Luke 7:36-8:3       “On Not Playing By The Rules”

     We’ve probably all seen it – some neighborhood kids are playing a game and having a really good time when all of a sudden an argument breaks out and they begin fighting.  One of the kids runs home and complains to mom, “They’re not playing fair!  They’re cheating!  They’re not playing by the rules!”  How often do we hear from children, and even from adults, the complaint that something isn’t fair, that someone is cheating, that rules are being broken?

     In our Gospel reading for this morning we see Simon the Pharisee voicing the same kind of complaint about Jesus.  Simon had invited Jesus into his home one day for dinner.  And during the course of the meal, a woman in the city, whom Luke describes as a “sinner,” comes in and begins causing a scene.  Homes in those days were apparently more open than they are now, so this woman was able to simply walk in off the street uninvited.  Simon wasn’t as upset that an uninvited guest walked in as he was what kind of guest she was.

     Put yourself in a similar situation.  How would you feel if you were throwing a dinner party and someone you didn’t know and certainly had not invited came in and sat down at the table?  Or even sat on the floor at the feet of one of your guests?  You can imagine that that was a little disconcerting.

     It became even more disconcerting as the event evolved.  For while the guests were eating, this woman begins crying; she wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with oil.  All that commotion is a bit more than Simon can handle.  After all, he’s a fine, respectable, religious leader in the community.  What would other people think?  He’s probably embarrassed that Jesus would even allow the likes of someone like her, this sinner, to touch him, and in his own home.  Didn’t Jesus know he wasn’t supposed to do that?  Why couldn’t Jesus just play by the rules?

     We’re not told a great deal about this woman.  There’s been some speculation, and it’s simply that – speculation, that this was the woman caught in adultery whom Jesus spared from stoning.  Whatever the case, she must have been someone who, at least, was aware of Jesus’ love and grace and was drawn to him uninvited.  She was so overwhelmed by Jesus that she wept.  Her tears were an expression of repentance, but also tears of overwhelming gratitude for who Jesus was and what Jesus could do for her.

     Now, it was bad enough that this woman made such a scene with the tears and the hair and wiping Jesus’ feet and the ointment and all that and that Jesus allowed this woman, this sinner, to touch him.  But what really sent Simon over the edge, and probably a whole lot of other people there that day, was that Jesus declared this woman’s sins forgiven and he invited her to go on her way in peace.  Only God could forgive sins, and for Jesus to do that looked very much like he was claiming to have the power and authority of God.  And that was blasphemy!  So, all in all, it was a pretty upsetting evening for a whole lot of people.  All because Jesus didn’t play by the rules, or at least the rules as Simon and the others understood them.

     That Jesus didn’t play by the rules in this instance shouldn’t surprise us.  For as we look at the Gospels we see Jesus time and time again in conflict with the rules.  Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  He associated with people of bad reputation.  He ate with sinners and tax collectors.  He allowed his disciples to pick heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath.  They ate with unwashed hands.  All of these things were considered breaking the Jewish law.  And the worse possible infraction was when Jesus forgave people their sins.  No one, but God, could do that.

     But that’s exactly who Jesus was and what his ministry was all about.  Throughout his life and earthly ministry Jesus followed a law, or rule, that was much more important than the ones commonly followed.  He followed the law of love.  He showed care and concern for others without any thought as to what others might think.  Simon the Pharisee knew, or thought he knew anyway, what kind of person this woman was – she was a “sinner,” but Jesus knew who this woman was – a person whom God loved.

     The challenge confronting us this morning is: how well are we doing at seeing beyond the sinner and loving the person?  We might rightly say, “Well, it was easy for Jesus to do that, after all he was God!”  Too often we’re more like Simon.  We condemn and judge others rather easily.  There seems to be something in our sinful nature that would rather consider people hopeless and irresponsible and have nothing more to do with them.

     We see someone homeless and living on the streets, looking for a handout and we say “It’s their own fault” and turn away.  Someone tells us a hard luck story and we doubt the authenticity of what they’re telling us.  Someone aggravates us and gets on our nerves and we try to avoid them when we see them coming our way.

     Jesus, however, wants us to see them as he sees them, as his children needing help and love.  He sees us as just the right persons to share with them some of the grace and love and understanding and tolerance that Jesus has shown toward us.

     You and I have been forgiven of our sins and brought back into a right relationship with God because Jesus paid little attention to the rules of the game as the world considers them.  We’ve been given the gift of everlasting life because Jesus didn’t stop to worry about what people were going to say.  As those who have experienced the greatness of forgiveness and God’s love toward us, may we, in love, be in the business of forgiving one another.  May we strive to forget about playing by the established rules of the world and instead follow the rule of love.  May we be less like Simon who look down on those whom the world regards as hopeless and instead see them as those loved by God.

                                                AMEN