“The Circle is Widening”
Luke 7:36-8:3
Sunday, June 16, 2013
4th Sunday after Pentecost

This morning Luke brings us a story that surprised its First Century audience and it may surprise us a bit too…The story is about shame and grace…It’s about misunderstanding forgiveness and who has a place at God’s table…It’s about an ever-widening circle that seeks to draw all persons to God.

Luke’s style of storytelling provides vivid details that help us imagine how the people look, the size of the crowds, the dust of the roads, and the smells and sounds that surround us…It is this style that draws us into each narrative as we see in the foreground the disciples, listening to and questioning their Rabbi Jesus…Often, Jesus reaches deeper into the scene and surprises us by drawing our attention to the person we do not at first notice in the story.  Sometimes, the person we don’t notice is less visible to us because of their shame…These are the persons Jesus shines light and love on to release them from their shame.  Remember the stories of lepers healed by Jesus and the demon-possessed released by Jesus…Think of the man at the Pool of Bethsaida; the woman who hemorrhaged for 12 years; or the grieving widow about to bury her only son.  The examples seem endless where we find everyone around Jesus looking past the one whom Jesus recognizes as needing him the most.

Jesus’ message has always been clear…The presence of God is Good News for ALLpeople…everybody…The story today is about God’s graciousness toward a sinner who was considered unworthy to be in Jesus’ presence…She comes to him in her shame and he lifts her up because of her faith…Tomorrow this same story could be about someone else – even you.

Intellectually we affirm that the gospel is for everyone…We are still surprised sometimes at the people Jesus draws in and asks us to love…As often happens in the gospel, truth sneaks up on us…That’s when we’re surprised by what we think we know and what the story actually says.  The woman who brings her shame, her tears, and her faith is often described as a prostitute…Many biblical scholars have advanced this interpretation…However, nothing in the passage suggests this to be true…The Greek word used to describe this woman in the text means “sinner” or “sinful”…It is the same word used earlier in Luke to describe the apostle Peter…Simon Peter’s sin is not named in the gospel and neither is this woman’s sin…I suggest this woman and her shame point to us.

The woman in this story demonstrates her faith by her love for Jesus and her generous gift of the costly ointment…Her compassionate act of bathing his feet with her tears foreshadows Jesus’ own act at the Last Supper…Her action and Jesus’ response become a powerful symbol of God’s passionate love for us and the way God sees our shame.  I believe we spend too much time pondering and naming what sins may have been committed when we should focus on how, in the midst of sinfulness, people are willing to come to Jesus and serve.  The woman with the alabaster jar joins us all who want to follow and serve Jesus…She is broken and flawed like Peter, yet she becomes a means of grace to give glory to God…This gives us hope that we might be lifted from our own shame and participate in God’s story…It also gives hope to those whom we have failed to notice…To others living in shame and kept there by our failure to recognize them.

It seems fairly easy to look at our own lives and recognize many of our flaws and sinfulness…We can run down the list of the Ten Commandments and measure our behavior against those rules…If we’re honest, we probably don’t come out too well in this sort of evaluation…We all have our share of false gods and idol worship…“Lord knows”we use his name inappropriately…We’ve all slept in on a Sunday or two…Who hasn’t disrespected their parents once or twice in a lifetime?  And so on down the line we go…If we narrow things down to the two biggies that Jesus gave us – Love God & Love each other – we’re probably in the same boat when it comes to what we actually DO.  After we’ve gone through this list, we should feel a bit of shame and wonder if we can serve God…But, remember last week – “Confession is breaking up with the me I used to be to become the me God wants me to be…”So we confess to God and all is forgiven.  The problem I see here is that we may have left something out of the equation…In our faithful and honest effort to ponder and name our sins, we fail to include those times when wefocus on the sins of others…We set aside individuals and whole communities of people because we are preoccupied with the nature of their sin and we ignore the nature of their humanity…Today’s text tells us that we are missing the point when we fail to recognize these “others” as being within Jesus’ circle.  The wide net that Jesus casts changes the rules we are accustomed to…Jesus draws a circle around people previously standing at the edge and draws them inside.  For those who stood in these margins, the new boundary lines drawn by God bring them into very pleasant places.

It is to our shame when we fail to realize that God is constantly challenging us to see whatHe sees in every story.  The examples of people who sometimes find themselves on the outside of our circle are many.  Those who are in the grips of substance abuse become identified by their disease and not by their status as God’s children.  Someone whose choices have led them into bad circumstances does not always find a way out of those circumstances through the church.  How often we hear gossip and blame thrown at people based on the sins of an older sibling or parent or even grandparent…“You know thatfamily…mm-m…They’re all alike.”  We even refuse ministry to those whose lifestyle does not fit within our definition of “proper” and ignore the fact that these children of God need us as much as anyone else does.

There is plenty of shame to go around…We should be ashamed of our sins and ashamed when we can’t get past the sins of another and see into their heart as God does.  We should be ashamed when we deny access to Jesus because someone else’s sin is just too horrible for us to imagine…Naming their sin and blaming them for it takes precedent over sharing Christ’s love with sinners such as us.  

I do not want to make this message about a specific issue or cause and miss the point here…However, recent events in the news provide us with an excellent example of what I believe the message of this text really is…You may have heard that the Boy Scouts of America has voted to change its membership guidelines to include gay members.  The controversy and media attention surrounding this decision has been intense.  The United Methodist Church sponsors a large percentage of the Boy Scout troops around the country and it seems that we are now being drawn into the fray. There has been a rather public conversation taking place in the Tulsa WORLD among some United Methodist clergy in the area about what, if anything, our response to this issue should be.  Some are considering withholding their sponsorship of Scout Troops because of this change…Most are leaving this to the Scouts and either not commenting at all or standing in favor of the Scout’s decision.  I want to share the comments of one of our United Methodist pastors in Tulsa as an example of how the church should respond in light of today’s gospel…

“…pulling support from Scouting because of their recent change in stance is a departure from the Resolutions of our Church, which state that ‘homosexual persons no less than heterosexual persons are individuals of sacred worth and that all persons need the ministry and guidance of the church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self.’ (The Book of Discipline, 161F)

An individual confronting his or her own minority sexual orientation and/or that of a close family member, friend, or associate often experiences isolation, confusion, and fear when he or she needs information, guidance, and support.”

Rev. Nathan Mattox, University UMC

When we fail to offer the inclusive love of Jesus to all persons – whether or not we approve of their lifestyle – we share in the shame of the Pharisee who was unwilling to welcome the woman with the alabaster jar.  The gospel tells us that we really have no idea who God may choose to include in God’s circle…I believe God still has surprises in store for us.  The author of Luke pulls a big surprise out of this narrative…He reminds us that Jesus included many unlikely people among his most trusted disciples…God’s good news is made known through the witness of Jesus’ radical inclusivity of all.  God changes the rules in Jesus, which is good news of great joy indeed.  In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen