The Problem of Evil
March 11, 2007
Luke 7:36-50
Jesus made waves. Jesus was really tired of talking about how things were, he wanted to live how they were talking about things. Jesus made waves. He could not sit back. He could not listen to the stories, the teachings, his tradition, his God and sit back. He had to do something, or it was going to eat him alive. Jesus made waves. Even though he was passionate, driven, and pushing hard on what it was he believed and those of his tradition believed, he didn’t want to start a new church. He simply wanted to bring his tradition into something more relevant for all the people. He wanted people to live into what they were saying, breathing, hoping, praying for. Step into it, make waves…
So Jesus is invited to a dinner party. Kind of like that Angela Landsbury character from Murder She Wrote, I would be very careful of inviting either one to dinner. Wave makers. But, this wonderful Pharisee, this intensely religious man invites him. He invites him because Pharisees aren’t at all what the Christian Tradition has twisted them into being. That’s mostly out of anti-semitism that stuff rises. Instead we look to credible ancient documents to find out who these people were. And, they were, probably a social group that anyone could join. Anyone who was Jewish. Anyone who was Jewish and interested in practicing a particularly strict ritual purity. They had their own traditions and way of life to which they were faithful. Their interests in purity, being pure through their relationship with God led to many rules around eating, tithing, cleaning, and Sabbath. A modern day example I might be bold enough to draw would be the Amish in our country. They follow a strict religious doctrine that determines how they live every aspect of their lives. They participate in this country however, they live according to their own law and their own version of accountability to the law. And they do this to inspire a better, stronger community. The Pharisees in like manner were often promoting social and political change which made waves. The Pharisees made waves and aroused opposition. The common folks were heavily influenced by this group of people. Because they were noted for their accurate and authoritative interpretation of Jewish law. And, they worked tirelessly on living simply and cultivating harmonious relations with others. Of course, Jesus was making waves. He was making waves with the empire. The Pharisees did not support the empire, they only supported God’s Law. Out of a similar understanding and a call to cultivate harmonious relationships, Simon invites Jesus to dinner. And, it wouldn’t be a condescending or patronizing invitation. It would not be a trap. It would be out of a common work unity that would draw them together. And, it wouldn’t be surprising to anyone that they were eating together.
But, at the door, no one offers to wash Jesus feet. No one offers a bowl to allow Jesus to wash himself. No one greets him with kiss or addresses him with the common greeting he is simply told to take his seat at the table. Jesus is making waves, however, this whole story is not OK. It is clear from this description that Simon is not respecting Jesus nor treating him with respect. He has overlooked, he has forgotten, he has denied Jesus all of the things that he himself holds himself to, to be pure before God. One could not as a devout Pharisee, eat without ritual handwashing and footwashing. And, to eat with someone who had not done these things or to invite someone and not offer these things would automatically signal you are not clean, nor welcome. Jesus would know all of this. Jesus was a good and faithful Jew. And, Jesus was making waves…
Then, the woman enters. This story is completely bizarre for us to imagine, however, a few adjustments to our images must be made. People in this time and place at very low tables while reclining next to the table. So, Jesus walks in, takes his place at the table, and the woman shows up. She is behind Jesus at his feet, crying so hard that she can bathe his feet with her tears and needs to dry them with her hair. I wonder what could cause such crying. I have had moments of utter despair, and yet, I don’t think I could have washed my hands let alone another’s feet with the tears I cried. We’re talking about someone who was utterly and significantly moved, opened, released and she cried out of that new opening. And she did it at the feet of Jesus. When she finished washing his feet, then she begins kissing his feet and anointing them with a special ointment she had brought for this very reason. The kissing and the oil on the feet were a sign of respect, unworthiness, kinglyness. She was doing everything in her power to make it clear that she was with him and grateful for his teaching.
The metaphor is one that we enjoy. Because the outcast woman, the poor woman, the sinner, she is the one who Jesus proclaims has strong faith. We enjoy the waves this makes. We enjoy that she gave hospitality to Jesus while the gatekeeper of hospitality denies it to Jesus. We feel filled up and completed in this story.
And yet. Since it is Lent and we are talking about evil. I have to wonder how one of the scholars that I adore and use weekly when looking at the gospel of Luke says, “People ate in the reclining position on ethe floor, so the woman’s approach and activity were not awkward.” How is it that a scholar, writing in contemporary times can say that a woman, having to come up behind a man, lay at his feet is not awkward? How is it not awkward that this woman is not addressed? This woman who is crying, who is crying so many tears that she can wash feet, she is not addressed. She is not comforted. And, in fact, just to make sure we are all clear, Jesus himself names everything she has done as proof to her faith. But, he doesn’t tell her, he tells Simon. She is listening to everything they say, she is not in some soundproof booth, she is listening. She is right there at his feet. This woman, who has been profoundly moved, this untouchable woman, is still not touched by Jesus. He spit in the dirt and healed the paralytic. He touched the leper and healed him. He drove demons out of the man that was a harm to himself and his community. How is it that he can not touch this woman? How is it that she can open herself and it is OK to not reach out to her?
I want Jesus to stop teaching. I want Jesus to stop his analytic dialogue. I want Jesus to honor her tears by seeing her. I want him to reach out to her and bless her, thank her for her blessing. I want him to ask her name and hear her story. How did she find him, how did she get in, how did she hear the story of the Jesus movement. I don’t want him to talk about her like she’s invisible. I don’t want him to analyze her as if she’s not there and capable of speaking for herself. This woman just broke a bazillion rules to be in this place, she allowed herself to lose control in front of all these men, she is not a coward. She could handle him, bringing her up to his face. We could have all used him bringing us up to his face.
Jesus is a product of his society. He is not some magic man that knew all the problems with the world ahead of time and could choose differently. That makes the story cheap and not worth listening to not to mention following. If Jesus is truly to be called our witness, the one who walked in our path, he must be fully human. If he is fully human than he must be living as best he can with the calling that God does to him. Just like we do. A woman who did not approach in this way would probably have been stoned, thrown out, disappeared, a multitude of things. She was property. And, this woman was not considered any property worth owning. He didn’t do the norm with her. He didn’t. And for that I can forgive him for not doing more. I am going to assume he did the best he could with the tools that he had.
BUT, when I read this story, I am going to hold the things we do to keep women down at our feet. I am going to remember what we do to keep slaves enslaved. I am going to remember the things that we need that keep some impoverished and others wasting in fat.
Evil is the absence of God. It is the absence of the Presence and the Unconditional love. This woman gave all of her love to Jesus. But, Jesus did not love her unconditionally. He held her with condition. He did set her free to go in peace. He did hopefully grant her peace. A shift for her, with that kind of devastating pain could use some peace, it would be an enormous gift. However, he did not unconditionally love her or offer her any of the hospitality he was forbidden. And, that is our work to do. I do not know how to keep evil from sneaking into our lives and our world. But, I do know that it only takes us to embrace one another, to love without condition to look one another in the eye to transform our lives, our community, this world. What if we simply took everyone by the hands and pulled them up to our height and looked them in the eyes and listened. I think we would begin making quite a few waves. Let us pray.