Bold Forgiveness by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

You know how in your family, people have favorite stories they love to tell, but everyone has their own version of the story, some with wildly different perspectives? One person makes one point with the story and another person makes a different point with the story. Neither is wrong; they are just remembering from their perspective. Today’s gospel reading is an example of one of those stories. A version of today’s story is told in all four gospels but in Matthew, Mark and John, the story comes later in Jesus’ life and the anointing is seen as preparation for Jesus’ burial. In Luke’s gospel, the one we heard today, the story comes earlier in Jesus’ ministry and the focus is on forgiveness.

There are two main characters in this story, besides Jesus. There is the woman who is unnamed. This often happens in the Bible. Women were not seen as important enough to be given a name in the Bible.  All we know about this woman is that she has a reputation as a sinner. Then there is Simon, who is a Pharisee. A Pharisee was a deeply religious Jew who followed the law to the letter. They thought themselves to be righteous men.

As the story goes, Jesus comes to the home of Simon for dinner and the woman crashes the party. She just waltzes in with her alabaster jar of ointment. She starts weeping, so much that she uses her tears to bathe Jesus’ feet. Then she dries his feet with her hair. No respectable woman would have her hair down, by the way. This was another sign that she was a sinner. Then she kisses his feet and anoints them with the ointment.

Simon muttered to himself, in a judgmental way: “If this man were a prophet, he would have known whom and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”

Jesus, of course, always knows what’s going on in the room so he responds to Simon with a parable.

“A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. ⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” ⁴⁸Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

The other guests at the party, presumably other Pharisees, are taken aback and say, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

The woman is forgiven. She is forgiven much. Jesus’ forgiveness for her is bold. And she responds with gratitude. Her gratitude is palpable. She throws caution to the wind and barges into another person’s house. She is a known sinner. We don’t know what her sin is, but presumably the people in her village know. But she does not care. She must see Jesus. Some think she must have seen him earlier and he had already forgiven her. That’s why she was so bold to come into this house and bless Jesus with her tears and with her ointment.

She reacts the way we hope we will act when we realize that we are forgiven. There are no perfect people. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes. You make mistakes. We can beat ourselves up over them. Or we can admit our mistakes to God and ask for forgiveness. God always stands ready to forgive us. That is God’s way. The woman reacts with gratitude and love. I hope that we react with gratitude and love too. I hope that when we realize we are forgiven by God that in our own way we will bless God. I hope that with our tears of joy we will bless Jesus.

Jesus uses the parable of releasing someone from a debt to talk about forgiveness. David Lose writes this of forgiveness: “Forgiveness at heart is the restoration of relationship. It is releasing any claim on someone else for some past injury or offense. That’s why the analogy to a debt works so well. Forgiveness cancels relational debt and opens up the future. … Forgiveness also gives you back yourself. You see, after a while, being indebted, owing others, knowing yourself first and foremost as a sinner -- these realities come to dominate and define you. You are no more and no less than what you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, the debt you owe. When you are forgiven, all those limitations disappear and you are restored, renewed, set free.” (Source: http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2601 ) 

Being forgiven sets us free. I don’t know about you, but I want to be set free from the bondage of my mistakes. I don’t want to be weighed down by all the things I’ve done wrong. The unnamed woman is set free from her mistakes. She is forgiven by Jesus. So are we.

Now what of Simon? Simon and his friends judge Jesus for forgiving the woman. Who does Jesus think that he is? And we judge Simon don’t we? We fall into a trap. We fall into a trap of judging the one who is judging others. And in this way, we fall into sin again. Truth be told, Simon does not even think he needs forgiveness. He is such a righteous man, he thinks he is without sin. That’s why he and his friends are taken aback when Jesus forgives sin. They don’t need anyone to come into their house and forgive sin. They are blameless.

Friends, Simon teaches us that we all need forgiveness. I remember a time when I was in high school. I was going to a lot of youth retreats and church camps. Sometimes the preacher would preach about how we needed to turn away from our sin and give our lives to Jesus. I was a goody two shoes in high school. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear that. (Actually I had my rebellious stage when I was in seminary. I was a late bloomer. But that’s a story for another day.) Anyway, I was a good kid, no smoking, no drinking, no sleeping around. So when the preacher said I needed to leave my sin behind, I was a bit like Simon. I could not think of anything big I needed to change.

Of course I was naïve. Or arrogant. I’m not sure which. Perhaps my sin was pride. Like Simon, I did not see that I needed forgiveness. But of course I did. We all need forgiveness.

How about you? For what do you need to be forgiven? Some of us carry around bags full of old sin. We let it stink up our house. We let it drag us down. We carry it around for years, for decades. The message of this story is: we don’t have to carry it around. Jesus forgives us. Some of us have fresh sin. It is raw. The newness of it makes us tear up when we think about it. In fact, we are still caught by this sin. We want to keep doing it. But on the other hand we want to stop. Jesus forgives us and wants to give us the strength to stop. Some of us have mundane sin. It does not really hurt anyone else, but it hurts us, and it hurts our relationship with God. These are sometimes sins of omission, things we fail to do that we mean to do. Jesus forgives us for these sins of omission and wants to help us do the things we mean to do.

What is holding you back? What is keeping you from receiving Jesus’ forgiveness? Are you like Simon, unable to see your sin? Or is it just something familiar that you are used to holding on to? You don’t know what you would do without it.

Let me give you an invitation. Give it all to Jesus. Give him your mistakes, your brokenness and your sins. Be free. Be forgiven. And then live with gratitude and love, like the unnamed woman in the story. She blessed Jesus, because she was free. Jesus forgives us boldly. So let us receive that forgiveness. And let us live boldly in freedom. Amen.