Scandal

Luke 7:36-39 (The Message)

One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal.

He went to the Pharisee's house and sat down at the dinner table.

Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet.

Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him."

Who do we think Jesus is?

"If this man was the prophet I thought he was..." he would do things differently.

Obviously, this Pharisee had different thoughts about who Jesus was supposed to be. He would have known "what kind of woman this is..."

Of course, Jesus did know. He knew that this was a woman who understood her need for relationship, and her need to show worship, humility and love to the Messiah.

The Pharisee in this story doesn't even know what he doesn't know. But, he is starting to learn. This man is not the prophet he had thought he'd be.

Who we think Jesus is has much to do with what kinds of things "scandalize" us.

If we think Jesus is only about order, dignity and appropriate behavior, then inappropriate people and actions will leave us feeling uncomfortable and violated.

But if we think Jesus is God's ultimate outreach to all people...all people...regardless of standing, life history or "proper" etiquette, we'll start to be scandalized be quite different things.

Things like hunger, poverty, disease, brokenness, abuse, hatred, anger, selfishness...you get the idea.

How can we learn to embrace the role of the "harlot" in this story, seeing her as a role-model in the faith? How can we learn the lessons of the upright and conscientious...and judgmental...Pharisee, and welcome people in the way that God welcomes us?

If we're going to get upset...may it be for all the right reasons.

Prayer: Father God, we ask you to sustain us today, to give us humility, to crucify our egos, and to help us depend fully on you. May we worship you without fear of what anyone will think, and may we love you and your children in extravagant ways.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.