For Sunday, June 12, 2016 – Luke 7:36-8:3
No one enjoys a dinner party more than Jesus. He so enjoys them that even when one of the Pharisees, who often like to trap him in some detail of religious law, asks him over, he doesn’t hesitate to accept the invitation. But won’t a Pharisee host hover over every detail, monitoring the proper placement of napkins, steering the conversations and restraining the natural flow of the evening? Who needs the glare of constant scrutiny? But this is not “just another Pharisee” but Simon, who is curious about Jesus and laid back about the standard rituals. He doesn’t even wash the feet of his guests, and he leaves his doors open, allowing the uninvited to come in off the street. Simon is not just any Pharisee. Do we see him?
Because Simon’s doors are open, something new happens: a “woman in the city, who was a sinner” (imagine what you will) finds her way in. She has been following Jesus, watching him, learning his ways. She is not likely to be on any guest list, and would not be welcome in most Pharisees’ homes, but sees the open door as her invitation. She even brings a gift, a jar of precious ointment typically reserved for anointing a body at burial. She kneels at Jesus’ feet, kissing them and bathing them with her tears, holding nothing in reserve, pouring out all of the expensive ointment. What kind of woman is this, who gives so lavishly? Do we see her?
And what kind of “prophet” is Jesus, Simon wonders, to allow this sort of woman to touch and caress him? He knows what a prophet is, someone austere who boldly speaks words of judgment and truth. Not someone who openly enjoys the intimacy of human touch. “Do you see her?” Jesus asks Simon. Which is also to say, “Do you see me? A prophet shouting loudly with his life, pointing the way to God’s lavish love and forgiveness.”
Whether or not we really see each other, not as caricatures but as unique icons of God’s image, makes all the difference. Otherwise we miss the wondrous complexity of our human condition. We judge each other and hold back parts of ourselves for fear that we will reveal too much. Lavish love says we can be all of who we are. We can unlock our doors and let go of our most precious gifts. We can dare to see, really see, who is at the party.
