Orpah, John Oliver, and Jesus of Nazareth

Text:  Luke 7:36-8:3

Theme:  “Oprah, John, and Jesus”

4^th Sunday after Pentecost

June 12, 2016

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, TX

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Here’s a fact.  I just haven’t figured out if it’s a “fun fact”:  I sold Nissan automobiles for nearly three years.  I liked the product:  I drove a 350Z, a Maxima, an Altima, a 4-door Frontier pick-up truck, and a Nissan Pathfinder SUV.  It was quite an experience, and I’m still trying to weigh the pluses and minuses of that little venture in sales.  Unless a customer came in with piles of money and paid cash for a new car (which was rare but did happen), most people financed them.  That meant, among other things, we had to, as they say in the business, “pull their credit.”  If you had an 800 credit score on TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian (one of the three credit bureaus), you were golden; you were bullets.  We could put you in a new Nissan in no time flat.  But if your credit score was under 600, there were going to be some issues.  If you were in the high 400s or 500s, we could probably get you in a car.  But it would be in a pre-owned vehicle at an incredibly high interest rate.  Could we get some folks with bad credit into a car?  Yes, we could.  But it might require bi-weekly payments of around $700 for a car that was close to ten years old, with high mileage, and was valued just high enough to be able to finance at all. 

Most people would come to trade-in a vehicle for a new one.  The issue we faced in that scenario was that quite a few folks owed more on their trade-in than it was worth.  They were “upside down”; they had a problem with “negative equity”.  When they realized the kind of money it would require upfront, that was bad enough.  When they saw the monthly payment, they stormed out the door. 

Debt is not pleasant.  I did some research this past week only to discover that American households are collectively in debt to the tune of over 12 trillion dollars.  436 billion dollars are over 90 days past due.

Twelve years ago in September, Oprah Winfrey started a new season of her famous TV show.  On that season opener, Oprah gave away 276  brand-new Pontiac G6 automobiles.  Every member of the studio audience received one.  There was pandemonium on the set.  The people fortunate enough to be there that day were laughing, jumping, crying, and going into hysterics. 

But there was some fine print that sort of killed the buzz for Oprah’s fans that day.  The audience members would have to pay a tax on their winnings – just like any prize.  It amounted to about $7,000.00 out of pocket.  At the end of the day, the audience member could do one of three things:  keep the car and pay the tax, sell the car and pay the tax with the profits, or forfeit the car.  Things aren’t always what they appear.  Still, it was an incredible gesture by Oprah.

That brings us to an event that took place as recent as last Sunday on a brand-new HBO television show called “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”. 

Now Oliver is an Englishman – a very funny and very smart Englishman.  He knows that American debt has actually spawned a new industry:  the debt-buying industry.  Individuals or companies buy the right to collect outstanding debts.  They’re collection agencies.  It really doesn’t cost all that much to buy one.  Well, John Oliver did buy one.  He bought nearly 15 million dollars worth of medical debt from approximately 9000 people.  (By the way, medical debt and outstanding student loans, in my experience in car sales, showed up first on the credit report.  If you had outstanding student loans or medical bills gone to collection, good luck financing a piece of gum.)

So Oliver buys this collection agency.  But, instead of starting to collect, he simply wipes the slate clean and forgives the debt of these 9000 people who owed nearly 15 million.

All due respect to Ms. Winfrey, but this gesture by John Oliver made the car giveaway like small change.

Talk about debts and debts being forgiven figures prominently in today’s Gospel.  We pick up with the Lord Jesus as He is on his way to dinner at a pharisee’s house.  Jesus was not one to decline a gracious, hospitable invitation – even from a member of a religious group that was covertly and overtly antagonistic toward Him.  The pharisee’s name was Simon, and he was throwing a dinner party.  We are told that Jesus “reclined at table”.  “Reclining at table” meant more than just, as the millennials say, “chillin’”.  It made a statement.  It was a gesture of free people.  It implied a common bond between the host and the guest.

Into this scene comes a woman who “had lived a sinful life”, reports Luke.  She had not obeyed the laws of God and country.   The implication is that these were not easily dismissed misdemeanors.  It was the kind of situation, with her, that would NOT involve paying a fine and being placed on probation.  It could very well have been infractions of law that could have gotten her stoned to death.

I quote Luke directly: 

So she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.  As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

Allow me a personal paraphrase of this.  Simon says:  “If this Jesus were all that He was cracked up to be, He would never have allowed this piece of human debris to get within ten feet of him – much the less touch him.  He would know that we -- the kind of people who recline at table, the folks who have reached a kind of religious and social cachet -- do not associate with riff-raff of any kind.  We circle our wagons and have fellowship with people that are like us.  Let the sinners eat cake or the crumbs that fall from our private dining table.”

Here is the reply of our Lord: 

, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty.  Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.  You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.  Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Folks, a denarius was one day’s wage.  50 denarii would be a little over a month and a half of minimum wages.  500 denarii would be well over a year and a half of minimum wage.

Oprah made 276 people happy.  John Oliver made 9000 anonymous people supremely happy because massive debts were wiped out.  Who of the two in Jesus’ story to Simon is going to the happiest?  The one who had six weeks of wages restored or the one who had a year and a half of salary restored?

The woman in Simon’s house, for all kinds of painful reasons, had a debt in her heart she could never repay.  It was the kind of debt that only a Jesus – not an Oprah or a John Oliver – could repay.  She believed that Jesus had made her slate clean, and she loved him for it.

If you and I have only a little moral tidying up to do – perhaps like Simon the pharisee, we only need a little forgiveness.  But, as Jesus said, the one who has been forgiven little loves little. 

A friend of mine told me the other day how he thought the problems we face in this country are political.  I replied:  “Our politics are fine.  Maybe a little fine-tuning here and there is needed, but otherwise they’re fine.  The problems, in my view, are far deeper than political.  They are spiritual and cultural.  I fear that they will require a transformation that we the people cannot bring about.  When more and more of us think that we are 99.9% right while everyone else is wrong, you get the idea.”

If we can be forgiven for the .01% of us that is wrong, that would be nice.  But, if Jesus is right (and I believe He is), we will love little. 

My friends in Christ, we all need big love and not little love.  And how big is that love?  Look at the symbol of that forgiving love behind me.  In the six years I’ve served here, in good times and in bad, that cross and the message it conveys has always been here. 

If we are truly aware of the debt that we owe and the forgiveness of that debt we’ve been given through the gospel message, we would give ourselves away.  We would live in faith toward God and love toward our neighbor.  None of the faith and love would be little.  It would make Texas look small.  It would be big!

Amen.