Sunday, June 13, 2010

Gender Bending with Jesus, Luke 7:36 to 8:3, Proper 6C

Jesus’ ministry was all about building the New Community of God usually referred to by him as the reign of God or the kingdom of God. A community where everyone was welcome and loved, respected and appreciated, wanted and included. His attempts to bring all of the people living on the edges of society into the Community he was building was one of the major sources of his conflict with the religious authorities of his day, and through them with the Roman officials who ruled over the known world at that time.

Jesus went about bending the accepted religious rules and expectations almost to the breaking point. His demonstration of acceptance of the lame, the widow, the orphans, the rejects of society, those cast out due to illness or injury, and those cast out due to their being perceived as unclean and sinful was more than the religious leaders of his day could stomach. The way that Jesus bent their carefully structured society which had been developed to keep out those who didn’t live up to the expectations of those religious leaders caused them to reject Jesus and eventually demand his death.

Today’s story may sound familiar to you. During Lent we read about how the sister of Lazarus, Mary, did exactly the same thing as the woman in this story does for Jesus. In fact, there are four very different versions in the gospels of women washing Jesus’ feet with their tears, drying his feet with their hair, and anointing him with expensive oil or perfume. Did these kinds of things happen to Jesus all the time, or is there something going on here that we need to think about? I have told you several times that these stories of Jesus are collections of remembrances that were finally written down a very long time after Jesus lived, some of them more than 60 years later, two or three or more generations after Jesus walked the earth. Each author of the gospels wrote his remembrances for a different community and for different reasons and therefore took the collections of stories and wrote them with a creative purpose to explain the meaning of Jesus’ life and teachings. These are not factual blow by blow descriptions of exactly what happened to Jesus as he traveled around the country from Nazareth to Galilee to Capernaum to Jerusalem. Three of the books cover less than a year in the life of Jesus sometimes as short as six months, the fourth gospel talks about three years of his ministry. That’s one of the reasons you can’t read these stories as literally true, even though they are very spiritually true. The stories were written to help us understand the truth about Christ and his teachings without being factually true themselves. That wasn’t a problem for those who first heard these stories, and it shouldn’t be a problem for us today.

In the case of the story of a woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and anoints him with precious oils we have four versions of what may have been only one event, but the event was so significant that it is told four different ways all of them emphasizing some aspect of the story that the other three do not.

Today’s reading is a very special case in point as we are introduced to a woman of the city, a phrase used to often refer to a prostitute, but could have been used to refer to any woman that was being forced by economics and social status into an undesirable kind of work, or work that others believed made her ritually unclean. It could have been being a midwife, especially a midwife that took care of Gentile women. That would have made her unclean because she would have come into contact with blood. It could have been that this woman has a job in a tanning firm handling dead animals or even as simple as dyeing clothing, also a job looked upon as somehow unclean. Whatever her situation, the fact is that she probably had no choice about what she was forced into doing. Perhaps she was a widow raising children who was forced into prostitution because it offered her the only way to economically take care of her children. Being crippled or having a disease or illness could also have been among the reasons for her being thought of as unclean. Whatever her situation the author of today’s passage tells us that the reasons for her being thought of as unclean were very numerous.

Last week we saw how Jesus restored economically and socially a widow whose only son had died. By bringing her son back to life Jesus gave her back her own life, too. Do you remember that the passage said that Jesus saw the woman and had compassion upon her? Throughout the gospel of Luke we observe Jesus often seeing persons that others overlook, and telling others to really look at each other with compassion and love, to really see the other as he or she is and stop looking at just their circumstances or their perceived sinfulness. Behind every circumstance is a reason or a story that needs to be told and understood in order to truthfully give the kind of help and hope that another needs in his or her life.

I’m privy to lots of information about other people that many of you will never know. People tell me about their lives and I have to keep that information private unless they allow me to share it with you in the form of a prayer request. Often you ask me what’s going on in another person’s life usually by asking me why that person hasn’t been in church. I usually respond by telling you to call them or email them and ask them yourself in the hopes that you will begin to build a caring, hopeful relationship with them. But the fact remains that many people aren’t in church today because of problems and circumstances in their own lives that prevent them from coming to church: illness, work, broken relationships, depression, lack of funds for gasoline for their car or a bus ticket, and many more reasons. We often fail to ‘really see’ those who are not in church because we haven’t gone out of our way to relate to them like Jesus wants us to relate to each other within this New Community of God we call Emerald City Metropolitan Community Church.

Don’t misunderstand me. Sometimes you and I do get it right. Sometimes we do see the other person just as God sees him or her and we give them our love and our help, our encouragement and hope and we change their lives for the better and they are thankful to us for that. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will come back and worship with us. We don’t give love and care to others so that we will get something out of it. And that’s part of the main understanding we should get from today’s gospel story. We give love and care to others because that is who we are and what we do because of our relationship with God. Loving and caring for others is a natural outcome of our having received love and care from God.

On this particular day Jesus has accepted a dinner invitation to Simon’s home. They are reclining at the table with their feet pointed away from the table as was the custom of that day. Jesus is probably reclining next to Simon. Somehow, it isn’t explained, a woman of street comes into the dinner and stands or sits at Jesus’ feet whereupon she begins to cry profusely, uses her tears to wash his feet, then lets down her hair, something a married woman would never do in public, dries his feet with her hair perhaps because it was the only thing she had to do it with, and then taking the expensive perfume she has brought in an equally expensive bottle and begins to sensuously massage his feet. And all this time she is constantly kissing his feet. This is a very sexually charged picture even though no sex happens.

Simon, and probably all the male religious leaders present, are appalled and shocked at the inappropriateness of this woman’s actions. If Jesus were truly a prophet he would know that this woman is a sinner and he would not let her touch him and make him unclean with her un-cleanliness. Or that’s what they are thinking. Jesus knows this. Jesus is very tuned into his society and how people think. That’s what makes him such a good teacher, because he uses their own thoughts and feelings to teach them new lessons they might not learn any other way except by having their expectations and their rules and regulations called into question.

Jesus turns to Simon and tells him a parable about two debtors. One man owes almost two years worth of salary to the moneylender. The other owes about two months of his salary to the moneylender. Neither can pay the debt. The money lender has a choice. He can send the men to prison until their families pay off the debt for them or he can forgive them their debt. Unbelievably the money lender in the parable forgives their debts completely. They owe him nothing. They are no longer indebted to him. Then Jesus asks his host Simon which of the men would love the moneylender the most?

I was struck by the question when I first read it. What’s love got to do with it? I had to think about that for awhile. What is love? Appreciation of another that makes my life better than it would be without them. Thanksgiving for what the blessings the other brings to the relationship. Joy at how the other person relates to you and you to them. Appreciation, thanksgiving, and joy. Yeah, which of the two men loves the moneylender the most?

Can’t you just hear Simon reluctantly answering the question, sort of knowing where Jesus is going with this parable but not wanting to admit it, “Well, I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”

Right you are, Simon! But tell me Simon, do you really see this woman, do you know and understand who she is, what her life is like, why she has been forced into the life she has accepted which you find so objectionable?

Listen, dear friends, it makes all the difference in the world when you understand another person’s situation, how they got there, why they are still there, what they are trying to do to change that situation for the better. We’re too quick to condemn other people. We blame the victim instead of asking why society can’t change so that there are fewer victims. Jesus calls into question his society and how it treats such persons as this woman. Jesus is asking Simon to truly see this woman and her situation; especially why she is extravagantly pouring out an expression of love toward Jesus. Why is she doing what she is doing? Think about it Simon.

I’d like to think, that Jesus, lovingly and tenderly, begins to explain things to Simon. When he came into Simon’s home Simon refused to take upon himself the expected role of the male host and have Jesus’ feet washed, a customary gift of host to guest in their society. Simon could have had a servant do this, but he didn’t. Why? For the same reason we often refuse to shake another person’s hand when because we want them to know we don’t accept them. Have you ever avoided someone during our passing of the peace? You know, run around the other way so you didn’t have to shake their hand or heaven forbid hug them.

But that’s not all that Simon refused to do. Simon also refused to give Jesus the customary kiss of greeting that men in that society gave to each other. Much like you or I would refuse to give a kiss of greeting to someone at a family reunion because of a long held hostility toward them.

Not only that, but if an honored guest came to your home in that day you might have had a prayer said for them while their head was anointed with oil, much like we do for those who want anointing and a prayer for healing in our communion. Such was an extreme honor and told how very much you honored the other person.

But Simon refused to do all of those things for Jesus. Simon refused to take the role of a male host and give to Jesus what was due Jesus. Simon failed to live up to his gender role expectations.

But, there was someone who did do for Jesus that day what Simon refused to do. It was the woman from the city, the street lady, who did for Jesus what Simon refused to do, she washed his feet with her copious tears, dried them with her long hair thus transforming a sign of public inappropriateness into a sign of respect and love and care. But she didn’t stop there. She kissed his feet and according to the scripture didn’t stop kissing them. Simon refused to give Jesus an ordinary kiss of greeting, but this woman is profusely kissing him, greeting him, welcoming him into her life.

Simon refused to bless Jesus by anointing him with oil on his head, but this woman pours out an outrageously expensive bottle of perfume and deep massages it into Jesus’ feet, caring for him, blessing him, loving him, sacrificing for him.

This woman takes upon herself the role of a male host and transforms the evening for everyone into something unexpected and glorious if they would only just see it, really see her and what she was doing. Jesus sees it. The author of this gospel sees it. The people who first heard this story read to them saw it. The question is do we see it. More importantly do we understand it. Do we get the lesson that is being taught?

Jesus’ parable and his statements tell us that this woman’s outpouring of love toward Jesus is the result of her having already been forgiven of her many sins. Whatever those sins where, they no longer exist. Her life has been changed by God. She is not the same person that Simon thinks she still is. She is beloved by God and because of God’s love for her she is now abundantly pouring out love for Jesus.

We are often faced with situations in which we are called upon to demonstrate the kind of person we are, the kind of disciple to Christ that we are, the kind of lover of God that we are. What should we do in situations where there is a need, especially when there is something that we can do to help the other person.

Someone gave me a bag of muffins a couple of weeks ago. As I drove home thinking about the muffins and how good they would taste with a cup of coffee I stopped at a corner and there was a man who said, “Can you help me. Anything would help. Whatever you can do. I’m homeless. I have no money. I can’t find work even though I’m looking.” Suddenly I didn’t want the muffins anymore and I gave the man the muffins and the half of a sub sandwich I had just bought. I’ll never forget the smile on that man’s face as he walked away.

I never understood it as a youngster, but my father had a favorite saying in such situations, “If you have to stop and think about what you are going to do, then perhaps you aren’t really a Christian.” I now understand. God’s love and forgiveness to me, should overflow from my life with love and forgiveness, acceptance and welcome, inclusion and hope for others.

Jesus’ followers bent the gender rules of their day almost to the breaking point. Women left their expected gender roles in the home, caring for children, taking care of the family and went on the road with Jesus and the boys. Women were disciples of Christ. Women ministered to others in his name just like the boys did. Women supported the ministry of Jesus out of their own wealth. Women were often the only ones present at critical moments in Christ’s life: at the foot of the cross when the men ran away in fear for their own lives, and in lonely graveyard on a cold dark Easter morning. Jesus made a special resurrection appearance to a woman named Mary. Women were in the upper room when Christ appeared to all of them after his resurrection. Women were at Pentecost when thousands came to faith in a single day and believe me when I tell you that they also preached about their experience with Jesus just like the men did. They couldn’t have done anything else because the spirit of God had filled them to overflowing. Women preached and taught and cared and shared the love of Jesus with the world around them in amazing ways then and now. No matter what our fundamentalist religious friends tell us, women can do it all. In Christ there is no male nor female.

But, the boys bent the gender rules, too. Don’t forget that Christ washed the feet of his own disciples, often cooked for them and may have performed other so-called feminine role expectations in his relationship with them. Jesus and the boys didn’t live up to the gender expectations of their day. They didn’t marry, they didn’t have regular jobs, they took off on a journey of faith following an itinerant preacher around from village to village. Jesus and his followers were gender benders to the extreme in order to achieve the dream of a creating a New Community of Love and Hope of Welcome and Inclusion, of healing and recovery, of social and economic justice for all. In more ways than had ever occurred previously their little band was a society of equals and a place where gender didn’t matter so much as loving others because God first loved them.

The unnamed woman in today’s story demonstrated by her extravagant actions, by her sacrificial love, by her pouring out of an expensive perfume, the very same things that Jesus would do when he faced the threat of violence and refused to return violence but instead demonstrated by his peaceful, extravagant actions a sacrificial love by pouring out of his own life and love for all of us so that you and I might know that God loves us supremely and wants to fill us with God’s kind of love that freely overflows from our lives outward into the lives of everyone else we are in relationship with, no matter who they are. And to achieve that might mean that you and I have to bend the gender rules of our society, too, just like Jesus and his followers did so very long ago.

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