3/13/22 Words Put into Action Luke 7

     Luke makes what I find to be a fascinating statement in the middle of our gospel reading, “And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.  But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purposes for themselves.”  To me that is the hub the whole chapter revolves around.

You may remember from last week that we had a special insert in the bulletin.  One side was labeled the Redistributive Economics of Exploitation.  That is the way the world worked in Jesus’ day and is it the way it works now.  The world was like a pyramid with the elite on top down to a large base of people who were being exploited.  It is a world of limited commodities and trading favors.  The other side was labeled the Divine Economy or Promised Compassion.  There God was on top.  Jesus was God’s chief agent, but all Christians were also agents in the world bringing God’s love and mercy to humanity in need.  There is no trading favors, no one more or less deserving.  It is a very different way to live; and a very challenging way to understand God’s way of working in the world.

 Last week we read the great sermon that Jesus gave to a large crowd.  This week the story continues with Jesus’ words being put into action.  And again, it all seems to revolve around receiving or rejecting God’s purposes for life.

In the first scene we meet a centurion who has Jesus heal a beloved servant sort of by “remote control.”  Interpret it in light of the clash of economies.  Look at how the Jewish leaders try to get Jesus to help the centurion.  They say, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.”  Notice they suggest he deserves something from Jesus?  He’s been nice to the Jews now the Jews should be nice to him.  It all makes perfect sense!  But remember, that’s the whole favor trading system of the world. 

What does the centurion say to Jesus?  Does he say that he deserves something good from God, or the God of the Jews, for being a giving person?  He says, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you.  But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” 

There’s no leverage here at all.  All he’s doing is asking for help on behalf of someone else from a person he knows can help.  When Jesus commends the centurion’s faith he is not commending him for trusting that Jesus can help.  He is commending him for embodying what he just taught.  The centurion is acting as an agent of God on behalf of humanity in need.

The next scene is Jesus raising the widow’s son in the village of Nain.  In the previous scene the centurion didn’t want to have Jesus come into his house because he knew that would offend Jewish boundaries of clean and unclean.  In this scene, without anyone asking Jesus to do anything, Jesus does an unclean thing.  He touches the bier of the dead man.  Then he says, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 

There’s nothing about merit or worthiness or deserving or anything like that here.  Jesus is simply God’s agent bringing God’s promised compassion to a situation in need.

Let’s jump to the final scene with the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with her hair.  (We’ll come back to John the Baptist in a minute.)  Jesus is still in Nain and is the guest of honor at a meal hosted by a Pharisee.  Presumably this Pharisee was quite wealthy.  He appears to have the house of a wealthy person, which would include a central courtyard open to the street.  This woman who comes to Jesus did not sneak into the house and go wandering through until she came to the dining room.  The whole event would have been quite open to public view.  She simply saw Jesus there and wanted to express her appreciation of him.

If you are like me, the first image that pops into your mind is some gorgeous young seductress with a reputation in the town.  But there is nothing in the story to suggest that at all.  Luke appears to be deliberately spare on his details about her.  She is just a local woman labeled as a “sinner.”  She could just as easily be an elderly woman with a broken body and sparce hair.  Indeed there are sexual overtones to it all, and that raises the eyebrows of the host as well as the guests.  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, turns the tables on them.

They are thinking that she does not deserve God’s mercy.  Clearly she is a sinner, and doing such a thing as coming to Jesus like this, is proof of it.

But in a masterstroke Jesus turns the tables on them.  He points out the Pharisee’s failure to observe the rules of hospitality.  When Jesus says you gave me no water for my feet, no kiss of greeting, and no anointing with oil, he is pointing out that if the Pharisee wants to play by the rules of who deserves what, the Pharisee has failed miserably.  In other words, the Pharisee isn’t even playing by the rules of his own game!  But this woman, unable to fit into the game at all, is showing thankfulness.  She has received knowing she does not deserve.

There is a very important thing to learn from this woman.  This whole idea of the Divine Economy of Promised Compassion where you receive mercy whether you deserve it or not can quickly run into a ditch.  Last week I talked to a friend who recently retired from Catholic Charities.  He shared about cleaning out a group home they had run.  They threw out loads of clothing and games and items, much of which was worthless because it was ill-treated.  He said that since everything had come freely to the residents of the group home they didn’t have appreciation for anything.

Indeed, when you have to work for something you value it more.  Too often programs in this nation designed to help needy people end up perpetuating problems and giving people a sense of entitlement.  But that is not the intention of God’s Divine Economy of Promised Compassion.  If anything, God’s ways should drive people to be more appreciative and work even harder.  You don’t work harder for a greater reward.  You work harder because you are driven to share what you yourself have received.

This woman did not take the love she received from God and become lazy about it.  It drove her to greater work!  When Jesus says to her, “Your faith has saved you…” he is not talking about some intellectual belief in her head.  He is affirming that she is living as an agent in God’s economy of compassion.

Again, when God’s forgiveness and compassion and mercy are received as they are intended, it does not lead to laziness.  It brings us to a greater sense of God’s nature and it spurs us to continue working.

I stared by quoting that the Pharisees and lawyers had rejected God’s purpose for themselves.  I hope that is coming into greater clarity.  God did not reject them at all.  They, in their own limitations, just could not accept God’s true nature.  And indeed, accepting God’s true nature is very challenging.  At the center of our reading is the visit to Jesus by some of the followers of John the Baptist. John is being very challenged by Jesus too.

Do you remember earlier in Luke’s gospel when we heard the message of John the Baptist?  John preached, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  (3:16-17)

That’s some fire and brimstone preaching!  Is Jesus living up to that?  Is he the one from God?  Jesus replies to John’s inquiry, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.”  That is God’s divine economy of promised compassion.  It is certainly not what John expected but it is indeed God’s true nature showing through!

Jesus is serving as the judge.  But he isn’t kicking anyone out.  No.  He’s just bringing in God’s reality.  People are kicking themselves out.  I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, when Luke talks about Pharisees and religious leaders he is not making a universal statement about them.  Just like not all Republicans are alike and not all Democrats are alike, so not all the religious folks were alike.  They were a mixed group and had a divided response.  Some accepted Jesus.  Some rejected him.

What was the real challenge was that for those for whom the ways of the world worked, they had a very hard time grasping God’s nature.  The same is true for today.  But for those whom the ways of the world did not work, God’s true nature was good news indeed.

May God bring to your life his great economy of promised compassion.  And may it inspire you to receive, and to work, and to give in return.  And may it also fill your heart with joy, delight, and even silliness, because God really is thrilled with the work he did when he made you.