Simon: Dinner With Passion
Sermon
Come Dine With Jesus
Ten Sermons And Litanies For Lent And Easter
Worship Focus
A cosmetic jar (perhaps one of the large plastic jars that hold shampoo or hand lotion).
A wig with long black hair (can be a cheap Halloween costume wig).
A Litany For The Second Meal
Leader: We praise you, Almighty God, for your wondrous power and glory.
People: Praise be to you, our God Almighty!
Leader: We praise you, God of love, for revealing yourself through Christ our Lord.
People: Praise be to you, our God of love!
Leader: We praise you, for in Jesus Christ you have accomplished our redemption.
People: Praise be to God, for freeing us from sin.
Leader: We praise you, for in Jesus Christ you have forgiven us and made us new.
People: Praise be to God, for making us new.
Leader: We thank you, for in Christ you have called us to yourself.
People: Praise be to God, who calls us in love.
Leader: You have made us your new people, the family of Christ.
People: Praise be to God, who enfolds us in love.
All: Praise and thanksgiving and glory and love be to our God, who has loved us, forgiven us, renewed us, and set us free. Amen.
Simon: Dinner With Passion
Luke 7:36-50
Jesus shared his meals with such varied people
that often there were strong emotional overtones.
Luke brings us ten of these table scenes,
and we find some indication
of the importance they must have had to Jesus.
The first dinner was at the house of Levi,
a despised tax collector,
and at once the Pharisees severely criticized Jesus,
saying no decent rabbi
would associate with such an outcast.
Jesus answered them,
''Those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I have come not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.''
The second dinner, surprisingly,
was at the other end of the social
and religious scale.
We find it in Luke 7:36-50
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.
The Pharisees were very religious,
trying to live by every detail of the rabbinic laws,
and they were highly respected by the people.
We don't know whether this Pharisee
was beginning to believe in Jesus
or whether he just wanted to examine
the new teacher.
Whatever his motive,
trouble entered that room at once.
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. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ''If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him -- that she is a sinner.''
It was normal for a servant to wash the feet
of an invited guest.
It was definitely not normal for a harlot
to enter the house of a Pharisee,
where she would be decidedly unwelcome.
It was even more abnormal
for her to wash a rabbi's feet with her tears.
A strict rabbi would not speak to a woman
in public
not even the most upright woman.
Surely, if this man were a prophet,
he would not let this sinner touch him.
But Jesus met the Pharisee's objection:
he not only knew the woman's character;
he read the Pharisee's innermost thoughts.
Jesus spoke up and said to him, ''Simon, I have something to say to you.'' ''Teacher,'' he replied, ''Speak.'' ''A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?'' Simon answered, ''I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.'' And Jesus said to him, ''You have judged rightly.'' Then turning
toward the woman, he said to Simon, ''Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.''
Note that in Jesus' parable,
love is the result of forgiveness.
Then Jesus took this principle,
to which the Pharisee had agreed,
and applied it to the situation at that table.
''Simon,'' he said,
''You didn't even give me
the ordinary everyday courtesies,
but this woman,
whom you despise,
has done so much more than ordinary.
Why?
Because she has found forgiveness,
and her inward assurance
of the forgiveness of sin
is now being expressed
in these outward actions of love.''
''Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.'' Then he said to her, ''Your sins are forgiven.'' But those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ''Who is this who even forgives sins?'' And he said to the woman, ''Your faith has saved you; go in peace.''
Everyone knew it was a staggering claim.
Only God can forgive sins.
Jesus unabashedly asserted his status
as God incarnate.
Notice what he said.
She was saved through faith,
not through love.
Many scholars think the woman
may have already met Jesus,
believed in him,
and asked his forgiveness.
In his grace and compassion,
he offered forgiveness;
by faith she accepted his gift.
Now she was a new person,
able to demonstrate her response of love.
She could go in peace:
peace with God,
peace in her own heart.
The story is charged with emotion.
Jesus' correction of Simon,
his tender reception of the sinner,
the eloquence of her silent actions,
all fit into the picture of God's concern.
The living God is not indifferent;
God loved the world so passionately
that God sent the only son --
sent him so that everyone who believes in him
should not perish but should have eternal life.
This God is passionately interested in people:
people in need,
people in pain,
people in sorrow,
people and their hopes,
their loves,
their ambitions,
people in their experiences of sin,
anxiety,
and lostness.
In this love Jesus came to seek the lost,
forgive the sinner,
wipe away the anxieties.
This is the good news of the Gospel:
that God has given this love freely.
God has not doled love out grudgingly
to the righteous,
drop by drop as they have slowly earned it;
God has poured it out abundantly
to those who come to the Savior in faith,
confessing their sin,
asking his forgiveness,
responding to his love.
The good news of Jesus was the same
for the outcast and for the social leader
for the open sinner
and for those who seemed upright;
God's passionate love and rich forgiveness --
Jesus' love for Levi,
and Levi's response of love by making a feast --
Jesus' love for Simon the Pharisee --
and will Simon return that love?
This much was plain
at the house of Simon the Pharisee,
and true in this room today:
when the Lord is at his table,
it is a focus of passion and compassion,
a place for God's forgiveness
and our human response of love.
A cosmetic jar (perhaps one of the large plastic jars that hold shampoo or hand lotion).
A wig with long black hair (can be a cheap Halloween costume wig).
A Litany For The Second Meal
Leader: We praise you, Almighty God, for your wondrous power and glory.
People: Praise be to you, our God Almighty!
Leader: We praise you, God of love, for revealing yourself through Christ our Lord.
People: Praise be to you, our God of love!
Leader: We praise you, for in Jesus Christ you have accomplished our redemption.
People: Praise be to God, for freeing us from sin.
Leader: We praise you, for in Jesus Christ you have forgiven us and made us new.
People: Praise be to God, for making us new.
Leader: We thank you, for in Christ you have called us to yourself.
People: Praise be to God, who calls us in love.
Leader: You have made us your new people, the family of Christ.
People: Praise be to God, who enfolds us in love.
All: Praise and thanksgiving and glory and love be to our God, who has loved us, forgiven us, renewed us, and set us free. Amen.
Simon: Dinner With Passion
Luke 7:36-50
Jesus shared his meals with such varied people
that often there were strong emotional overtones.
Luke brings us ten of these table scenes,
and we find some indication
of the importance they must have had to Jesus.
The first dinner was at the house of Levi,
a despised tax collector,
and at once the Pharisees severely criticized Jesus,
saying no decent rabbi
would associate with such an outcast.
Jesus answered them,
''Those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I have come not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.''
The second dinner, surprisingly,
was at the other end of the social
and religious scale.
We find it in Luke 7:36-50
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.
The Pharisees were very religious,
trying to live by every detail of the rabbinic laws,
and they were highly respected by the people.
We don't know whether this Pharisee
was beginning to believe in Jesus
or whether he just wanted to examine
the new teacher.
Whatever his motive,
trouble entered that room at once.
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. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ''If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him -- that she is a sinner.''
It was normal for a servant to wash the feet
of an invited guest.
It was definitely not normal for a harlot
to enter the house of a Pharisee,
where she would be decidedly unwelcome.
It was even more abnormal
for her to wash a rabbi's feet with her tears.
A strict rabbi would not speak to a woman
in public
not even the most upright woman.
Surely, if this man were a prophet,
he would not let this sinner touch him.
But Jesus met the Pharisee's objection:
he not only knew the woman's character;
he read the Pharisee's innermost thoughts.
Jesus spoke up and said to him, ''Simon, I have something to say to you.'' ''Teacher,'' he replied, ''Speak.'' ''A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?'' Simon answered, ''I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.'' And Jesus said to him, ''You have judged rightly.'' Then turning
toward the woman, he said to Simon, ''Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.''
Note that in Jesus' parable,
love is the result of forgiveness.
Then Jesus took this principle,
to which the Pharisee had agreed,
and applied it to the situation at that table.
''Simon,'' he said,
''You didn't even give me
the ordinary everyday courtesies,
but this woman,
whom you despise,
has done so much more than ordinary.
Why?
Because she has found forgiveness,
and her inward assurance
of the forgiveness of sin
is now being expressed
in these outward actions of love.''
''Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.'' Then he said to her, ''Your sins are forgiven.'' But those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ''Who is this who even forgives sins?'' And he said to the woman, ''Your faith has saved you; go in peace.''
Everyone knew it was a staggering claim.
Only God can forgive sins.
Jesus unabashedly asserted his status
as God incarnate.
Notice what he said.
She was saved through faith,
not through love.
Many scholars think the woman
may have already met Jesus,
believed in him,
and asked his forgiveness.
In his grace and compassion,
he offered forgiveness;
by faith she accepted his gift.
Now she was a new person,
able to demonstrate her response of love.
She could go in peace:
peace with God,
peace in her own heart.
The story is charged with emotion.
Jesus' correction of Simon,
his tender reception of the sinner,
the eloquence of her silent actions,
all fit into the picture of God's concern.
The living God is not indifferent;
God loved the world so passionately
that God sent the only son --
sent him so that everyone who believes in him
should not perish but should have eternal life.
This God is passionately interested in people:
people in need,
people in pain,
people in sorrow,
people and their hopes,
their loves,
their ambitions,
people in their experiences of sin,
anxiety,
and lostness.
In this love Jesus came to seek the lost,
forgive the sinner,
wipe away the anxieties.
This is the good news of the Gospel:
that God has given this love freely.
God has not doled love out grudgingly
to the righteous,
drop by drop as they have slowly earned it;
God has poured it out abundantly
to those who come to the Savior in faith,
confessing their sin,
asking his forgiveness,
responding to his love.
The good news of Jesus was the same
for the outcast and for the social leader
for the open sinner
and for those who seemed upright;
God's passionate love and rich forgiveness --
Jesus' love for Levi,
and Levi's response of love by making a feast --
Jesus' love for Simon the Pharisee --
and will Simon return that love?
This much was plain
at the house of Simon the Pharisee,
and true in this room today:
when the Lord is at his table,
it is a focus of passion and compassion,
a place for God's forgiveness
and our human response of love.
