I am not much up on social etiquette . . . my wife reminds me of that
fact all of the time. For example, if
so-and-so invites us to dinner at their house, then we . . . in return, are
obligated to invite them to our house for a dinner. If they bring a bottle of wine for the meal,
we are obligated to bring them a bottle when we go to their house. It is a sort of tit-for-tat sort of game,
this social etiquette that is being played.
The way that my wife explains it is that we are to reciprocate for acts
of kindness that others show us. I never
realized that there was a price on the invitation whether it is intentional or
unintentional. I guess that it is true,
there is really nothing in life that is free . . . everything comes with a
price.
Everything . . . comes with a price.
Jesus is invited to a dinner at the house of a Pharisee . . . a fancy,
smancy sort of a deal . . . all the local bigwigs are at the dinner. Into the dinner bursts a lady of ill-repute .
. . a supposed prostitute . . . who goes to Jesus, crying on his feet, wiping
the tears off with her hair, and then anointing his feet with expensive perfume
. . . and, all the while she is kissing his feet. This infuriates the host . . . infuriates the
guests . . . they accuse Jesus of being ignorant of who the woman was . . .
surely, if Jesus knew, he would never allow this woman to contaminate their
dinner. So they confront Jesus . . .
they question him . . . they question his motives . . . they question his lofty
status. More or less, they tell Jesus
that the woman is a sinner, and how in the world could he allow her to do such
things!
Well, I can honestly say that I have never had any person, let alone a
woman, weep on my feet and anoint them with expensive perfume. I have had a few women step on my feet, but
never do anything like the writer of Luke shares this morning. Yet, at the same time, I can see the gracious
act of hospitality this woman shares with Jesus . . . she welcomes him by doing
what is required by the host . . . she cleanses his feet after a long
journey. It is an act of the deepest
hospitality . . . which is something that the host did not do. No, it is an outsider . . . a sinner . . .
who provides the hospitality.
Jesus confronts the Pharisee . . . Jesus confronts him by first, telling
a story. It is a story about two men who
owe a lot of money . . . one owes 500 bucks, the other 50 . . . the man to whom
they owe the money forgives them both.
Jesus poses the question, “Now which of them will love him more?” Well, the logical answer is, the one who owed
more. And, Jesus told the Pharisee that he is right . . . it is the one who
owed more.
Then Jesus gets to his point . . . he shares how the woman displayed
hospitality . . . how she washed his feet with tears . . . how she kissed him .
. . how she anointed him with expensive oils . . . and, not once did the
Pharisee, the host, offer him any of the common symbols of hospitality. Therefore, Jesus declares that the woman’s
sins are forgiven. He proclaims: “Therefore,
I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves
little.” In other words, Jesus
is telling the Pharisee that he blew it.
The Pharisee blew it by not being hospitable. The Pharisee blew it by not understanding the
game of reciprocity . . . tit-for-tat. The
Pharisee blew it by not knowing that grace was in operation, and he was not the
one receiving it—the outsider, the sinner, was the one who received the
grace. It was not a matter of
reciprocity on the part of Jesus, but something that went beyond . . . it was
grace.
We are talking about grace. This
is not mere reciprocity that we are talking about . . . this is not a dinner
for a dinner . . . not a bottle of wine for a bottle of wine . . . this is pure
grace. Grace goes beyond the
reciprocal. Jesus demonstrates this in
this story. For the act of hospitality,
Jesus grants grace . . . the woman’s sins are forgiven.
My career in the scouting program did not last long . . . I made it to
the Webelo level before I dropped out, but one of the things that I appreciated
about the scouting program had to do with their motto of leaving a place better
than they found it. For example, if one
went camping, he was responsible for not leaving the camping site as he found
it, but to leave it better than he found it.
It was to go beyond reciprocity . . . it was to practice grace.
Grace seems to be a difficult word for us to understand. Difficult for us to understand because we are
used to this idea of reciprocity . . . an equal gift for an equal gift. Grace . . . well, grace goes beyond this idea
of a tit-for-tat. It goes beyond the reciprocal
. . .
Jesus practiced grace. Jesus went
beyond the expected. He forgave the
woman her sins. This shocked those who
were gathered there for the dinner. It
made the guests question his motives . . . question who he thought he was,
forgiving sins.
Grace has a funny way of confronting us . . . it is unexpected . . .
and, it is a whole lot more than any of expect because it goes beyond giving a
bottle of wine for a bottle of wine. We
are not ready for someone giving us more than we expect. Yet, that is exactly what happens when we
come into a relationship with God through the example of Jesus . . . we get a
whole lot more than we bargained for.
As I stated earlier, I am not the most current when it comes to this
idea of social etiquette . . . this practice of reciprocity . . . this idea of
you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
I’m pretty bad at it because I figure a gift is a gift, not the down
payment for a game of ping pong gifting.
So, this idea of going beyond the reciprocal . . . well, let’s just say
that I am still working on it. We all
are.
The woman who barged into the
private dinner was not seeking anything . . . she came to welcome a great
teacher and prophet . . . she did not expect a whole heck of a lot in return
for what she had done. Just being in the
presence of Jesus was enough . . . she did what was right. In return, she received more than she ever
expected . . . she received grace . . . she was welcomed into the family of
God. I don’t know if I am there yet, and
I am not sure any of us is quite there either.
And, that is the challenge.
The challenge to go beyond the reciprocal . . . to go beyond the
expected . . . to show grace. Though we
want to identify with Jesus . . . to be like Jesus . . . I think we are more
like the Pharisee in this story. It is
not enough to invite Jesus to the dinner, we have to go beyond the expected . .
. we have to step into grace . . . to go beyond the reciprocal. This is not easy because we do not always
receive God’s grace well . . . and, we do not practice it well.
It comes down to faith . . . it was faith that saved the woman because,
when you read the story and realize, she went beyond the expected. So it is with each of us . . . we are to
practice grace . . . discover its power . . . and, to realize that it is a gift
from God. Grace . . . going beyond the
expected. We need it now. Amen.
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