When I research words, I go to a
dictionary or an etymology website. For example, last week I defined and
detailed the history of anticipate and visit. Researching a phrase, such as
today’s theme, takes me to topics that boggle and baffle my brain. Separate responses led me to sites
explaining software protocol, cell biology, auditory attention and text
messaging. If we should pray, as Al did last week, for an understanding of my
words and God’s Word, I will definitely avoid the aforementioned topics.
I entitled this sermon Separate
Responses for two reasons. First, we need to separate the version of The Woman with the Ointment in Luke from
Matthew, Mark and John. Second, the responses of the woman and the host are
distinctively separate.
These two reasons lead me to three
points: The importance of separating gospel accounts; the separate responses of
Simon and the unidentified woman; and our response.
First, the importance of separating
the gospel accounts. Every book in the Bible has a particular purpose. For
example, Genesis explains the origin of things. Psalms are a songbook for God’s
people when they worship. Paul wrote Romans so that the righteous might live by
faith. John wrote, “These
are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name.”[1]
Luke wanted the lover of God, Theophilus, to “have certainty concerning the things you have
been taught.”[2]
Each Gospel has a particular view of Jesus,
his ministry and the Church. This view determines what they included and
excluded. In short, to understand more deeply the Bible, we cannot blend
everything into a book or movie. We must separate out each version of what the
evangelist wrote.
Matthew, Mark and John place their
versions of The Woman with the Ointment closer
to Jesus’ Passion. Matthew and Mark set theirs immediately after the Conspiracy to Kill Jesus and before Payment to Judas. Similarly, John placed
his account between a lengthier version of the Conspiracy Against Jesus and the Plot to Kill Lazarus. While Luke’s Passion included the Conspiracy and Payment, he separated out the Anointing.
His version occurred between the Questioning
of the Baptist’s Disciples and Jesus’
Preaching in Galilean Villages.
That brings us to another obvious difference,
the setting. Luke put Jesus in Galilee; the other three put Him in Bethany. Still,
another difference is that John identified the woman as Mary, sister of Martha
and Lazarus, whereas the Synoptics allow her to remain anonymous.
These differences lead us to
conclude that we cannot harmonize these accounts, and beg us to ask Luke the
purpose of his account. The other accounts point to Jesus’ burial. Luke’s
clearly points to another purpose – forgiveness. In this case, divine
forgiveness. One who has been forgiven, must love.
One who has been forgiven, must
love. The genius of Luke is to take a similar account, separate it from the
others, and conclude with a different response. We find these differences in
Jesus’ Teaching of the Lord’s Prayer and the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
Matthew and Luke differ in the former, and Luke differs from Matthew and Mark
in the latter. … Take some time later today to examine these various accounts. That
brings me to my second point: the separate responses of Simon the Pharisee and
the unidentified woman.
A question for everyone, including
ourselves, is who is Jesus? Throughout chapter 7, Luke referred to Jesus as
Lord. Here, he identified him only by name. Simon thought to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have
known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a
sinner.”[3]
His dinner guests wondered, “Who is this,
who even forgives sins?”[4]
While Simon and his guests are still wondering who Jesus is, the woman, treats
Jesus as Lord.
It is important to note this, for as
one colleague wrote, Jesus’ establishment of the new Israel, along with its
ethic and the way it reaches out to both gentiles and Jews and in particular to
sinners, [means that] one must recognize him as Lord and as the human being par excellence. Such recognition
requires both love and faith, two keys to both forgiveness and salvation, and
the grounds for receiving the Lord’s peace. Without these Jesus’ identity
remains a question, and one does not enter into the shalom of the new Israel.[5]
The woman entered the shalom or the
peace of the new Israel, while the others remained outside scratching their
heads. To address Simon’s questions about his identity and the woman’s response,
the Lord Jesus related the parable of a creditor and two debtors.
The parable drew attention to
various degrees of love. The parable did not concern the creditor or the love
that might have inspired his cancellation of the debts. Rather, Jesus focused
on the two whose debt was forgiven and how the degree of their love corresponded
to the amount of debt forgiven them. Simon conceded that the one with the
greater debt forgiven loved his creditor more, which Jesus forcefully accepted.[6]
Simon’s response became Jesus’ point
of departure as he compared the woman’s loving gestures and his host’s limited
welcome. He concluded his comparison stating, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven – for she loved much.” After
this, Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins
are forgiven.”[7]
The part puzzles me. One would think
the woman responded to the Lord because she had been forgiven many sins. Rather,
she first demonstrated her love, and then Jesus forgave her sins. Her response
sprung not from forgiveness but from faith in Jesus as Lord. The woman was
saved by loving faith and her salvation called forth the Lord’s peace.[8]
You see, like the creditor, God
forgives both debtors. Both the woman and Simon have their sins forgiven, and
both responded differently. What separated their responses was their
recognition of Jesus as Lord and Jesus as some guy.
Then, there is this. Jesus said to
the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”[9]
… Where did the woman go? To answer that question, we look at her identity. She
was a notorious sinner from the city, or a woman of the streets. Most likely,
her associates would welcome her. And that, folks, brings me to my third point,
our response.
Where did the woman go? Of course, where
she was welcomed, and the one place she was sure to be welcomed by was the
street. There her associates and clients welcomed her. I know this because I
started and managed a program for Jubilee Soup Kitchen in Pittsburgh entitled I to I, Incarceration to Independence. We served incarcerated mothers at
the Allegheny County Jail. Most of the women were notorious sinners or women of
the street. They were also mothers.
Our goal was to assist them
transition from incarceration to independence by providing counsel, support,
clothing and housing resources once released so that they did not have to
return to the street where they would be welcomed by their associates and
clients.
There are few things less depressing
than 30-year-old mothers in orange jumpsuits talking about how they miss their children
and how awful they feel about their choices. There are few things less
frustrating than working with incarcerated women who return to the streets and
then to prison.
So, where did this woman go? One
would think that she returned to the streets, but as one scholar concluded, she
needed a community of people like her. She needed a community of notorious
sinners forgiven and loved by the Lord Jesus. She needed the Church.[10]
In the concluding verses of today’s
passage, women healed of evil spirits and infirmities went with Jesus and the
Twelve proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. I assume
the unidentified woman was among them.
Folks, one who has been forgiven,
must love. We, notorious sinners, loved and forgiven by the Lord Jesus, are
called to love. Jesus calls you to love much. Love like the woman, not Simon.
Love much, not with measure. Love with tears of repentance and tears of joy.
Loving much does not mean you must
minister to incarcerated mothers or travel on mission trips. Loving much means
hospitality for notorious sinners who need a community, who need a Church.
Loving much means being part of that Church, that community of notorious
sinners healed of evil spirits and infirmities that proclaims and brings the
good news of God’s kingdom to people in our villages today.
Friends, like the companions of
Jesus, we are blessed to be part of that community of notorious sinners
forgiven by the Lord Jesus. Knowing Jesus as Lord and knowing we are forgiven
is reason enough to love much and to welcome others to join us.
This week, ask someone to join us.
Ask your family and your friends, but more importantly, ask the people you
consider the most notorious sinners to join us. Tell them that we are notorious
sinners forgiven by the Lord. Tell them that we have joy in our hearts like the
unidentified woman and invite them to join us. When you do, the peace
of God that surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
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