Tuesday, March 19, 2013

FRIEND OF PROSTITUTES

 Luke 7:36-38

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

   I LOVE THIS STORY AND WHAT IT TEACHES us about Jesus and his way. It seems that he was eating in the home of a Pharisee named Simon, which tells us that he befriended Pharisees as well as ordinary sinners. As Jesus ate, a known prostitute from the town interrupted the meal and entered Simon’s house. This in itself would have seemed scandalous to Simon. Remember, the word pharisee meant “separated”— Pharisees sought to distance themselves from sin. Yet a prostitute had entered his house! She carried an alabaster jar of ointment, which likely was the most precious thing she owned. Perhaps she had been saving this scented oil for the day she would be rescued from her life of prostitution by a man who would love her, not simply use her.
 
   Had she heard Jesus preach earlier in the day? Had he healed her of some affliction or set her free from some oppressive force? Had he helped her experience hope and forgiveness and love? All we know is that Jesus’ impact upon her must have been profound: she brought her most precious gift to give him, and wept at his feet.
 
   We see in this supper scene two very different ways that religious leaders might view a prostitute. If you continue to read the story (verses 40-50) you’ll find that Simon was offended that Jesus allowed a prostitute to touch him. Jesus felt differently. He saw her anointing of him and the tears that went with it as gifts, expressions of the woman’s gratitude for the grace he offered her. Jesus asked Simon a telling question: “Do you see this woman?” Simon saw what she did for a living; he did not see her as a human being, a beloved child of God.
 
   A number of women who were drug addicts and prostitutes worship at the church I serve. Most are part of a ministry called Healing House, led by a remarkable woman named Bobbi-jo, herself a former addict and prostitute. Being around Bobbi-jo and the women of Healing House makes me more Christian. I have had the joy of baptizing some of them and their children. One of these young women came to me after church recently to tell me, with tears in her eyes, how grateful she was for the church and how God had worked through it to welcome her. Her sincerity and tears reminded me of what it means to be the church.
 
   Simon saw in the woman with the ointment a prostitute who had no business interrupting his supper and touching a fellow rabbi. Jesus saw her as a human being, loved by God, and in need of grace. Are you more like Simon or Jesus?

 Lord, it is so easy to judge others. Teach me to see people as you see them, and to love them as you loved them when you walked on this earth. Amen.

AdamHamilton, The Way: 40 Days of Reflection: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus