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Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Individuals like this woman and this Pharisee, they're separated by class and culture and social protocol just like them. All of us are included in the sphere of divine kindness. Luke, there are no boundaries around who is swept up in this better brighter story. That is the good news and maybe we need to hear it today. This year, as we start up, we are returning to some big ideas in this initial teaching series we've entitled Grounded.
Scott Wall:This is an important rhythm for all of us to reflect on the ideas and the principles that lie at the center of our community. To remind ourselves of our deepest commitments and to consider some of the the guiding principles that shape us as a local church. Last Sunday, Jeremy got us started with a reflection on the character of Thomas in the gospels. How maybe he's been a victim of having a bad rap and having a misguided nickname. The truth is, if you look at Thomas, you look through the gospels, you're gonna see that Thomas actually demonstrated some incredible tenacity and faithfulness to Jesus.
Scott Wall:And that's not to say that he wasn't sometimes wondering why he had been picked to be on this all star team. I mean, he loved Jesus. Seems to have been captivated by him. But at the end of the story, when Jesus starts to talk about going away, about not being here anymore, That's where Tom's doubts started to form. And Jeremy suggested that you and I, we're not all unlike Thomas and that sometimes our doubts are simply an expression of our belief in something.
Scott Wall:Sometimes we can't even put our finger on it. Something that isn't fully realized yet. That our doubts and our honesty about the shape they take, this is the flip side of our faith and our trust in Jesus' way, how it's best for us. How Jesus' way, how it's changed us in some way, how it sparked hope in us that we can't explain sometimes. Which is why our language and our practice of faith can't be divorced or disconnected from our doubt Because to know Jesus is to live each day learning to trust a greater goodness.
Scott Wall:And learning to hope sometimes right in the middle of life's deepest pain and chaos that somehow that goodness comes to find us. And Thomas shows us that it takes both faith and doubt to trust Jesus and to touch Jesus. And that should give us courage to live with both. And today, we're gonna turn to a familiar story of a pharisee and a woman the bible says was sinful. But before we do, let's pause for a second.
Scott Wall:Let's take a breath and pray together. Would you join me? Loving God, today again, we pause and we choose not to rush through moments like this. Moments where we can be still, where we can be present to you, and to ourselves as we really are. Jesus, we thank you for your faithfulness, for your steady presence around us, in our world, and where we are worn down.
Scott Wall:Maybe we feel some tension in our bodies, where we long for resolution and clarity. We ask that in these moments that we share, these simple moments, that you'd help us to have open hearts for the ways that we might be strengthened and encouraged. And as we take up the scriptures again today, we take up curiosity as our lens. Would you come and guide us? We pray in the name of Christ, our hope.
Scott Wall:Amen. Alright. Well, today in our grounded series, we are going to reflect on Common's commitment to being a community that shapes the spiritual passion of those we come in contact with. And if you're a note taker, we're gonna talk a little bit about Luke's perspective. We'll talk about Jesus' point in the story.
Scott Wall:We're gonna look at a key question and then we're gonna talk about particularity. And to start, I wanna I wanna drop you into a scene. Okay? Luke's gospel records that on one occasion, one of the pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner at his place. So Jesus goes to the pharisees house and he reclines at the table there.
Scott Wall:And there was a woman in that town, in that city who lived a sinful life and she learned that Jesus was eating at this pharisees house so she came there with a alabaster jar of perfume. And as she stood behind Jesus, important thing is to imagine her standing behind Jesus, she began to weep and her tears were falling off her face onto his feet. So she wiped his feet with her hair and then she kissed his feet and poured perfume on them. And when the pharisee saw this, he said to himself, you know, if this man were a prophet, he would know who's touching him, what kind of woman this is, that she's a sinner. We need to pause right there.
Scott Wall:This might be a familiar story for some people and there's a couple reasons this is a familiar tale. It could be because there's a kind of emotional resonance in this story and that means that preacher types, professional christian types that talk about the bible, they sometimes pick this story because it can seem easy to use. However, I wanna suggest that it's familiarity for many who might be here today. It actually is probably derived from the fact that there are multiple versions of this story. There's a version in each of the gospels.
Scott Wall:In Mark and in Matthew, this episode takes place in the days leading up to the death of Jesus. In Matthew and in Mark, there in the house of a leper named Simon, an unnamed woman anoints Jesus' feet. And Jesus recognizes and defends her actions as being somehow and mysteriously prophetic. This woman has anticipated that Jesus is going to die. She's or that he's gonna be buried and she's honoring him.
Scott Wall:And then in Mark and Matthew, these versions, there's the surrounding observers and in each of those gospels, they respond with outrage. They can't believe that this expensive perfume that the woman's used, it's been so frivolously wasted. They say it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Then in the version we find in John's gospel, Jesus again there is about to enter Jerusalem for Passover except here in John, the ancient author pictures the anointing woman as Jesus' friend Mary who had a sister named Martha and a brother named Lazarus that Jesus had raised from the dead. And in John, it's Judas who berates Mary for wasting the perfume that could have garnered a significant donation to Jesus the Messiah ministries.
Scott Wall:This is the same Judas who will betray Jesus. Yes. And it's actually John's gospel that tells us that Judas sometimes used Jesus' ministry funds as his personal account. He had a sticky hand. And in this way, John's version of this story has a woman anointing Jesus feet there to construct a bit of a ramp up to the tension because Jesus is going to die and his dearest friends and enemies are starting to circle around him.
Scott Wall:Now Luke, where I've read to you from today, has other concerns, it seems. That's why his account's so different. Now, to be clear, I think that all the authors of the gospels were drawing from a common source of memory and record with this story. I think they had sources that indicate that Jesus was anointed with perfume by a woman at some point in his ministry. I also situate myself with those scholars who suggest that we separate the author's perspectives, that we not try to make them into one story.
Scott Wall:For example, the important thing here is to not think that Mary's that Mary, Jesus' friend in John, is the sinful woman that I've just read to you. Scholars don't think that's probable. The important thing is to honor the differences. See, Luke places this story in a sequence far from Jerusalem. He sees it happening in the pluralistic, multi ethnic communities up in Galilee, up near the sea where Jews and Greeks and Samaritans, people of different backgrounds were living in close proximity.
Scott Wall:Luke locates this story that I've read to you just after the account of Jesus healing the slave of a Roman centurion who was a non Jew, a representative of the occupying empire, who Jesus says showed the greatest example of faith he'd ever seen and that would have raised some eyebrows in the crowd. But then Luke says in chapter seven verse 29, right before the episode I read, how even the morally suspicious and ethically ambiguous tax collectors were listening to Jesus. How they were starting to get close to him, acknowledging that God's way was right, Which just means that when the Lucan author tells you a story about Jesus being anointed by a woman of suspect reputation while eating at the house of a pious religious leader, he's using a particular perspective. He's trying to shape your imagination. He's showing you that there were all kinds of people orbiting around Jesus intentionally.
Scott Wall:And why does Luke do this? Well, I think it's because Luke's convinced we need to see something of Jesus' way in the world. How there are no limits to the forms that devotion takes when we as human beings find ourselves more alive and more healed and more whole on account of grace. How just like in gospel accounts where individuals like this woman and this pharisee, they're separated by class and culture and social protocol just like them. All of us are included in the sphere of divine kindness.
Scott Wall:For Luke, there are no boundaries around who is swept up in this better brighter story. That is the good news and maybe we need to hear it today. Now the story goes on. Remember, where we left off, we saw that Jesus perceives that this pharisee, Simon is his name, he has thoughts and opinions about this woman. And Jesus says, Simon, I I wanna tell you something.
Scott Wall:And I kind of imagine if Jesus said that, maybe you'd like pause, like, woah, slow your roll. Jesus wants to tell me something. Simon just says, go for it. So Jesus tells a short fable. He says, two people owed money to a certain money lender.
Scott Wall:One owed him 500 denarii, the other owed 50. And if you are not up to date on your first century currency exchange rates, that just means that one guy owes about a year and a half worth of wages and one owes a month and a half worth. And neither of these guys has the money to pay their lender back so the lender forgives both debts. And then Jesus asked Simon, now which do you think would love the lender more? And Simon, trying to be a good student says, well, I suppose it's the one that had the bigger debt forgiven and Jesus says, you've passed the test, you've judged correctly but then a couple verses later Jesus adds, therefore I tell you this woman's many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown but whoever has been forgiven little loves little.
Scott Wall:And here we need to make a few observations or at least two. First, that there's a gap in the narrative if we look closely. It's not uncommon for this woman to be imagined as coming to Jesus as a penitent repentance person. You may have actually heard the story interpreted that way. Her sin and its accompanying social shame have driven her to seek Jesus out and she pours out her emotion and her perfume and a kind of request for forgiveness.
Scott Wall:In her desperate hope that Jesus will accept her. And I just wanna point out that when we read that way, we are reading the situation like Simon does. We're looking at the story and maybe even our wider world assuming that we know the boundaries of the acceptable and the sinful, which is to miss as scholars note that the Greek verbs are clear. And the NIV actually does a pretty good job here. Jesus says, she's already been forgiven.
Scott Wall:That's why she came. That's why she showed this great love, And that's the gap. As readers, maybe we should be saying, wait wait wait wait wait. Did she already meet Jesus? Like, was she one of the ones that were on the social or religious margins that Luke's already described who had maybe somehow heard Jesus?
Scott Wall:Who'd sensed a change in their hearts as Jesus told stories about radical forgiveness. Maybe she was one of the ones who had started to follow. Whatever the case, what's important for us as readers is to understand that this woman hasn't come to Jesus because she needs forgiveness. She's come and she's silenced the polite dinner party conversation and she's poured out her emotion. She's expressed her great love for Jesus because she knows forgiveness.
Scott Wall:And I think that's why Jesus defends her actions. It's why he explains them to Simon. And this makes Jesus' point all the clearer. How he offers this clear affirmation of the connection between holistic theology and what psychologists call affect. Between good theology and feeling and emotion.
Scott Wall:And I'm not suggesting that the moral of this story is that we should measure our experience of faith with how we're feeling or that our depth of faith equates to how many tears we shed or don't shed. Jesus' point is not that those who have or express more emotion in their spiritual lives are somehow on a higher level, But I do think that Jesus' explanation of why this woman does what she does, why she brings her fullness of feeling, why she's paired her trust in Jesus with her tears and her gratitude, this allows you to acknowledge that perhaps your deep care and your empathy for those you meet professionally or personally. That the calm you feel when you're surrounded by community or when you have a breakthrough in your therapy or when you make a friend, that that awe you sense when scripture comes alive or when we realize a long term goal or when someone forgives us. How the tears that come during worship or when we grieve or when we laugh, that these feelings and emotions can appear as profound expressions of your ever evolving faith. That like this woman, sometimes they'll appear and they'll be powerful and they'll move you because you've already encountered someone or something that inspires faith.
Scott Wall:Now part of why I I think this affirmation Jesus makes is central is because it relates to a kind of comparison he seems to make. See Jesus tells this little story about two guys who need their debt forgiven and then the text says that he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I I came to your house. You didn't give me water for my feet but she's wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. And he goes on to say, Simon, you didn't kiss me but she's kissed my feet.
Scott Wall:You didn't put oil on my head but she's poured perfume on me. And there are interpreters that claim that these are all social conventions in the ancient world that Simon somehow has forgotten or omitted. There's actually though a number of scholars that suggest that water for feet and holy kisses and oil for guests' heads, that's not really corroborated by other ancient Jewish sources. What's obvious is this woman's devotion and how on account of it she becomes a model that Jesus will celebrate. As poet Padre Gautama says of her, she is the site of learning and of change.
Scott Wall:And everything about this, it hinges on what Jesus asks. Do you see this woman? And it's not hard to imagine Simon sort of staying silent there because his assumptions about her are being exposed. But that's not all. Luke imagines Jesus making what seems to be a kind of comparison.
Scott Wall:In effect, Jesus is saying to the Pharisee, look, do you see this woman's response to me? To my way? To the audacity of this good news I keep talking about? To the ridiculousness of the idea that our debts could be forgiven? Do you see her extravagance?
Scott Wall:How visible, how embodied it is, how it reveals profound theological understanding? And this is why I don't actually think Jesus is making a comparison here. It's as if Jesus is asking Simon, what does your devotion look like? Do you see this woman? Do you see what she's teaching you?
Scott Wall:Do you see? Which is a question that I think illustrates a fundamental aspect of how you and I come to understand and internalize and embody our own faith. We watch other people do it. Sometimes it's the way they pray. Sometimes it's the way they worship.
Scott Wall:Sometimes it's the way they're kind. Sometimes it's the way they treat their children. Sometimes it's the way that they're generous. But then there's other times when it can be so surprising what we see. It might be like how my one Buddhist friend taught me how to be more mindful and committed to peace.
Scott Wall:Or how a big burly imposing mentor of mine showed me that sometimes sharing our tears is transformative. It might be like how many years ago now a demanding academic adviser of mine didn't berate me when I failed publicly on a project. How he modeled grace and compassion and I was so taken back by it. It might be like how a child will teach you how to trust and how a hip hop artist can tune your eyes to seeing the need for justice or how a novelist can show you a new path to healing. Do you see all the examples of a deeper more devoted faith?
Scott Wall:And that question, it's so attentive to this anonymous unknown woman in the story, to her context, to her background, to her motivations which we can never know and I think this helps us to be more faithful in our interpretation of this episode. Why? Well, what's curious is how much time and how many pages and how much effort both scholars and readers alike have put into the speculation of what actions or behaviors this woman may have had in her life that earned her the distinction of being sinful. In fact, some of you might be wondering why I haven't talked about it yet. And to be frank, it's because the more time I looked at this story, the more those speculations began to seem so uninteresting to me.
Scott Wall:The truth is is that we don't know the particulars. The debate over her marital status or her sexual proclivities or her professional pursuits, all of that for me fades into the background of what must have been, I can only assume, a moderately normal life on the hard edges of the ancient world. What's far more compelling for me and for you too is to let the ambiguity inform our imagination of a specific life like yours and mine. Verse 37 says, she lived in that city. She went to the market there.
Scott Wall:She knew the best place for fabric. She knew which farmer grew the best lemons. She had a mom. Maybe she had an older brother, maybe she had a younger sister. She one time fell and skinned her knee and now has a scar.
Scott Wall:She'd made friends and she'd fallen in love. She had betrayed and she had been betrayed. She felt hopeless then in that city. She was lonely there. She heard the sound of Jesus' voice in that city and she learned the mystery of forgiveness and tried to respond to it right there.
Scott Wall:And when we read like this, I think we open our hearts to a perspective of what it means to live a life of faith ourselves. What it means to find and form the patterns of our own devotion to Jesus' humble way because just like in her story, your patterns of faith are formed. They emerge from the specifics of your life, where you were born, where you call home, how you've learned to read scripture, and who you have learned to care for. And here at Commons, we realize that we inform this process in each other. That's why we aspire to be a community that develops and encourages and deepens the spiritual passion of every person.
Scott Wall:For some of you, it means that you come alive when we pray and when we read the bible, when we worship, when we sing, as we come to the Eucharist table. For some of you, this means that you might feel more connected to passionate faith when we are serving our neighbors, when we collaborate with local partners, when we support the work that is happening in Zambia, when we address the plight of refugees here in Calgary, when we pray and we contend for peace as we already did today. It is profoundly specific how this happens in us because we are located in this time and in this city and in this neighborhood just as it's strikingly special how it happens in you. Your journey of faith has been shaped by history, by influences, and experiences that are your own. And that is why as we start another season together, I want to affirm how you bring your story with you, your lifelong faith, your new curiosity, perhaps you also bring your persistent doubts.
Scott Wall:You bring all of it. I affirm how you embody your activism. You volunteer here. You volunteer elsewhere. You put in extra hours.
Scott Wall:You take up causes that you care about. I affirm how you cultivate your spiritual practices. You keep trying. You read thoughtfully and you host extravagantly and you just try to pray. How you practice peacemaking because you've inherited it from deep historical roots.
Scott Wall:How your generosity is born from open joyful hearts. How your pursuit of well-being and therapy and wholeness is actually helping you hold space for more people around you and how you raise your hands in worship and you offer your hands in service because like this woman in the story, you're simply grateful. And how in all these ways the particularity of your passions makes Cummins better. It makes Calgary a little bit brighter and it makes the world ever so much more like Jesus hoped it could be. Let's pray together.
Scott Wall:God, stories like this have have a way of finding us where we are. And along the way, they they can really help us see ourselves and help us help us see you and what you're like. And maybe today we need to be reminded that there are no boundaries to where and in whom grace will do its work. And maybe we need to catch a glimpse of how our deepest feelings, our joy and our sorrow, our celebration and our grief, our tears and our laughter, these things are partners in our practice of faith. They're part of us learning to trust you and that's why we ask that you'd help us to see those around us who live with passion, who have simplicity at the center of their lives, who carry this incredible courage and maybe where we're weary or we're disillusioned or we're overwhelmed, would you help us to trust that right here in the specifics of our lives that's where you're at work.
Scott Wall:Right here is where faith is forming. We pray this in the name of Christ who is our hope. Amen.
Jeremy Duncan:Hey, Jeremy here, and thanks for listening to our podcast. If you're intrigued by the work that we're doing here at Commons, you can head to our website commons.church for more information. You can find us on all of the socials commonschurch. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel where we are posting content regularly for the community. You can also join our Discord server.
Jeremy Duncan:Head to commons.churchdiscord for the invite, and there you will find the community having all kinds of conversations about how we can encourage each other to follow the way of Jesus. We would love to hear from you. Anyway, thanks for tuning in. Have a great week. We'll talk to you soon.