“Who Do You See?”

Luke 7:36-50

July 30, 2006

In our text for this morning is imbedded a fundamental question for us to answer. It is a question, which must be answered if we are to truly be the Church of Jesus Christ. Everything we are, everything we do, everything we must become hinges on the answer to this question, an answer that has significant implications for our ministry and mission in and for the world around us.

Our text for this morning tells the story of Jesus at a dinner party at the house of Simon the Pharisee. It is remarkable in a way that a Pharisee would invite Jesus to his house for dinner. After all Jesus was no friend of the Pharisees, the ones who Luke says rejected God’s purpose for themselves. The Pharisees had already made up their mind about who Jesus was and they were not so keen on his radical speak about the kingdom of God. Jesus didn’t pander to their crowd, and occasionally he said things that ruffled their feathers and challenged their rules. In their close knit circles they probably wonder about just how to handle Jesus, whether or not they should just quietly ignore him, or publicly oppose him, or attempt to discredit him.

The text is not clear as to the true motives of Simon. Maybe Simon was hoping to find a way to trap Jesus. Maybe Simon was hoping to persuade Jesus to change his tune. Maybe Simon just hoped that Jesus would tell him what he wanted to hear, that he was part of the kingdom of God, that he was included as one of the faithful, that his salvation was secure. After all, Simon was a Pharisee, a devoted follower to the traditions of Judaism, a faithful servant of God. If there was anyone who deserved God’s grace and mercy, it was Simon. If there was anyone who deserved God’s forgiveness, it was Simon. It there was anyone who deserved God’s blessing, it was Simon.

But, then something happens. A woman enters the room. She’s not the kind of woman you would normally invite to nice party. She was a woman of the city, a scandalous woman, a sinner. And here she was at Simon’s home – unescorted, uninvited, unwanted. We do not know why she came to see Jesus. Maybe she came because she had heard about Jesus’ healing of others, and she needed healing herself. Maybe she came because she knew who Jesus truly was, and she knew that through him she might find the salvation she desperately craved. But whatever her motives were, she came knowing that she was undeserving. She came knowing that she was a sinner, a sinner undeserving of God’s grace and mercy, undeserving of God’s forgiveness, undeserving of God’s blessing. And so this woman comes to Jesus without pretensions or pride, but with her arms and heart wide open, honest about her own brokenness and sinfulness. And with tears rolling down her face, she washed Jesus’ dirty feet and kissed them and poured the jar of ointment on them, doing for Jesus what Simon had refused to do.

Now Simon has been watching this little drama unfold. He doesn’t say anything to the woman. Instead, he becomes critical of Jesus saying to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – that she is a sinner.” Our text says that Jesus literally turns his back on Simon and faces the woman. He turns away from the judgmental, self-righteousness of the Pharisee to the simple repentance of this woman, and he asks Simon, “Do you see this woman?” This is not just a casual question, but a profound question, a question, which strikes at the very core of who we are and what we are called do as Christ’s church. The woman was exactly what Simon did not see.

Who do you see? Who do you see when you go out of your home and encounter people on the street? Who do you see when you watch the news at night and see people in all of their brokenness and sinfulness? Who do you see when you look into the mirror? Working with police officers, I encounter the least and the lost and the left out of society. I encounter the riff raff, the drug addicts, the abused and neglected, the downtrodden, the gang bangers, the criminals and the convicts. I encounter the other side of the tracks, the hidden part of society that we only read about in newspapers and see on tv, but never experience in our daily lives.

Every time I ride with a police officer, this question continues to come to the forefront of my ministry… Who do I see? Who do I see when I look at someone wearing the handcuffs? Who do I see when I look at someone who I know has just beaten his wife? Who do I see when I look at someone who has broken the law? Who do I see when I drive by those wearing gang colors? Who do I see when I look at the faces of the children living in the known drug dealing locations? Who do I see? Who do you see? Who do we see?

In the end, it is the Pharisee who cannot see. It is he who cannot see who Jesus is and who this woman is. It is Simon who does not see that every human being is one of God’s creatures and the object of God’s care; that even the most shameless sinner can be forgiven; that all are in need of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness, that no one is beyond the reach of his healing touch, his words of reconciliation, his declaration of forgiveness, his restoration to wholeness and life, including ourselves even in the midst of our brokenness and sinfulness.

Simon had people arranged in classes; this woman wasn’t even a woman, she was only a sinner. But Jesus saw only a woman. He did not classify people; he did not concern himself with what sort they were; he was always interested in who they were, in the person themselves. Jesus didn’t let social or economic or racial or gender classifications be a barrier between himself and another, or limit his contacts with others, or determine his relationships with others. The irony of Luke’s story and of Luke’s gospel is that Jesus’ readiness to forgive the humble and the sinful was one of the clearest piece of evidence that Jesus was more than a prophet. More than any of his miracles or mighty works, Jesus’ ability to forgive revealed that he was not only much more than a prophet, but that he had the true heart and character of God.

My friends, not only does this text make a claim about who Jesus is, but it also makes a claim about who we are. In our daily lives, our actions and words define for others what we believe about who Jesus is. When we show hospitality to others, when we welcome them, when we see them for who they are, and not for what they are, and when we treat them with love, kindness, and respect, we not only demonstrate to others our faith, but we also show others that Jesus is more than just a prophet to us, that who he is and what he did defines how we live our lives. By living a Christ-like faith, we not only witness to others who Jesus is, but like Jesus, we too reveal the true heart and character of God.

Imagine for a moment how the answer to this question of who do you see might impact our ministry and mission. Imagine for a moment how the answer to this question might reveal the full scope of who we are as Christ’s church. Imagine for a moment what the world might look like if we looked at others, not with the eyes of indifference or contempt, but with the eyes of compassion and hospitality, seeing in them not objects of our disdain or dislike, but as people also in need of God’s grace, mercy, and love, people just like us, who have found in Jesus Christ the mercy and forgiveness we do not deserve, and the salvation we do not earn, but all made possible by God of grace who sees in us, not what we are, but who we are…the children of the living God. Amen.