Jesus is Coming to Dinner

           Luke 7:26-50

            I remember a skit that we used to do when I worked at Bible camp.  It was called “Jesus is coming to dinner.”  A visitor comes and knocks on the host’s door and asks for food.  The host turns the visitor away without any food.  Another visitor comes and knocks on the host’s door and asks to use the bathroom.  The host says no and shuts the door.  The next visitor to knock on the door asks to use the phone.  But the host again closes the door providing no help to the visitor.  The host was too busy preparing for Jesus to come to dinner, to assist the visitors with their needs.  Lo and behold, Jesus never comes, or at least Jesus doesn’t come in the form that the host was expecting.  Actually it had been Jesus that had come asking for food, a bathroom, and to use the phone.  Jesus had come, but the host was too busy preparing for Jesus’ arrival to even take time to extend hospitality to the one at the door.

            In today’s text, Simon is hosting a dinner party and Jesus has been invited.  You can about imagine what the other guests are thinking, “Jesus is coming to dinner!”  Jesus arrives and dinner begins.  And then in walks a woman—a sinful woman.  I am sure the mood of the guests took a nosedive.  Who does this sinful woman think she is that she can just waltz into our dinner party, uninvited?  And then the woman begins washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and drying them off with her hair.  She kisses his feet and anoints them with ointment.  Who does that?  Surely Simon didn’t do that when Jesus arrived.

            In fact, Simon was not a very good host at this dinner party.  It was custom at the time for the host to provide a basin of water for the guests to wash their feet when they arrived at the host’s house.  After all, Jesus had just come from walking the dusty roads in sandals or maybe with no shoes at all.  His feet were dirty and tired.  They probably could have used a good soak in some warm water.  Simon must have been too busy preparing for Jesus to come to dinner to take the time to extend a hand of hospitality to him when he arrived.  So here we have it—Simon the inhospitable host.

            The hospitable one in this story is actually the uninvited sinful woman.  She takes it upon herself to welcome Jesus properly.  She does the unthinkable by using her tears to wash Jesus’ feet and using her hair to dry them off.  She kisses his feet and anoints them.  Simon thinks this is absolutely inappropriate.  He wonders why Jesus is allowing such a woman, a sinful woman, to wash his feet.  After all, as Jesus allows this sinful and unclean woman to wash his feet, he is becoming unclean in the process.  Simon thinks this is crazy, but we know that this is not new for Jesus.  Jesus often spends his time with the outcasts, poor, the unclean, and sinners.  In fact, Jesus appreciates this sinful woman’s hospitality.

            Jesus takes this opportunity to prove a point to Simon by telling a parable about two debtors.  Their debts are of differing amounts, but both of the debts are canceled.  Now I would love it if Jesus were really talking about canceling debt.  I know I have a large amount of educational debt that I would love to be canceled.  But, Jesus is talking about another type of debt here.  This debt is sin—the same sin that we are in bondage to, as well.  The debtors are meant to resemble Simon and the sinful woman.  The one who has the greater debt loves more.  The sinful woman in this story shows more love to Jesus.  She is hospitable.  She does this because she knows she is sinful and knows that she is in need of forgiveness.  Simon on the other hand is also sinful.  In fact, we are all sinful.  But Simon seems unaware of his sin.  He does not seem to know that he needs forgiveness.  Those who are forgiven much, love much.  Those who are forgiven little, love little.  Their debts are canceled.  Their sins are forgiven. 

            As a result of the forgiveness granted, the other guests at the dinner party begin to question the identity of this person that is granting forgiveness.  I imagine we might have done the same thing if we were guests at Simon’s house that day.  They wonder if this person may be a prophet.  In fact, this person is more than just a prophet.  This person is Jesus.  This person is God’s Son.  This person is God.  This person is the one who has the ability to forgive the sins of the sinful woman, of Simon, and of us.

            So who am I in this story?  Who are you in this story?  Sometimes we might be like the sinful woman.  We might know that we are sinful and are in need of forgiveness.  This happens when we are able to honestly look inward at our own sinful nature.  At other times, we might be like Simon.  We might be completely oblivious to our sin and therefore unaware of our need for forgiveness.  Most often this happens when our eyes are so focused outward on the sins and shortcomings of others that we are unable to recognize our own sin.  Regardless, our debts are canceled.  Our sins are forgiven. 

            Do we receive forgiveness for our sins because we have already shown love?  Or are we forgiven of our sins so that we may begin to show love?  On one hand, love is a response to forgiveness.  On the other hand, the ability to love can be related to the ability to receive forgiveness. 

            Love and forgiveness are so closely related.  This story from 2005 illustrates that point, as well.  In June of 2005, Pastor Eileen Harris’ life was changed forever. She came home one evening to discover that her home had been robbed by, Russell, the man who cleaned her home.  Her husband, who was also a pastor, and her 24 year old daughter were killed and their home was set on fire.  The housecleaner was sentenced to life in prison and if the case would have gone to trial he likely would have received the death penalty.  However, Pastor Eileen did not let the case go to trial.  She said, “Because I value the gift of life and I know God forgives and loves all of us, especially you, Russell, I support a sentence of natural life.”  Pastor Eileen took forgiveness and love to the nth degree.  That level of forgiveness and love might be one we cannot even fathom, but may it set an example for us.

            Now I don’t want it to seem like I am telling you that you must do x, y, and z in order to be forgiven.  We know that is not true.  We know that our forgiveness was secured through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  However, we are not just off the hook and free to do whatever we please, knowing that we will just automatically be forgiven.  We, as Christians, are called to act in response to the forgiveness we have been given.  One possible response is that we are called to be hospitable to the stranger—the one in our midst.  In doing this we are also being hospitable to Jesus.  We are showing love to God and the stranger.

            Now I know that we do get some strangers, some visitors here at South Canyon.  What would you do if someone showed up and you knew that they were new to our community.  What if you got to church and someone was already sitting in your pew—you know the one that has your imprint on it?  Maybe you would just go and sit somewhere else and ignore the stranger in your pew.  Maybe you would sit next to the stranger and still ignore them.  Maybe you would sit next to the stranger and actually welcome them.  If their feet were tired and dirty would you be willing to use your tears and hair to wash their feet?  What if this person was Jesus?  May we, who continue to be forgiven much, continue to love much, because we never know when Jesus might actually show up for dinner.  Amen.

Unexpected

Luke 7:1-10

Unexpected.  That is what our text for today is.  A centurion with faith in Jesus.  As a Roman centurion this man spends his days giving orders to his servants and having those orders obeyed.  In his own words, “I say to one ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”  As a member of the Roman military he would have been a Gentile, a non-Christian  Yet he was asking Jesus to heal his servant.  His servant was a man of faith, more specifically he is the one who had built their synagogue.  It is unexpected that the centurion is even attempting to communicate with Jesus, but the way in which he asks for healing for his slave is the most unexpected.  He apparently has enough trust or belief in Jesus to know that Jesus can heal the slave.  He even believes that Jesus is powerful enough to command him to be healed, even from afar, without even seeing the servant.  Yet, Jesus is not even concerned that the Roman centurion is making this request.  As one who does not draw lines between insiders and outsiders, Jesus willingly travels with the Jewish elders toward the home of the centurion.  Jesus is amazed by this man’s faith, the way he believes that Jesus can just command the servant to be healed, and responds, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  This is truly an unexpected request from and unexpected person with unexpected faith.

I don’t think the unexpected faith of the centurion is a one time instance.  It is in unexpected events that faith is often strongly impacted.  When I think about the unexpected, the first thing I think of  is the sudden death of a loved one.  I saw this happen to several families while I was doing my summer unit of chaplaincy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  The most unexpected situation that I encountered one night was a 17-year-old patient who had recently undergone open-heart surgery at another hospital.  While he was in that hospital he developed MRSA, which is an antibiotic resistant staph infection.  As his condition continued to worsen the family decided to have him transferred to Mayo for a second opinion.  I met the patient and his family at 11pm on a Thursday night.  He was awake and alert.  He was asking many questions of the medical staff.  Throughout the night his condition worsened and at 4am I was called to come back to be with his parents.  They were a Roman Catholic family with deep faith.  They had seven children and had lost a set of twins at birth.  The patient was the third oldest of his siblings.  He was an athlete and was going to be a senior in high school.  As his parents and I walked the hallway together praying the rosary I kept thinking about the life of this teenage boy.  He was sick.  He was suffering.  His once normal earthly life had gone awry.  Then he died on Saturday afternoon after several surgeries on his heart and a few episodes of cardiac arrest.  His family was heartbroken, but still filled with a profound sense of faith, even though they had faced the unexpected.

Yes, faith comes out of death, but faith also comes out of life, especially unexpected life.  Many of you know Brad W., who continues to be a living miracle.  On May 24, 2012 he suffered a severe heart attack with lack of oxygen and low blood flow for twenty minutes.  Doctors gave him only a five percent chance to live and a less than five percent chance to live with his faculties intact.  He spent ten days in a coma.  One year ago this weekend he opened his eyes for the first time since his heart attack.  Then on June 9^th, about 385 hours after the attack he began to speak.  That is five times longer than doctors want after brain injury.  Each time Brad’s family went to make a medical decision God intervened and made the decision for them.  When they began end of life discussions he started moving and opening his eyes.  When they discussed moving him a long term acute care facility across the state he started talking.  When they began talking about rehabilitation he improved fast enough to stay in Rapid at the rehab hospital.  God’s care and peace carried Brad and his family through this unexpected event.  Throughout the past year as we have heard stories of his recovery we have all been amazed by his unexpected recovery and his life. 

Unexpected faith comes out of other unexpected events in our world, as well.  As runners at the Boston Marathon ran to donate blood after the bombings, faith was restored in a world that had just been shaken by death and explosion.  After tornados hit Oklahoma an outpouring of support came from across the country and faith was present again.  When the hungry and homeless in our community walk into Trinity Lutheran and other downtown churches and receive care through prayer, food, and other necessities faith is re-established.  We often rally together to support others because of our faith.

It is in the face of death, life, and other unexpected events that seeds are planted in people and they begin to see the good that is happening around them.  We know that good to be God, but others may have not named it as such in their lives.  It is likely that each one of us can think of at least one person who is not a Christian or is not currently involved in a community of faith.  Those are the centurions in our midst.  It is through the expected and unexpected work of you and me that faith is passed along.  We, as members of the body of Christ, have that ability.  In daily life we have the opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel with those who are on the inside and those who are on the outside.  As people who share the presence of the risen Christ through our words and actions, we have the power to influence the faith of others.  We have the ability to plant seeds in the lives of the centurions around us, which could lead others to unexpected faith and belief in the God, who we call good.  Let us all be agents of that unexpected faith.  Amen.