Sermon preached by the Reverend Doctor Susan Kraus

St. Paul’s on the Green, Norwalk, Connecticut

3^rd Sunday after Pentecost - June 17, 2007

In the name of God – God of truth, God of forgiveness, God of love. Amen.

I love stories, and today’s lessons are two great stories! I’ve read and re-read them, thinking about what to say to you. There’s so much to say. I thought of telling you more about the background to the story about David, Uriah, and Bathsheba. I thought of telling you about prophets and parables and about customs of eating and socializing in the time of Jesus. All of this is important. It’s part of Bible study, and I heartily recommend that you engage in Bible study, here at St. Paul’s or on your own. But today’s sermon won’t be Bible study.

I do encourage you to read the stories of the Bible, especially the stories in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Know the stories about our Lord. Know them and think about them. Pray about them. Imagine them. Let them transform you.

Remember that in the stories about Jesus, he is always the “good guy,” in fact, the “God guy.” Jesus is not always the “nice guy” or the “laid-back, anything goes guy.” Not at all. But Jesus shows us more clearly than anyone who God is and what God’s kingdom is like. His message is not always easy to hear, but Jesus offers us so much if we will open our ears and hear him.

There are three lessons I want to emphasize in this morning’s gospel reading. First – truth. Jesus confronts Simon the Pharisee with the truth about himself. Jesus does that. He confronts us with the truth about ourselves. The truth was that Simon was full of criticism and judgment against the woman – a sinner – and against Jesus – saying that if he were really a prophet he would have known what kind of woman she was. Simon was seeing the speck in his sister’s eye and even the supposed speck in his teacher’s eye and ignoring the log in his own. The log in his own eye was not only his judgmental attitude but also his lack of generous hospitality to Jesus and, finally, his criticism and doubt about Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. Truth.

The second lesson is about forgiveness. The lesson is this. God offers us forgiveness generously if we come to God acknowledging the truth about ourselves and with love. The lesson is simple, but living it is not. Admitting our failures and weakness, the things we’ve done and not done, our mistakes, our idleness, our self-centeredness, our pride and idolatry. This is hard work and absolutely against the grain of the world and our culture. But this work is what Jesus calls us to, that we might have fuller life in him. Today’s gospel story says, “Come, come without fear, in spite of shame, and tell God the truth about your sins, trusting that the creditor will forgive your debt. Don’t be like Simon the Pharisee, focused on the faults of others, but look to your own debts and ask that they be forgiven.” Forgiveness.

Finally, this story teaches us about love – the generous love of the woman who has poured out her money for a costly gift of ointment, who pours out her tears at the feet of Jesus, who pours out her affection for Jesus. This generous love is praised by the one who would pour out his own life for the salvation of humankind. Her generous love and trust in Jesus lead him to declare that her sins have been forgiven and she has been saved. Love.

Jesus often teaches a great deal in a few words, simple lessons that take us a lifetime to live into. I don’t think we need many more words right now. What I’d like us to do is take some time of silence and think of two things, personally, in our lives now.

Think of someone you judge to be at fault, of whom you are critical – rightly or wrongly – and offer that judgment to Jesus for healing.

Then think of one fault of yours – one failure, one besetting sin, one truth about yourself that needs God’s forgiveness. Put this before God and ask God to forgive you.

One more thing. When you come to the altar or to the healing station, bring all the love you have for God and offer it openly, generously. Pour your heart out to the God who loves you. Be fed and healed by the God of truth, the God of forgiveness, the God of love. Amen.