the ways through which God seeks to transform you, transform your relationships,
and transform the world.
But forgiveness is hard.
Sometimes we can forgive without conditions when people we like are involved.
But it can be difficult when it involves people we don’t like.
And so Jesus continues to tell us and show us how important it is, how transformative it is,
and how key it is for our identity as God’s people.
Well, I hear you saying, “In the story the people wonder who Jesus is who forgives sins.
Doesn’t God alone forgive sins? Isn’t that what God does? How can Jesus do it?
Who does he think he is? God?”
Well, yes.
Part of the point of the story is that Jesus uses his divine prerogative to forgive.
But isn’t it interesting that Jesus also instructs his followers to forgive?
Jesus is not the only he thinks should be forgiving.
Yes: forgiveness is God’s prerogative.
But in Jesus’ view it is also ours.
He has just instructed his followers to forgive in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:37).
In Matthew’s Gospel he will tell his followers to forgive 70 times 7 times!
Yes: to err is human.
Yes: to forgive is divine.
But perhaps, then, Jesus is sharing his divinity with us.
Perhaps, then, Jesus is sharing his divine power with us.
To promote the healing and restoration and well-being of all things.
To forgive is divine activity – and you have this divine power.
The word we translate as forgive has as its root meaning to let go.
To let go.
Sometimes when we forgive it is in order to set somebody else free,
so that they can hear the words, “I forgive you. Move on with your life. Be free.”
And that is a beautiful thing to do, to free somebody else.”
Sometimes, though, the other person maybe doesn’t care whether you forgive them or not.
And so, sometimes, I think, I think when we forgive it is in order to let go of something that
is bothering us, that is holding us back from moving on,
in order to take a load off ourselves.
So sometimes we forgive in order to put something behind us and move on,
whether or not that forgiveness is received.
Sometimes, though, forgiveness is just hard.
Sometimes we don’t care about setting the other person free from their burden and
we don’t possibly see how we could forgive them for what they’ve done regardless of
how we will feel about it.
Sometimes it is just too hard and the pain runs too deep.
And so, sometimes, sometimes, I think,
sometimes I think we just forgive because Jesus has commanded us to.
And I think that is a pretty gracious thing for Jesus to command us to do.
In the story Jesus forgives and the woman finds a new life.
It begins in receiving forgiveness and it ends the woman’s gratitude and love.
So, whatever is bothering you, know this: your sins are forgiven.
End of sentence, end of story.
No matter what it is, no matter what you’ve done, it is forgiven.
It’s time for a new start and new day on this morning of the first day of the week.
Receive divine forgiveness, that you may, as we pray every week in the Lord’s Prayer,
become in turn a vehicle for divine love, divine grace, and divine forgiveness.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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