Debts Forgiven

June 17, 2007     Proper 6 C

1 Kings 21:1-10, 15-21a        Psalm 5:1-8

Galatians 2:15-21St.        Luke 7:36-8:3

The Gospel has two distinct parts. The first is set in a dinner party. Simon, righteous as God, invites Jesus, but to be roasted rather than toasted. Simon the Pharisee does not extend the usual mannerly welcome to Jesus. Jesus in turn does his usual welcome to a woman of "her kind".

For a woman, whom it is assumed, is a public sinner enters the scene and wordlessly welcomes Jesus with signs of tender and gentle care. They are attracted to each other: she for his reputation of kindness, and he for her reputation of injured violation.

Simon is not attracted to either and murmurs to himself.

Jesus offers Simon a little story to demonstrate what exactly is going on here. Then Jesus sends her away, not banishing or dismissing, but returning her to her dignity by being forgiven for who ever she had been in the past. He sends her back to living without regret or shame.

Of course the others at table want to shout out about "justice!" but they murmur and question, which is in fact an affirmation about who this is who forgives sin.

The second section of today's Gospel is about a group of women who follow Jesus and who take good care of Him and the apostles. These women, as with the woman of the first section of this narrative, were cured of body and spirit. I would like, this morning, however, to focus on the first section only.

Though similar to stories reported in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8, Luke's report appears to be an independent tradition. Sensitivity to the cultural world in which this story originated makes it possible to highlight a few of Luke's special interests.

The central point of this story, forgiveness of sin, hinges on first-century Mediterranean peasant understanding of debt. Scholars estimate that excessive claims upon meager peasant resources  (tithes, taxes, tribute, and tolls) consumed between 35 and 40 percent of total agricultural production. The path to enormous indebtedness required but a few small steps.

Peasants who were unable to repay their loans lost their land and became tenant sharecroppers. When this, too, failed, they were driven from their ancestral land. Since the scriptural evidence indicates that Jesus was known by all to be fromNazareth yet his ancestral ties extended back to Bethlehem, scholars suggest that at some point in history his ancestors experienced precisely this kind of fate. Such dispossessed people who lost their land frequently became artisans like Joseph and Jesus.

It is this experience of material indebtedness and both the hope and possibility of its forgiveness as in Jesus' parable (and the Lord's Prayer) that helped a peasant to understand the forgiveness of sin. Jesus' question to Simon the Pharisee was easy to answer: a person forgiven a large debt would exhibit greater gratitude than someone forgiven a smaller debt.

Our ancestors typically judged each other by external features and actions (such as in the searching for a replacement for King Saul in 1 Sam 16:7). Anyone who witnessed the woman's uninhibited display of love and gratitude could conclude from her actions that she had already experienced forgiveness of sin. "Her many sins have surely been forgiven by God since she has shown such love."

Luke also paints a deliberate contrast between the Pharisee and the woman. By inviting Jesus to a meal, the Pharisee recognizes Jesus as an equal. In the Mediterranean world, only equals can invite each other to meals. But after Jesus' arrival, the Pharisee extends no other sign of hospitality, suggesting that he does not accept Jesus for who he is: God's prophet.

The woman stands in stark contrast. The story tells us she was a sinner but gives not a clue regarding the nature of her sin. Though her sinful reputation was known in the city, we do not know what city it was. That she boldly enters the men's space (reclining at table) and is not impeded by Simon suggests she might be a widow, but Simon's neglect may also be part of his determination to withhold signs of hospitality and respect for Jesus.

The woman, however, performs for Jesus all the signs of hospitality that the Pharisee quite intentionally omitted: she provides water for cleansing (v. 44), tenders a kiss of greeting (v. 45), and provides perfumed oil for anointing (v. 46). It is precisely these deeds that tell us the woman has been forgiven. Simon's refusal to act like a host indicates that he has not experienced, perhaps not even sought, forgiveness.

Contemporary Western commitments to equality as a cultural value often make it difficult to perceive other cultures respectfully on their own terms. In today's story, what the woman has done for Jesus is much more important than her alleged reputation or status. This woman has learned how to live her forgiveness.

Unlike the Pharisee, who has the good social standing, but lacks any concern for who Jesus is and what he has come to do, this woman, who for all intents and purposes is a social outcast, realizes who Jesus is, and is willing to accept what he can do: forgive sins. This woman, rejected by society, and not the respected Pharisee, becomes for us the model of forgiveness. She has been forgiven much, and shows much love. Jesus calls us to do likewise.