Whose coming to dinner?

“Who is coming for dinner?” There are times in our house where that question gets asked because things change from what they normally are. And it will usually come from the younger members of the household who want to know the plan and where they might fit into it. There of course will be another familiar question that also gets asked,” What are we having?” and the implication there is “will I be satisfied and will there be enough? Such a question is always directed at those who are hosting such a dinner.    

“Simon the Separated” is the host. Pharisees were the religious elite in the land and they were picky about who they invited to supper. They were very careful about who they allowed themselves to be associated with. And at the same time let us remember that in the ancient Middle East there were people who were invited to the table to participate in the meal and the discussion and then those who simply showed up. They could listen to the conversation but did not participate in the meal. Like the time that Jesus and the disciples showed up at Simon Peter’s house and Peter’s mother in law was sick, in bed with a fever. Jesus went to her and healed her and then the meal began in earnest as the mother in law took over the household. By the end of the evening the whole of the town was outside her door wanting, pleading to be healed and to be near Jesus.

Simon had another reason to ant Jesus under his roof. Simon had every intention of testing Jesus to see what Jesus was like and if they would agree on things. Simon wanted to know if Jesus was like him. Simon was not the most generous of hosts to Jesus he did what he had to be hospitable to this guest but nothing more. There was no one to wash his feet or kiss of greeting. There was no oil (the equivalent of deodorant in this case) offered. There was nothing that said that Jesus was welcome in this place. There was nothing between these two men that suggested that the relationship was anything more than a polite dinner invitation and that it would not be anything more than that. Simon wanted to evaluate Jesus before he made him welcome and made him a friend. Jesus was simply escorted to his place and Jesus reclined with others at the table.

As the meal begins, an unnamed woman, an uninvited guest to Simon’s home, comes from within the crowd and takes the place of a servant at Jesus’ feet. This woman had a large and powerful reputation as a sinner. And as she knelt down beside Jesus’ feet she did two things. First, she began to cry. Not a loud sobbing so as to attract a lot of attention but a steady flow of tears that feel on the feet of Jesus. Tears made Jesus feet wet and she removed the dirt and grime from his feet with her hair. She kissed his feet as a sign of gratefulness and devotion. Then she took a long necked, globular bottle of nard and broke it open and began to rub Jesus’ feet with the ointment. Simon the host watched all of this wondering if Jesus was judging her; wondering if he was any kind of prophet at all because he allowed this reprobate touch him. And Simon passed judgment on them both.    

The interesting thing is, Jesus knew not only who the woman was, he also had Simon’s number as well.  And so he told Simon a parable about making the right call. “Who loves more Simon?” Jesus asked his host, “The one who has little to be forgiven or the one who has been forgiven much?” Simon rolled his eyes and sighed, “The one who has had much forgiven.” Jesus smiled and confirmed, “Simon you have judge rightly. Simon do you really see this woman, she has greeted me and welcomed me in ways that you have not. Simon, this woman has cared for me and shown her devotion towards me when you, my host have not. So she is showing that her sins, and they are many, have been washed away because she has found forgiveness. She has been forgiven and she is going on ahead of you. Simon will you learn to love more?”

Then Jesus did something else he turned to the woman and said, “Your faith has saved you, now go and live in peace.” Why is that important? Jesus sends her on her way so that she can go and live the life God intended to live, at peace and in relationship with him. It is why God created her and why Christ sets her free. And because she is free from the chains of her despair and the desire for revenge, she is free to proclaim what God has done for her – that God has visited and is redeeming his people and raising up his salvation for his people in the house of his servant, David.   

But where does this leave us? I think the best place for us to start is at our table here with Christ. We too need to have the kinds of encounters that both Simon the Pharisee and the unnamed woman had at the table with Jesus. We need to hear and to heed the call to repentance – not because we have been bad but because we are chosen and we are loved.  And out of the experience of being at table with Christ, we need to bring to bear everything that we receive from the Scriptures proclaimed, and everything we hear and receive from preaching as an exhortation to Christian life and living and to pour it out in confessional prayer, in intercessory prayer and in praise and thanks giving because we are people both of freedom and of hope. Too often we have experienced liturgy as: “You’re bad. Yes I know I am bad and there is no health (salvation) in me. You are forgiven. Yes, I know that I am forgiven and that Christ offered himself for me.” We know the theology and we know the words: new let us allow those very thoughts and words to fill us up that God might through them, transform our hearts and minds that we might live life on a new and higher level.  So let us go in peace, to love and to serve the Lord knowing that our faith is making us both whole and new.