Rev. Susan Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church

Texts: 1 Kings 21:1-10, 15-21a; Luke 7:36-8:3

Every so often I come across a little girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old, who is dressed up for some special occasion – perhaps she is a flower girl for a wedding, or maybe it is Easter and she has on a new dress. In any event, often in such circumstances, I have commented on her finery, by saying something like, “You look very pretty today,” and often the response is, “I know!”

When I first started observing that so many little girls were able to delight in themselves, I thought it was merely cute. But I have grown to feel otherwise, remembering the statement of Jesus that “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

Last week, I made this statement: “Historically, Christianity has spoken a great deal about sin – I think we will get closer to understanding our real predicament if we think in terms of brokenness instead – the brokenness of soul that prevents real intimacy is a far greater barrier to knowing God and experiencing joy than any misdeed might be.” How surprising to me when I read this week’s lectionary passages to see that they seemed to offer an opportunity to examine this in more depth.

I read recently that Christianity is a guilt-based, sin-focused faith. I was actually surprised to read that. I suppose that for many people it is, though I think that perspective misses the point. And I wondered whether that is the experience of people here at Frame. After all, almost every week, we have a confession of sin as part of our worship. And every so often over the past several years, I’ve run into someone who has a real objection to saying a unison confession of sin – I’m not a sinner, they say. I’m a fine person. They see the confession as a kind of wallowing in wretchedness. And I would agree that there is no need for that.

At the same time, I really believe that a major task in life, for each of us, is to learn to accept ourselves as we really are, and realize God’s love for us. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, gifts and growing edges. None of us lives up to what we could be, and part of facing ourselves is facing how we could do better, how we could be better. And from time to time, most of us do things that are wrong, and we need to discern when that’s the case, too – when we’ve hurt someone else, or failed to speak up when we should, when we’ve been selfish, or inconsiderate. Most of us don’t frequently choose to do wrong, but we all do from time to time, and when we do, it’s important to face what we’ve done, or failed to do. This is what Ahab was apparently not realizing – that his desire for the vineyard was making him oblivious to his impact on other people. Increasingly, those of us in the west are being forced to recognize how our lifestyle is impacting the rest of the world. We consume more than our fair share. So part of growing is recognizing how we are connected to other people in the world and how our actions impact others.

We learn to take an unflinching look at our real selves – and that’s what we do in the confession of sin. For me, there is real power in that we do it together. There is no pretense here that we are other than we are – we each fail from time to time, and we are willing to say that out loud in front of each other. When we pray a unison prayer of confession, we are acknowledging that none of us is perfect, that we are all still in process. And in coming to God honestly, we are reminding ourselves that God accepts us as we are, no pretenses.

While from time to time we omit this prayer, I think it is important that it is a regular part of our worship. It’s good to remember that even though we may be very aware of our shortcomings, God accepts us. God actually does more than accept us – God delights in us. And this is the other part of looking at ourselves honestly. We need to be able to delight in ourselves, too. Many of us understand looking at our flaws honestly, but we feel a little funny about embracing our gifts. And yet, if we can’t fully acknowledge the strengths we have, we aren’t really able to love ourselves. And if we don’t see ourselves as lovable, then what does that say about our view of God? Either we don’t really believe that God loves us, or we don’t think much of God. Starting with the latter – if we don’t think much of ourselves, yet we believe God loves us, then we can’t really worship God, or even respect God.

And if we don’t believe God loves us, then we have somehow failed to understand God – God is love, says the Apostle John in his first letter.  “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

God is love. God is the benevolent energy in the universe who tends toward us, who is for us, and who knows and loves us. So if we don’t take God’s love seriously, we have misunderstood God, and the world. So many people seem to have an idea of God that is somehow grim, virtuous, but somewhat lacking in joy or intelligence. And yet, such a view seems to ignore the created world, which is an intricate, beautiful, and indeed joyous place. And the people who seem to really be in tune with the holy One have a lightness of spirit that is anything but grim. Their love for others brims with joy, and starts with a genuine acceptance of themselves.

This acceptance is what the woman in the Gospel story apparently had come to feel. Now, I should explain some background about the story as Luke tells it. All four Gospels tell a story like this – they are very similar, enough so that they must describe the same event. A woman is anointing the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair, and weeping. Someone expresses disapproval. Jesus vindicates the actions of the woman.

It’s important to remember that all of the Gospels were written between 30-70 years after the death of Jesus. By the time they were written, the early church was developing. Each of the Gospel writers has their own goal in writing an account of the ministry of Jesus. By the time the Gospels were being written, there were disagreements and factions developing in the early Church – and the Gospels were each written to present a certain perspective. In the case of Luke, he is a non-Jew writing about the life and ministry of Jesus. At the time he is writing, there was considerable discussion around the relationship of Christianity to Judaism. Is Christianity a thread within Judaism? Or is it something different? Luke, who is not Jewish, is making the point that Jesus and the Church are not just for the Jewish people – he is often making a point about the universality of Christianity. Part of his work in the Gospel writing is not just to tell about Jesus – it is also to influence the developing relationship between Jews and Christians. Luke has no desire to be part of Judaism, so he often tells stories in such a way as to make Jews look bad, or at least to exaggerate the differences between the Jewish people and Jesus. So Luke’s is the only account of the story that places it “in the home of Simon, the Pharisee”. Matthew and Mark both describe this episode as being in the home of Simon the leper. John says it takes place at the home of Lazarus, after Jesus has raised him from the dead.

Knowing that Luke is the only Gospel to say that it takes place in a Pharisee’s home, and realizing that Luke is trying to stress the differences between Judaism and Christianity, we will want to focus on the actions of the woman and Jesus that do not hinge on the contrast with the Pharisee. What Luke says about Pharisees tells us as much about Luke as it does about Pharisees. In fact, the tradition of the Pharisees valued the scriptural emphasis on God as a God of mercy. And it is God’s mercy that is significant in this story. The woman is described as a sinner, and Jesus describes that her sins have been forgiven – he is not forgiving them, he announces that God had already forgiven the woman. So we begin to understand that her actions are in fact joyful and loving – she is beginning to see herself as beloved by God, and the natural result is joy.

If Christians are focused on guilt and sin, it means we have failed to truly understand the love of God. We have seen God as some kind of cosmic bookkeeper, keeping track of people through their good deeds and misdeeds. We have either hoped that our own behavior would give us a credit balance, or we have counted on amnesty.

Jesus often tells people to sin no more, and his teachings offer many specific instructions about how we treat one another or relate to God, so he clearly cares about our actions. But while Jesus is not unconcerned with people’s behavior, the sin he is consistently most critical of is the sin of hypocrisy – failing to look at ourselves clearly and honestly. And while Jesus teaches that our actions and behavior matter, he emphasizes an orientation not to legalism, but to love. “love your neighbor as yourself,” he teaches in three of the Gospels, and “love one another as I have loved you” is the teaching in the fourth. Our love for others and for God is to be the grounding of our lives, not a checklist. Jesus consistently tried to move us away from a checklist mentality, in which we are trying to measure up and prove to ourselves that we are OK.

In all four Gospels, the ministry of Jesus begins with his baptism, and hearing the voice of God say, “This is my Son, the Beloved….” The ministry of Jesus starts from his understanding that he is the Beloved…and we will live differently if that becomes our starting point as well. When we can begin to understand ourselves as lovely, lovable, and beloved, we can indeed look honestly at ourselves, accepting both our blessedness and our brokenness. And we find ourselves being able to accept others as well.

While the story that Luke tells ends up mischaracterizing Judaism, it does show what happens when a sense of self depends on our deeds and achievements – we end up comparing ourselves to others, in a scorekeeping mentality that we hope will show that we’re OK. This is true whether our focus is on sin (that is, avoiding misdeeds) or on success (achievement) – either way, our worth is constantly at risk, and we are competing with others. When we start from understanding that we are in a universe driven by love, we can honestly look at ourselves and delight in ourselves like a little girl in her party clothes – we don’t need to puff ourselves up, put others down, or convince ourselves and others that we are OK. When we can really understand that we are loved, when our own sense of self is grounded in the fullness of the love of God, then we find ourselves passing on that love. We are able to honestly look at ourselves, face the mistakes we make and know that we can move forward. And we are able to accept the brokenness of others, and the blessedness of others – delighting in the gifts that others bring into our lives, and not needing to build ourselves up by focusing on their weaknesses. Our ability to love ourselves is not conceit – it actually prevents conceit because we can honestly see our gifts and our weaknesses.

Ruth Bell Graham was the wife of evangelist Billy Graham, and she died last week. Although he is Baptist, she remained a Presbyterian. She also was a woman of deep faith and a sparkling sense of humor. She said at one point that she wanted her epitaph to read: End of construction: Thank you for your patience! She was able to look at herself through the loving eyes of God, to see that she was a work in process, and to keep going.

Jesus knew himself to be loved by the Father – on this Father’s Day, it is worth remembering that the greatest gift a father can give his children is the blessing, and ability to share his own brokenness…. From such an example children will learn that they can face themselves honestly, and that being an adult means understanding our blessedness and brokenness, and knowing we are loved and able to love. Just as the little girl who can say with delight that she knows she is pretty, when we are healthy, and spiritually mature, we can enjoy ourselves. When we can have that childlike delight in ourselves, we are receiving the kingdom as children.

There is a wonderful quote that is often attributed to the inaugural speech of Nelson Mandela – it turns out instead to have been written by Marianne Williamson, a contemporary spiritual writer who speaks and writes beautifully about the love of God: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Friends, let’s leave sin behind – and leave achievement behind as well. Here’s the deal – life is not about our sins, it's about being open to God.  It's being able to fully accept ourselves, our flaws and our gifts, to delight in ourselves and God's love for us.  So we don't have to hang our head or puff ourselves up – we’re marvelous!  And sometimes we make mistakes.  And when we do, we can be honest about that.  Life about being open to the flow of God's love, to us and through us—let us live in the spaciousness of that love. Amen.