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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Dinner table conversation March 14, 2010 |
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Frontline Devotion for Sunday March 14, 2010 by Susan Hill
Luke 7: 40-48 40Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[d] and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. 44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
I think it's a good idea - if you can - to begin today's reading with Luke 7: 36 so that the context of the story is clear.
Nearly all of us can appreciate the setting for the text because we have all likely shared a dinner table with family, friends, or even adversaries. We like to gather around not only for feasting but also for enriching conversation. There are times when dinner guests and hosts will linger around the table for hours while they eat together, swap stories, articulate opinions, etc. The consummate Christian dinner party takes place at the communion table where we become one in Christ and experience a "foretaste" of God's eternal Kingdom.
Judy Chicago's famous untitled poem from "The Dinner Party" imagines what sounds like a dinner party in God's kingdom...the realization of the "foretaste," perhaps:
"And then all that has divided us will merge, And then compassion will be wedded to power, And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind, and then both men and women will be gentle,And then both men and women will be strong, And then no other person will be subjest to another's will, And then all will be rich and free and varied, And then the greed of some will give away to the needs of many, And then all will share equally in the Earth's abundance, And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old, And then all will nourish the young, And then all will cherish life's creatures, And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth, and then everywhere will be called Eden once again."
The Pharisee in Luke 7 (Simon) who hosts Jesus for dinner isn't so sure that Jesus is the way to such kingdom living. He calls Jesus "teacher," but we get the feeling from the text that the Pharisee is the one who is passing out the test papers!" If this man were a prophet," he secretly surmises, "he would have known who and what kind of woman this is..." Simon the Pharisee is caught between the formality and status of his religious sect and his desire to hear Jesus' new message of God's grace and forgiveness. The mood around the table must have become tense as Jesus' call to new life in God collided with established Jewish traditions.
Jesus is patient with the Simon the Pharisee, however. He engages him right where he is in his struggle between piety and faith. Through the metaphor of the two debtors and through the dramatic display of hospitality and love inherent in the actions of the sinful woman who washes Jesus' feet with her tears and dries them with her hair, Jesus teaches Simon about the meaning and power of forgiveness. Moreover, as Jesus forgives the sinful woman, he claims authority by speaking for God. Thus Jesus also answers Simon's original question, "If this man were a prophet..."
Emotion is high at Simon's dinner table but so are the stakes. Jesus reveals his power and identity while he also opens himself to danger. Evidently, Kingdom living - acts that return God's creation to its intended loving purposes - is not always about polite dinner conversation. Nevertheless, Jesus is there in the midst of the good and the bad teaching; reassuring all who come to eat. I guess gathering around the dinner table is often just a starting point for conversation. It's the living out of what we take in that defines our reality. When we leave the communion table, we take God's forgiveness with us. May be express our gratitude in actions as loving as those of the sinful but forgiven woman so that, God willing, "all will live in harmony ... and the Earth ... will be called Eden once again."