Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Hoy Spirit that abides in each of us.
It is good to be back today!  Last weekend, Jill and I, along Julie and Bob Roediger, attended our Synod’s annual assembly.  It included two-and-a-half days of meetings, conversations, and worship, a time when people from virtually every one of the 200-plus congregations in Kansas and Missouri came together to talk about the business and mission of this Church.  Now, as much as I enjoyed being there, I must admit that I missed all of you.  Our times of worship during the weekend and on Sunday morning were awesome, but not being here with this faith community felt a little weird, and so it is good to be welcomed back to this community.

Our Gospel lesson today is one of those texts that is filled with topics to discuss.  Often, there are times when I read the text for the week and I say “Lord, open my eyes to this one and help me to see the relevance for our community this day.”  But not this week; no, as I read this text, I could see and hear themes of hospitality, forgiveness, generosity, acceptance, self-righteousness, shame, personal desires, and the notion of how one should receive God’s grace.  Yes, if we had several hours, I could fill them today.  But don’t worry, I won’t do that.  So this week I prayed, “Lord, lift up for me one word on which I can focus this week.”  Now, the interesting thing is that God did answer my prayer, but the word He gave me isn’t in the text, but the story definitely is about this word.  The word is generosity.
 
As our story begins, we are told that a Pharisee invited Jesus and his disciples to his home for a meal.  There is that hospitality I mentioned earlier and the theme of generosity.  You see, Jesus is in the city of Nain, as we know from our story last week.  Jesus is away from home and must count on the hospitality and generosity of others for food and shelter, so He accepts the Pharisee’s invitation.  We are told that when He and the disciples get to the Pharisee’s house, Jesus takes his place at the table.  Now, here is where we need a little explanation.  Jesus did not go sit in a chair at the table.  No, in Jesus’ day, when one “sat at the table” they most likely sat on the floor around a very low table.  When they “sat at a table” they would literally recline on the ground with their feet pointed away from the table.  Although our text says “he took his place at the table,” the Greek word here, kataklino, should literally be translated as “he reclined at the table.” 

With this picture in our mind of people reclining around a table filled with food, we now are told that a woman from the city “who was a sinner” and was weeping came in and stood behind him at his feet holding an alabaster jar.  The woman did not have to crawl under a table to get to Jesus’ feet as they would have been sticking out away from everyone.  The description of this woman may not seem all that outlandish to us today, but to the people hearing this story in Luke’s day, what they would have heard was this:  “As Jesus reclined at the Pharisee’s table, a prostitute that worked in the city of Nain came in carrying a very expensive jar of perfume, crying as she stood at Jesus’ feet.”  With this description, a hearer in the day would have known that this was unacceptable.  First of all, even a “proper” woman unescorted by a male should not have been present.  Secondly, she was a prostitute; therefore, she was unclean and her very touch would make others unclean.  Everyone knew that!

Well, apparently Jesus didn’t know that because, as her tears fell on Jesus feet, she used them as water to wash his feet and then used her hair to dry them.  According to tradition, the very touch of this woman would have made Jesus unclean.  As the story continues, we are told that the woman dumped the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.  What a waste!  How absurd this thing is that she has done; yet, Jesus allows it!  First of all, he allows her to touch him, and secondly, he allows her to waste something that is very valuable.  Why?  Jesus should know better than this!  He should know not to associate with the likes of someone like this.

Now let’s back up and fill in the blanks.  First of all, we must ask why this woman came crying.  What we learn in this story is that somehow this woman knew that just being in the presence of Jesus and offering her sin to him meant that she was forgiven.  She had been paying attention to the stories that had been going around about Jesus, and she came to give all she had to Jesus for this incredible gift of forgiveness.  Now, we do not know how this woman knew this for sure, but she already knew that she was forgiven.  She already knew that God’s generous mercy and forgiveness were available to her.  Apparently nobody else knew this because everyone else still saw her only as a sinner, and not a forgiven child of God.  She was not welcome in this place -- so much for hospitality -- but she knew that Jesus would welcome her and that she would become part of God’s community.  She was overcome with joy, fear, and humility when she came to the feet of the one who somehow brought her this great news, and she managed to do what the host failed to do, she allowed for the feet of this guest to be washed.  Not only did she offer this gift, but she did it with no resources.  She had no water, she had no towel, she had no inexpensive ointment to soothe the skin, so she used what she had, her tears, her hair, and expensive perfume that was to be used sparingly.  With nothing to offer but herself, this unnamed woman generously gave thanks and praise with all she had.

She knew she did not deserve God’s grace and mercy.  She knew she had lived a life that was not worthy of God’s forgiveness; yet, God forgave her and she came to give thanks and praise abundantly and generously with all she had, herself.  Her unclean body had been made clean, and now she shared it as a gift.  It was as if she could not do enough to express her love and thanks for this gift of freedom from her sin.  From this unnamed woman, we learn how to freely receive God’s grace and how to offer unconditional hospitality and unconditional generosity in response. 

We, too, are people that have already received God’s generous grace and mercy, with no strings attached.  In response, I wonder, can we be like this unnamed woman who felt the desire to give generously in response to God’s generosity?  Today, as a faith community, we gather together on what we have labeled Commitment Sunday.  Today, we are asked to commit ourselves to God and God’s mission in this place and at this time.  As we come forward in a few minutes with our offerings and our commitments, I pray that each of us come forward with the same humility and joy of this unnamed woman.  I pray that we come to this altar and offer ourselves, our time, and our possessions with no strings attached.  God has generously and graciously given us his mercy and love unconditionally.  Can we do the same today?  Can we come and say, Lord, use me as you desire and not as I am comfortable, Lord, fill my life with opportunities to generously give of my time to serve and offer hospitality, help me, Lord, to be generous with my time and not be one who offers myself in my spare time?  Let the money we offer this day be given freely, generously, and with joy so that God’s will may be done, and not our personal will. 

Today, may we, as a faith community, commit ourselves unconditionally to God and may we always give of ourselves generously and joyously to the Lord.  Amen.