4 Pentecost, C p6, June 16, 2013
If I were to live tweet today's sermon topic it might be Jesus hashtagsomeofmybestfriendsrsinners. No delete. Hashtagallofmybestfriendsrsinners. Today's Scripture readings highlight some of the stories of sinners recorded in the Bible.
King David was the quintessential model for the notion of the Messiah, but he was one who had a rather serious sin. The male gaze of David was directed out of his window one day and he saw a bathing Bathsheba and he wanted her. So he inquired about her because he was the king and he could arrange things. He found out that Bathsheba was married to one of his incredibly devoted soldiers, Uriah the Hittite. How does a king get rid of someone in a way in which is seen to be a public accident? David had Uriah assigned to the front line of a battle in the heaviest fighting and in a skirmish, Uriah died in battle. So, King David brought the widow Bathsheba to his court and married her and a child was conceived. Nathan the prophet had to use a parable to get David to condemn his own action. In the strange injustice of life the sin of David was "punished" in the death of the first baby born to Bathsheba and him. However, the heir to David's throne, Solomon was a son of David and Bathsheba. Solomon was known to be wisest person in the world, even though one might question whether his impulse control was any better than his dad's: it was written that he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
The Psalmist also wrote about the very best thing about sin. What is the best thing about sin? The best thing about sin is when a person comes to know that one is forgiven. This also assumes that one has come to an awareness about one's imperfections, particularly the deliberate pre-meditated acts of our imperfections. And when one is caught either by hurting others, or by the authorities who enforce public rules, or by a deep sense of personal self-disappointment and self-disillusion, the real task is how does one continue to live with oneself. Directing anger towards oneself in contempt and depression may feel like a self-imposed sentence for one's misdeeds, but self-contempt and depression does not involve accepting that one can get better and do better and affirm that perfectibility is always the future goal. And this is why the best thing about sin is forgiveness, because forgiveness is an honesty about our condition but at the same time it is an acceptance that nothing can separate anyone from God's love and God's hope for us in our future continuous recovery from our living in the imperfections of our sins.
The Gospel lesson is also a scenario about Jesus and a "sinner." The "sinner" was a woman who crashed a dinner at the home of a religious leader, a Pharisee, one of the respected religious parties of Judaism. The woman was known to be a "sinner" by the host and he expressed his shock about how Jesus allowed this sinner to anoint and wash his feet. This event included the violation of many public protocols, like the segregation of men and women and the public touching of men and women and accepting the devotion of a person who had been designated as a "sinner." Purity rules in Judaism required that an observant Jew should not allow oneself to be in contact with an known "unclean" person.
The underlying assumption about this sinful woman was that she most likely was a woman known to be a prostitute. The ritual purity codes created a system which sometimes forced women into the state of being sinners to support themselves. Men often could easily divorce their wives; divorced wives and widowed women often were forced into the state of being paid companions for men who did not practice impulse control within their societies. So such women had the choice of having no livelihood or becoming "known" sinners in a patriarchal society where the sin of lack of male impulse control was not regarded as being the instigating sin.
Jesus was never impressed with double standards. Jesus was a hero for this woman. She was profusely thankful that a popular rabbi had restored her in his eyes to the state of the graceful forgiven.
I am quite certain that the Jesus Movement became a restorative community, a community which gave new status and second chances for persons, especially women who had lost the acceptance their communities of being under the protection and financial security of sponsoring men, fathers, brothers and husbands.
Women who had lost the possibility of male sponsorship in so called "respected" society needed a community of love and support. It is not surprising that in this Gospel the 12 disciples are listed as a kind of anonymous group whereas specific women disciples of Jesus are mentioned by name, and there is also the phrase, "many others." I take that in the context it meant that Jesus had "many other" women disciples. This bespeaks the nature of the Jesus Movement as an alternate community for women of his time who could not find legitimate status in "so-called" respectable society.
Mary Magdalene was one who was more than a sinner; she was possessed by unclean spirits. Mary Magdalene was most probably shunned as one with unclean demonic personalities. In our modern understanding of psychology we might understand this to be diagnosed as a form of dissociative disorder formerly known as multiple personality disorder. Often the origin of multiple personalities come as the result of early traumatic experience and different personalities arise as a method of coping with the trauma. Jesus, "people whispered" Mary Magdalene back to be her true self and she became a follower; she probably had been cast out of her former society because of her condition and so she was ready for an alternate community of support and affirmation. She and many other women found Jesus and his community an alternate community of support and affirmation. Jesus was certainly what we would call a "feminist" today in his own time.
So where does that leave us today in our reflection upon the topics of our Scripture readings? One can be a very important and great person and yet still break the rules and get caught. One can be the model king of Israel for all times and be a sinner who not only sins, but also tries to cover it up. Next, we know that cultural practices can create conditions where people because of ignorance are forced into the practice of sin. Many women during the time of Jesus were forced into the life of sin. We can think about slavery and all of the other forms of prejudice and bigotry in the history of humanity that have designated people as unclean or unacceptable to society. So sin is not just individual acts of failure; sin is also social practices which are so commonly accepted as to be unnoticed as sin.
Next, we should note that the Jesus Movement is a community of sinners. It is a community of people who know themselves to be caught in the act not being as good as they want to be. It is a community of people who have found a refuge of support because they have been forced into a sinful state because of oppressive cultural practices. So, we the church are community of sinners, not because we are proud of our imperfection but because we have been given new options with our lives once we have come to know our imperfection.
Last week we read the confession of St. Paul in his life as one who was zealously trying to persecute and even bring to death the followers of Jesus. Complicit in the death of others, while proclaiming to be justified by keeping the Jewish law brought Paul to a confession of knowing himself as the chief of sinner. He needed something more than a religious program of keeping the law; he needed an inside job of transformation. How did Paul come to deal with his sin? He found power in the death and resurrection of Christ. He used the death and resurrection of Christ as a metaphor of transformation. "I have been crucified with Christ, I still, live but now Christ lives within me." I no longer have to think that I am perfect because I have followed the religious laws; Christ is perfect in me and for me while I am still imperfect in my sins. Paul, a respected religious person, found the grace of forgiveness and transformation for his sin.
Finally, the happiest thing about our lesson today about sinners and sin is the confession and promise of the Psalmist: Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, * and whose sin is put away! Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, * and in whose spirit there is no guile!
The forgiveness of God in Christ is very profound. This forgiveness is based upon how God knows how we are made. We are made in hope for perfectibility. We are made so that we can get better today that we were yesterday. But we also know that sometimes we take steps in the wrong direction; sometimes we don't walk towards perfectability, we walk in habits of harmful behaviors to ourselves and others. Sometimes our tendencies toward harmful behaviors seem so ingrained that we despair of significant change and this is when God hopeful belief in us toward a better future is important for being the significant intervention in our lives.
So how how do I complete my live tweet? Jesus hashtagallofmyfriendsrsinners. hashtagallofmyfriendsrforgivenhallelujahamen.
2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15 Psalm 32
Gal. 2:11-21 Luke 7:36-50
Lectionary LinkIf I were to live tweet today's sermon topic it might be Jesus hashtagsomeofmybestfriendsrsinners. No delete. Hashtagallofmybestfriendsrsinners. Today's Scripture readings highlight some of the stories of sinners recorded in the Bible.
King David was the quintessential model for the notion of the Messiah, but he was one who had a rather serious sin. The male gaze of David was directed out of his window one day and he saw a bathing Bathsheba and he wanted her. So he inquired about her because he was the king and he could arrange things. He found out that Bathsheba was married to one of his incredibly devoted soldiers, Uriah the Hittite. How does a king get rid of someone in a way in which is seen to be a public accident? David had Uriah assigned to the front line of a battle in the heaviest fighting and in a skirmish, Uriah died in battle. So, King David brought the widow Bathsheba to his court and married her and a child was conceived. Nathan the prophet had to use a parable to get David to condemn his own action. In the strange injustice of life the sin of David was "punished" in the death of the first baby born to Bathsheba and him. However, the heir to David's throne, Solomon was a son of David and Bathsheba. Solomon was known to be wisest person in the world, even though one might question whether his impulse control was any better than his dad's: it was written that he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
The Psalmist also wrote about the very best thing about sin. What is the best thing about sin? The best thing about sin is when a person comes to know that one is forgiven. This also assumes that one has come to an awareness about one's imperfections, particularly the deliberate pre-meditated acts of our imperfections. And when one is caught either by hurting others, or by the authorities who enforce public rules, or by a deep sense of personal self-disappointment and self-disillusion, the real task is how does one continue to live with oneself. Directing anger towards oneself in contempt and depression may feel like a self-imposed sentence for one's misdeeds, but self-contempt and depression does not involve accepting that one can get better and do better and affirm that perfectibility is always the future goal. And this is why the best thing about sin is forgiveness, because forgiveness is an honesty about our condition but at the same time it is an acceptance that nothing can separate anyone from God's love and God's hope for us in our future continuous recovery from our living in the imperfections of our sins.
The Gospel lesson is also a scenario about Jesus and a "sinner." The "sinner" was a woman who crashed a dinner at the home of a religious leader, a Pharisee, one of the respected religious parties of Judaism. The woman was known to be a "sinner" by the host and he expressed his shock about how Jesus allowed this sinner to anoint and wash his feet. This event included the violation of many public protocols, like the segregation of men and women and the public touching of men and women and accepting the devotion of a person who had been designated as a "sinner." Purity rules in Judaism required that an observant Jew should not allow oneself to be in contact with an known "unclean" person.
The underlying assumption about this sinful woman was that she most likely was a woman known to be a prostitute. The ritual purity codes created a system which sometimes forced women into the state of being sinners to support themselves. Men often could easily divorce their wives; divorced wives and widowed women often were forced into the state of being paid companions for men who did not practice impulse control within their societies. So such women had the choice of having no livelihood or becoming "known" sinners in a patriarchal society where the sin of lack of male impulse control was not regarded as being the instigating sin.
Jesus was never impressed with double standards. Jesus was a hero for this woman. She was profusely thankful that a popular rabbi had restored her in his eyes to the state of the graceful forgiven.
I am quite certain that the Jesus Movement became a restorative community, a community which gave new status and second chances for persons, especially women who had lost the acceptance their communities of being under the protection and financial security of sponsoring men, fathers, brothers and husbands.
Women who had lost the possibility of male sponsorship in so called "respected" society needed a community of love and support. It is not surprising that in this Gospel the 12 disciples are listed as a kind of anonymous group whereas specific women disciples of Jesus are mentioned by name, and there is also the phrase, "many others." I take that in the context it meant that Jesus had "many other" women disciples. This bespeaks the nature of the Jesus Movement as an alternate community for women of his time who could not find legitimate status in "so-called" respectable society.
Mary Magdalene was one who was more than a sinner; she was possessed by unclean spirits. Mary Magdalene was most probably shunned as one with unclean demonic personalities. In our modern understanding of psychology we might understand this to be diagnosed as a form of dissociative disorder formerly known as multiple personality disorder. Often the origin of multiple personalities come as the result of early traumatic experience and different personalities arise as a method of coping with the trauma. Jesus, "people whispered" Mary Magdalene back to be her true self and she became a follower; she probably had been cast out of her former society because of her condition and so she was ready for an alternate community of support and affirmation. She and many other women found Jesus and his community an alternate community of support and affirmation. Jesus was certainly what we would call a "feminist" today in his own time.
So where does that leave us today in our reflection upon the topics of our Scripture readings? One can be a very important and great person and yet still break the rules and get caught. One can be the model king of Israel for all times and be a sinner who not only sins, but also tries to cover it up. Next, we know that cultural practices can create conditions where people because of ignorance are forced into the practice of sin. Many women during the time of Jesus were forced into the life of sin. We can think about slavery and all of the other forms of prejudice and bigotry in the history of humanity that have designated people as unclean or unacceptable to society. So sin is not just individual acts of failure; sin is also social practices which are so commonly accepted as to be unnoticed as sin.
Next, we should note that the Jesus Movement is a community of sinners. It is a community of people who know themselves to be caught in the act not being as good as they want to be. It is a community of people who have found a refuge of support because they have been forced into a sinful state because of oppressive cultural practices. So, we the church are community of sinners, not because we are proud of our imperfection but because we have been given new options with our lives once we have come to know our imperfection.
Last week we read the confession of St. Paul in his life as one who was zealously trying to persecute and even bring to death the followers of Jesus. Complicit in the death of others, while proclaiming to be justified by keeping the Jewish law brought Paul to a confession of knowing himself as the chief of sinner. He needed something more than a religious program of keeping the law; he needed an inside job of transformation. How did Paul come to deal with his sin? He found power in the death and resurrection of Christ. He used the death and resurrection of Christ as a metaphor of transformation. "I have been crucified with Christ, I still, live but now Christ lives within me." I no longer have to think that I am perfect because I have followed the religious laws; Christ is perfect in me and for me while I am still imperfect in my sins. Paul, a respected religious person, found the grace of forgiveness and transformation for his sin.
Finally, the happiest thing about our lesson today about sinners and sin is the confession and promise of the Psalmist: Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, * and whose sin is put away! Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, * and in whose spirit there is no guile!
The forgiveness of God in Christ is very profound. This forgiveness is based upon how God knows how we are made. We are made in hope for perfectibility. We are made so that we can get better today that we were yesterday. But we also know that sometimes we take steps in the wrong direction; sometimes we don't walk towards perfectability, we walk in habits of harmful behaviors to ourselves and others. Sometimes our tendencies toward harmful behaviors seem so ingrained that we despair of significant change and this is when God hopeful belief in us toward a better future is important for being the significant intervention in our lives.
So how how do I complete my live tweet? Jesus hashtagallofmyfriendsrsinners. hashtagallofmyfriendsrforgivenhallelujahamen.
