Forgiven alot - loved alot

June 11, 2016 Luke 7:36-8:3 Pentecost Year B This has been a big week for women. Hillary Clinton has finally clinched the democratic nomination for president. And her whole campaign is based on being the first woman to win that endorsement. And I am happy for her achievement. Yet a little dismayed, because she did not get there on her own two feet. There were many other women who have opened doors for her, and have run for president. Many of her forebearers are black women. I am wearing Shirley Chisolm’s campaign tshirt in honor of her 1972 run for president. I remember her campaign well. But I wonder why Hillary needs to pretend that she got here on her own, without the help of those people like Shirley Chisolm. I wonder why this is her victory and not theirs. But we will see if her tone changes over the campaign. I mention that fact because the lesson today in Luke is all about women. We know that the twelve disciples were all men. But Luke tells us that there were many women who also travelled with Jesus, who learned from him and who carried out his message. Unfortunately, we don’t know their names and we don’t know their stories. But we can be grateful for their participation to make a difference and to transform the world. I think more importantly, we can be grateful that Jesus was intentional about making sure that women have a place at the table. Jesus allowed women to follow him and to be a part of his ministry. As I said, a woman is the main character in this story. Jesus has been invited to dinner at the house of a Pharisee. It seems obvious that this man didn’t really like Jesus. But he wanted to impress his guest by inviting someone famous to his party. It would be sort like inviting Gov. Rauner to our church service. I may not agree with everything that he says. But I would welcome to publicity that it would generate by having a conversation with him. And of course when he arrives, I am going to be watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to say or do something stupid so that I can criticize him. That was the position that Jesus was in when a woman walks in and starts to listen to his teachings. The woman has her hair down, so she is not married. When a woman married, she bound her hair up and never took it down again. More than likely, the host invited her in for all of the other guest. But with Jesus being a holy man, he was supposed to push her away. So when she came in an approached Jesus, and Jesus did not turn her away, the host concludes that Jesus must not be holy. He must be a fraud. He had found his criticism. But the good news is the Jesus is a prophet, and he has learned to respect and honor the gifts of women. He knows this woman, and he know her sins and he loves her anyway. I think that it is important to point out that Jesus knows her sins, but we do not. The host assumed that she was a woman of the night, but we have no details to support that. We don’t know who she is but we do know that Jesus loves her and accepts her for who she is. That Woman Is You As many of you know, we are looking for an office administrator. One of the candidates I interviewed caught me a bit off guard when she asked what the members of the congregation would think about a secretary who was divorced. I hadn’t really thought about that question. Then a fellow pastor told about the secretary at his church whom he learned had been a prostitute. She was a very good secretary, and very few members of the congregation knew anything about her former life. But she did not feel very good about herself. She despised what she had done and she despised the men who paid her for the use of her body. She also despised the people she believed would condemn her if they knew of her former profession. She was desperately looking for love and acceptance. One week my friend preached on the Gospel lesson for today, and it was the secretary’s job to type up his sermon. When she finished typing it, she asked to talk with the pastor. She didn’t understand the statement he had made that Jesus accepted all people knowing who and what they were. For she could not believe that God or God’s people could accept her, knowing who she was and what she had done. The pastor read her from this text from Luke 7. The secretary got tears in her eyes. "How I wish I was that woman," she said. "That woman is you!" he replied and she cried. "Would you baptize me, knowing what I am?" she asked. He did, and her baptism was one of the most moving events in his ministry. Frank Rothfuss, Begrudging God’s Grace. We all have a history. We all have a story to tell. The good news is the Jesus loves us just the way we are. At a fancy dinner party, the guest would have something to say about all of us, and yet Jesus loves us and forgives us inspite of our story. A Good Judge of Character A certain young woman was nervous about meeting her boyfriend's parents for the first time. As she checked out her appearance one last time, she noticed that her shoes looked dingy. So she gave them a fast swipe with the paper towel she had used to blot the bacon she had for breakfast. Arriving at the impressive home, she was greeted by the parents and their much-beloved, but rotten-tempered, poodle. The dog got a whiff of the bacon grease on the young woman's shoes and followed her around all evening. At the end of the evening, the pleased parents remarked, "Cleo really likes you, dear, and she is an excellent judge of character. We are delighted to welcome you into our little family." It seems that perhaps Cleo was a better judge of bacon grease than she was a judge of character. The Pharisees believed that Jesus wasn't a very good judge of character. Think back to our scripture reading for today. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Another story that has been in the news a lot this week is the story of a Stanford student who assaulted a young woman because she was drunk. The debate is on how little respect he had for this woman, and how other men in his life are justifying his actions. It shows us that attitudes toward women have not changed much since biblical times. And that is why I think it is so important for women to respect one another and who we are. But the good news in this story for all is us is in the words of Jesus to the man, not the woman. He tells the woman that her faith has made her whole. But Jesus tells the man, that he was so concerned about how good he was, that he did not show love, and respect and honor. But this woman who showed nothing but love from the time she was in the room, was the one whom was forgiven. Getting Out of the Pit There is an old legend about Judas that Madeleine L'Engle tells. 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. Finally, after great effort, he neared the top and then he slipped and fell all the way back down to the bottom. It took him many years to recover, all the time weeping bitter tears of grief and repentance, and then he started to climb up again. After many more falls and 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." So many people are looking for a community of forgiven and forgiving sinners. Would they find what they are seeking here? Jimmy Moor, A Place of Welcome Who are you in the story? Are you the righteous host, judging the actions of everyone else? Or are you the woman, who saw nothing in that room but the love of Jesus? Forgiveness is a give and a take. Who do you need to forgive in order to be forgiven? What act of love has God shown you, in spite of who you are? Who in your life is need of that same act of love? Those who have been forgiven much – have much to give. Those who have been forgiven little have little to give. Which are you? Listening to the Noise Some years ago I served as a campus pastor at Oregon State University, and one of the activities we had each week was a Wednesday noon study. From time to time we would pick different topics to discuss, and sometimes we would be hooked. At one of those luncheons we were discussing the book "The Courage to Teach." We were asked by our facilitator on that day to share an experience of a teacher who influenced our lives. Vicki Collins, an English professor, shared an experience of a teacher who changed her life during high school. She says the classroom in which her teacher was teaching was located on the side of the building where a main thoroughfare of the city ran. Traffic was constant, including the sound of emergency vehicles, throughout each day. At the beginning of each class, the teacher would complain to the students about the noise from the traffic. The emergency vehicles especially annoyed him with their sirens. After one weekend, the teacher addressed the class at the beginning as he usually did. This day he said he wanted to apologize to the class. He told them that this weekend his wife had an emergency situation. The service that the ambulance provided saved his wife's life and his baby's life. He told his students, "I want to apologize because I was listening to the noise instead of thinking about the lives." The disciples looked at a sinner in the community; they did not see the woman who in her life was reaching out for help. In his external world, the teacher heard noise. The experience with his wife and child caused him to inwardly see that lives were being cared for by those noisy vehicles. As a result of his experience, he gained a better perspective of his experiences with the emergency vehicles. He apologized to his students. Friends, Jesus is helping these disciples, and us, to see that there are lives that need care. Sometimes the "noises" of selfish desires, self-centered desires, greed, or bigotry, keep us from seeing beyond the sin or the wrongly perceived experiences of life. The opportunity we have is that of seeing Jesus' way of seeing people, seeing the possibilities for righteousness in them, forgiving them when they fall short, encouraging them to go in peace. Isaiah Jones Jr., Seeing Beyond the Sin A Way to God Before the Reformation Martin Luther was in his monk's cell weeping because of his sins. His confessor, a young man, simply didn't know what to do, so he began repeating the Apostles' Creed. "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. "I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the . . . ." "Wait!" Luther interrupted his confessor. "What did you say?" "What do you mean, what did I say?" "That last part. What was it again?" "Oh, that. I said, ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.'" "The forgiveness of sins," Luther said as if savoring each word. "The forgiveness of sins. Then there is hope for me somewhere. Then maybe there is a way to God." There is a way to God. Jesus Christ died to provide that way. We may not be a woman of the city but there are sins that break our hearts as well. And there is One who sees those broken hearts and cares, and forgives, and heals, and makes whole. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com The Cookie Thief Today's gospel reminds me of the story of the cookie thief. A woman at the airport waiting to catch her flight bought herself a bag of cookies, settled in a chair in the airport lounge and began to read her book. Suddenly she noticed the man beside her helping himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, she read on, ate cookies, and watched the clock. As the daring "cookie thief" kept on eating the cookies she got more irritated and said to herself, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!" She wanted to move the cookies to her other side but she couldn’t bring her self to do it. With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. Then with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, and he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, "Oh brother, this guy has some nerve, and he's also so rude, why, he didn't even show any gratitude!" She sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look at the ungrateful "thief." She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, reached in her bag to get a book to read and forget about the incident. Next to her book was her bag—of cookies. The cookies they ate in the lounge were his not hers. She had been the thief not him. The cookie thief story reminds us, as we see in today's gospel, that it often happens that the one pointing the accusing finger turns out to be the guilty one, that the complainant sometimes turns out to be the offending party. In the cookie story, the woman believed she was such a wonderful person to put up with the rudeness and ingratitude of the man sitting beside her. In the end she discovered that she was the rude and ungrateful one and the man was wonderfully friendly. In the gospel the Pharisee thinks he is the righteous one who is worthy to be in the company of Jesus and that the woman was the sinful one unworthy to be seen with Jesus. In the end Jesus showed each of them where they really belonged and the woman was seen as the one who was righteous and more deserving of the company of Jesus than the self-righteous Pharisee. Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com Who doesn’t love M&M candies! They really do “melt in your mouth not in your hand” (most of the time). They come in a rainbow of colors (though really, where did the tan ones go?). And they offer the option of chocolate all the way through, or a peanut in the middle. To celebrate seventy-five years of this candy, the manufacturers of M&M’s are trying something new. Three new flavors are being “taste tested” on the public. The deal here is that three new flavors are being offered, but only one of the three will become a standard. The other two will “lose out” and be dropped. The three options of these new peanut M&M’s are Honey Nut, Coffee Nut, and Chili Nut. Of course, you and I are supposed to buy all three, taste all three, and then vote for our favorite. As manufacturers, the Mars Candy Company really only cares about the “buy all three” part. Word on the street has it that Chili Nut has taken an early lead. But as Jesus followers, as the first “mix and mingle” crowd, the first M&M’s, we are called to welcome and nurture and embrace ALL flavors of nuts. By the way, NUTS is an acronym that means “Never Underestimate the Spirit.” We might have a personal favorite, but that does not mean we vote all the others out of existence. Justified in Christ, as we live a sanctified life, waiting for the final glorification of God’s Kingdom through Christ, we must always remain a mixed bag of nuts. ERMON ILLUSTRATION Are Women More Religious? It's not true that women are more religious than men. It's just easier in our society for them to express religious interest outwardly. Mark Galli, Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 1. Object: A box of crayons and a coloring book. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you like to color? (Let them answer.) What are some of the things you color? (Let them answer. Hold up crayons and book.) I brought some crayons and a coloring book this morning. There are all types of coloring books to choose from. We can color in the coloring books, or we can take a piece of plain paper and draw our own pictures. My parents always told me to color in a book or on paper. They said never to color anything else, but I decided to see what it would look like if I colored on my bedroom walls. I knew that it was wrong, but I thought I could hide it if my parents ever came in. Have any of you ever done anything you were told not to do? (Let them answer.) It was a terrible thing to do, but I drew a small picture on my wall. Then I tried to wash it off so my mother and father wouldn't get mad at me. I found I couldn't wash it off. In fact, when I tried to wipe it off, it smeared and even got messier. I was really sorry I had disobeyed them. They found the drawing on my wall and were very angry. I had to stay in my room all day. I told my parents I was sorry, and that it would never happen again. Have any of you colored on a wall when you were not allowed to? (Let them answer. Give crayons to one of the children.) Would you color on the church's walls? (Let the child answer.) Why not? (Let them answer.) Of course, we all knew it would be wrong. Sometimes we all do things we know are wrong, but even though our parents or our teachers are angry with us, they always forgive us. They know that we are sorry. When we disobey our parents, it is wrong! When we disobey Jesus, it is a sin. We sin when we do things Jesus has told us not to do. But even Jesus forgives us. Jesus forgives the worst sinners. We must ask Jesus for forgiveness, just like we ask our parents for forgiveness when we do something wrong. We have to tell Jesus that we are sorry, and we have to promise him that we will try to never sin again. If we are really sorry -- if we really try to do the right things, Jesus will forgive us, just like your parents will forgive you when you do the wrong things. Jesus tells us that if we believe in him and try to do the right things, he will forgive us. I hope you will never try to write on a wall with crayons -- but remember, your parents love you and will forgive you if you do something wrong. Jesus loves you and will forgive you when you sin. If you believe in him, all your sins will be forgiven. The next time you are coloring, remember what happened to me. Don't color on anything but a coloring book or paper, and remember that Jesus forgives us for all the sins in our lives. Amen.