The latest Sermon

Luke 7:36-50

Rev Marlaena Cochran

As was mentioned, my name is Marlena and I am a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, a member of Pittsburgh Presbytery, and a former hospice chaplain. And so it's one of my great delights in this season of my life to travel around the Presbytery and to meet all different kinds of people and congregations. And I know I've been with you many times, and so it is good to be with you again.

So as we are in this season of Lent, this season of returning to God, we are invited to see ourselves in the light of God's presence. And so for this season of Lent, as you'll notice, I'm wearing a color purple, which is a reminder of this season. But I look out amongst you all, and many of you are wearing green because tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick, who is a saint of the Christian faith. As we begin our time together this morning, I wanted to read a prayer that is attributed to St. Patrick. And as I do so, I invite you to maybe hear these words as you maybe close your eyes and attempt to envision them. For I think these words will ground us and will help us as we come to our Scripture this morning, because they remind us of Christ's presence with us. So, hear these words. Christ with me.

Christ before me. Christ behind me. Christ in me. Christ beneath me. Christ above me. Christ on my right and Christ on my left. Christ when I lie down. Christ when I sit down. Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me. Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me. Christ in the eye that sees me. And Christ in the ear that hears me. This morning may we know Christ's presence with us. And may we grow in our awareness. Amen.

This morning, we are going to reflect on awareness. And I just encouraged all of us to become more aware of Christ's presence with us and in us. Awareness is powerful and it's the first step towards change or growth. And once we grow in our awareness, we are faced with the choice of how we will respond. Over the next two Sundays that I am with you, this Sunday, and then again in two weeks on March 30th, we are going to reflect on awareness and response by exploring together Luke chapter 7 verses 36 through 50. We'll be in the same text these two Sundays.

In this text we have an episode in the life of Jesus. And there are three main characters in this episode. Simon, who is a Pharisee, Jesus, and a sinful woman.

This week we are going to focus on the interaction between Simon and Jesus. And then in two Sundays we will focus on the interaction between the sinful woman and Jesus. And so I invite you, if you are so led, to open your bulletin to where our scripture text is located.

And we're going to walk through this text a little bit verse by verse and see what the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us this day. So starting in verse 36. When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.

We learn in this verse that Simon is a Pharisee. And the word Pharisee means separatist. The Pharisees separated themselves by a strict adherence to the laws and traditions of the Jewish people. The Pharisees were the expert expositors of the Jewish law. And throughout the Gospels, you see this tension, this conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus, and they're conflicting about the law and its meaning and its interpretation and its purpose. So it makes you wonder, why did Simon invite Jesus to have dinner with him? Scripture doesn't tell us, but I think it's an interesting question to think about.

But no matter the reason, Jesus accepts Simon's invitation. And I think that's interesting because throughout the Gospels, the Pharisees are continually muttering about who Jesus eats with. They say that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. And here we find Jesus eating with the Pharisee. And we see that Jesus is willing to connect with and to engage everyone. Those who are perceived to be on the outside, the tax collectors and sinners, and those who are perceived to be on the inside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

What might we learn from Jesus' example? Moving on to verse 37. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So she came there with an alabaster jaw and perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wipe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. And as I mentioned, we'll come back to her in two weeks.

And so when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. That she is a sinner. What kind of tone do you think Simon used when he said those words? The word muttering, judging comes to mind.

And what does Simon think about Jesus and who Jesus is? What does Simon think about this woman? And what does Simon think about himself? Simon is thinking about all these things. And in verse 40 we read that Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to a certain money lender. One owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. Neither of them had the money to pay him back. So he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more? And Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgave him. You have judged correctly, Jesus said.

So, imagine what's going through Simon's mind at this time. Jesus says, you're right, Simon. The one who has the bigger debt forgiven will love more. But do you think that Simon realizes that he has just given an answer? That kind of reveals his own heart? So Jesus then, in verse 44, Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet. But she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss. But this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head.

But she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shone. But whoever has been forgiven little, loves little.

These actions are significant. Water for my feet. It's common courtesy to offer a bowl of water and a towel to cleanse your guest's feet in this culture. A kiss, which is the traditional sign of greeting. An oil on my head. A sign of honor and respect. So, Jesus says to Simon, Do you see this woman? Let's compare and contrast, since that's already what you're doing in your mind. And then Jesus says three times, you did not, but she did. She is sinful. She has committed many sins and owns a great debt. But her many sins have been forgiven and therefore she has shown great love. But Simon, you have been forgiven little, so you love little.

So, what is Jesus saying to Simon here? Is Jesus saying, Simon, you've been forgiven little because your debt is not as great as hers. Simon, you're a Pharisee. You keep the law.

You obey the rules. You are in God's house. You don't have as much to be forgiven as she does and that's why you love little.

So, if you want to love more, you have to sin more. Or as Jesus may be saying to Simon, Simon, you are not aware of how great your debt is. You are not aware of how sinful you are. You are not aware of your own need for mercy, grace, and forgiveness. For if you were Simon, you would show greater love. That pierces my heart.

You are not aware of how great your debt is. You are not aware of how sinful you are. For if you were, you would show greater love. Have you heard Jesus say those words? If we desire to be great lovers of God and great lovers of others, we must become aware of our own sin and our own need for God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Awareness and confession and repentance are practices during this season of Lent where we return to God and we say, God, show me who I am in my belovedness and also in my sinfulness. So, what is sin? This morning, I'd like for us to look at sin in this way.

St. Grant's in his Theology for the Community of God says this. Both the Old and New Testaments, despite subtle differences in emphasis, have used sin fundamentally as failure. Sin is primarily missing the mark or falling short. It entails our inability to be what God desires for us to be. Our failure to live in accordance with the destiny and design God intends for us. So what does God desire for us? What is our destiny and design? God's original desire for us as human beings is that we would be God's image bearers.

That we would live in community as God lives in community, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A community that's fueled and united by love. God's desire is that we would live in relationship with God. With relationship with one another. And with relationship with our world. And God also designed us to be a reflection of God's character.

That we would be holy as God is holy. So, sin is missing the mark or falling short on those things. We fail to live in community. We fail to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. And we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves. We fail to love this world that God has given to us to be stewards over.

And we fail to reflect God's character. And show forth things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And for many of us who have been in the church for a while, we have heard Romans 3.23 that says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So, are we aware of the debt that we owe? Are we aware of how sinful we are? And there's another awareness that we need to come to. We need to be aware that we cannot pay our debt. We can try and try and try. But we cannot hit the mark. Because the mark is the holiness of God. And the perfectness of God. And to hit the mark, we must live a life in perfect obedience to what God has revealed to us. And there's only one person who has been able to live such a life. And that person was Jesus.

Jesus, who understood the seriousness of our sin and who chose to take on our sin so that we might become holy. A few minutes ago, I quoted Romans 3.23 but how many of us have also memorized verse 3.24? I think here's an unfortunate first break. Because many times I think we keep ourselves hanging in our sin. So these verses together say, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus through the life, death and resurrection.

Jesus provided a way for us to be what God desires for us to be. Jesus provided a way for us to live in accordance with the destiny and design that God intends for us. So, in two Sundays, we'll talk more about God's grace and God's forgiveness and our response as we look at the interaction between Jesus and a sinful woman.

But for today, in this episode, we don't know how Simon responds. We don't know if Simon grows in his awareness of his sin and if he confesses his sin. But that is not my desire for us this morning.

And so as we close our hearing of God's Word and as we prepare our hearts to receive the sacrament of communion, I'd like to invite us into a short time of awareness and confession. To bow before our God and to see if God's Spirit reveals anything to us this morning. And as we do so, we do not do this in a judging or a condemning kind of way.

But we remember that this is part of our journey towards love. For as we become more aware of our sin, we also become more aware of God's grace and forgiveness and God's great love for us. So let us pray.

God, we do pause before you this morning. God, we ask that your Spirit examine our heart and our mind. God, for any way that we fall short, that we miss the mark of being the people that you created and dreamed and gifted us to be.

And God, as we prepare our hearts to receive communion, may we be reminded of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The communion that we have with you, with one another, God, with all of the body of Christ. So God, continue to speak with us and to us this day.

And we pray all of this in your holy name. Amen.