Sermon for Pentecost 3

Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 13, 2010
Luke 7:36-8:3
Never too close

In the name of Jesus, amen. We certainly know that it is possible to be too close to something. Learning to drive, my mother had her foot jammed on the imaginary brake pedal on the passenger side of the car. You’re too close. You’re too close. We’ve likely met people who do not have a concept of personal space, and they get too close for our comfort. We repeatedly warn our children that they are too close to the stove, too close to the pool, too close to the road, too close to the edge of the bed. Being too closely involved in a situation can compromise our ability to think clearly and rationally.

Our Gospel lesson portrays for us the distance we believe is appropriate and the distance that God considers to be the right amount.

Simon the Pharisee wanted to talk with Jesus, have a conversation with him, maybe even learn from him. Jesus was a very popular figure, and Simon wanted to learn what was going on. Jesus came for a meal and as he reclined at table with his host and the other guests, here comes this woman. Our bulletin cover does a very fine job depicting this story. You can see the bottle of ointment. You can see the woman humbling herself at Jesus’ feet. You can also see the anger, confusion, hostility, amusement on the faces of the older men.

If Jesus was as great as everyone says he is, if Jesus was really a prophet, then he’d know that this woman has no business doing what she is doing. If Jesus was really a prophet, he’d send this woman away for she is a sinner.

Jesus did indeed know this woman. And her appearance opened the door for Jesus to teach. A banker forgave the debts of two people, one who owed five hundred bucks and the other who owed fifty. Both of the people would love the banker for forgiving their debts, but the one who had his five hundred dollar debt cancelled would love the banker the most.

This woman owed at least five hundred bucks. She was a sinner. When she heard that Jesus was in town, she searched him out, washed his feet, dried those feet, and anointed them with oil. She owed a tremendous amount and her great debt was cancelled. Her great debt was expunged, wiped away, forgiven. She was forgiven a great deal and she loved much. She drew close to Jesus, even though she should have never been allowed to enter the room. Simon, who in his mind owed nothing, kept his distance from Jesus. He did not allow himself to get too close.

Simon had invited Jesus, had brought Jesus in, yet Simon kept Jesus away. He didn’t want to get too close to Jesus, because something might happen. Simon was right. Jesus happened. Jesus did what His Father and our Father sent him to do- forgive sins. Jesus lived up to his name, and this woman, who owed much, who carried a tremendous load, this woman was forgiven and had her burden removed. Jesus received this sinner. He welcomed her and brought her close for the sake of restoring her life, of saving her. Your faith has saved you, go in peace.

Sin had strangled the life from her. Faith in Christ brought her life back. In a world of hostility this woman found peace in Jesus.

Forgiveness. Healing. Peace. Closeness. Jesus. All of those things go together. Sin. Shame. Hostility. Distance. All of those things go together as well. Jesus came near to Simon, yet Simon kept him away, held Jesus at a distance. I don’t need you to come close, so do not bother. I am not a sinner so I have nothing I need forgiven.

How sad. God does not like the distance that sin creates. There is a distance between God and humanity and a distance between one person and another. And this distance is the result of our sinful identity, our sinful nature. We have a sinful condition. In thought, word, and deed we have sinned against God and one another. We have put ourselves first, and everyone else is a distant fourth. We have sought the easy way, the smooth way, the path of least resistance, even if that means a bumpy and hard path for everybody else.

That distance that God dislikes? It was created by us. By drawing close to Bathsheeba, the wife of Uriah, David sinned and David created a gulf between him and God. And David thought that he had taken care of things. Bathsheeba mourned for her dead husband the appropriate number of days, then David took Bathsheeba as his wife and when Bathsheeba gave birth to the child, no one would know what had happened. God knew. And David still knew. You can try to bury something in the closet, can try to sweep all things under the rug, but it’s still there.

David created the distance and God is the one who acted. Nathan came with that wonderful story, a story about David crafted so masterfully that David was angry at himself without even knowing it! That man, the rich man who stole the poor man’s ewe lamb, that man deserves to die! Spot on. David, who stole Uriah’s wife, and then had Uriah killed, David deserved to die. David was a sinner. Sinners deserve to die. Sinners create the distance because they are trying to escape from God, they want out from under God’s presence.

Yet God acts. God acts in a way that we would not. When people hurt us, sin against us, we leave them. We do not put up with people who are abusive to us, who ignore us, who treat us so shabbily. Thank God that God is God and we are not! God acts by drawing close to us who seek to be so far from God.

Through Nathan God announced his intense displeasure of sin. And Nathan also declared God’s longing to draw close and forgive those sins of all who repent. David was forgiven. The woman was forgiven. I am forgiven. You are forgiven.

By the power of the Holy Spirit we are where we are today, in church, in God’s House, to draw near to God and confess our sins. God draws near to us in Christ and those sins are forgiven. Tears stream down our cheeks, yet it is God who washes us, in the water of Holy Baptism, and we are cleansed. We hunger for God’s presence and it is God who invites us to his table and He prepares a meal of love and acceptance and forgiveness. God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- draws close to us because that is where God desires to be. God wants to be close to us and He is. He is never too close. SDG