Epiphany 7 (NL Year 3) John B. Valentine
Luke 7:36-50 February 23, 2025

“COME TO THE TABLE”

I suspect that ... of all the places and spaces we frequent in our everyday lives ... it is around our kitchen or our dining room tables that we are most precise in drawing boundaries.

Be honest .... folks:

How hard would it actually be for you to actually start listing the rules ... spoken and unspoken ... that apply to the tables on which you eat ... and/or the table at which you sat back when you were a kid?

• Rules about who eats ... and who doesn’t eat.
• Rules about who serves ... and who gets served.
• Rules about what gets said ... and what may not be spoken about.
• Rules about where we sit ...
• Rules about what we wear ...
• Rules about how we eat ...
• Rules about and how we know when we’re done eating.

Do you know something of those “rules” of which I speak???

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For instance ... my mind flashes back to that first time I was invited to share a meal with Bethany’s family ... to be invited to sit at their table ... all these many years ago now .....

Seated there at the table with her mom and her dad ... her brother and her sister and her brother-in-law ...

Her mom’s eyeballs were burning holes right through me as she wondered “Who is this stranger ... this boy from Berkeley of all places! ... who intrudes upon our table?”

What about you?

Imagine you’re in your first week at a new school or a new job. You’re wondering if you’ll like it here and whether or not you’ll be accepted here ... and feeling pretty skeptical ... having endured three painfully lonely lunch breaks thus far ...

Then someone says to you ... “Why don’t you come over and eat lunch at our table with us?” ... and all of a sudden you’re filled with a glimmer of hope that maybe you might fit in.

Or maybe you’re lying in a hospital bed ... where you’ve been now for the past six days ... and you’re alerted to the fact that it’s just about meal time ...

Someone brings in a tray of food ... and adjusts your bed to a sitting position ... and double-checks that your meal is low-sodium and semi-soft... and a thought comes over you that screams out ... “There’s a big difference between this so-called ‘food’ and an actual ‘meal’.”

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Let’s face it ... folks.

Meals ARE more than just food .... just as a home is more than just a house.

And your table is more than just four legs and a table-top.

Family tables are places where you share something of yourself ... in terms of food and drink ... and conversation and community ... with those around you.

• Tables are places where the bonds of family are woven together ... however tightly or loosely ...

• Tables are places where bits of ourselves get revealed ... and other bits perhaps get hidden ...

• Tables are places around which boundaries ... both spoken and unspoken ... are erected ... as well perhaps they should be.

You see .... sharing a meal together is actually one of the most intimate of human activities.

∙ Be it a family meal at the end of the day eaten as a sort of sacrament of family life ...

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Be it a “first date” meal shared in a noisy restaurant amid some anxious wonderings about how the one you’re with is feeling about you ...

∙ Be it one of those meals that my siblings and I shared at our old family home all week ... relating memories of that house that was our home and the place of our hearts for all these years.

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Anyhow ... today’s Bible lesson plunks us down at just such a table ... at a table with Jesus.

Jesus is the guest of a fellow named Simon ... not the usual “Simon Peter” Simon ... but another Simon ... apparently a VERY religious fellow ... who spends much of his day trying to live out his faith in daily life.

• And the table has been set ....
• And the blessing has been asked ....
• And the food has been served ....
• And the conversation has begun ...

And ... seeing as Simon is a very religious fellow and he’s invited Jesus ... this promising young rabbi ... to come at eat with him ... it’s probably safe to assume that the conversation centered around religion ...

And all is going well ... and Simon is quite pleased with his little dinner party ... until SHE walks in!

This woman ... this “woman of the city” ... this woman “of the streets” ... this woman of ill-repute ...

She shows up and violates every single one of those boundaries ... both the spoken and the unspoken ones .... that Simon has erected around his table!!

She walks into the room ... and falls upon Jesus ... and lets her hair down ... and kisses Jesus’ feet ... and bathes his feet with her tears ... and wipes them with her hair ... and ... in so doing violates:

• the rule that says women aren’t altogether welcome at this table ... and
• the rule that says strangers aren’t welcome at this table ... and
• the rule that says uninvited guests aren’t welcome at this table ... and above all ...
• the rule that says “sinners” ... “losers” ... disreputable folks ... aren’t welcome at this table.

And accordingly ... Simon ... the fellow who’s the host of the meal ... gets REALLY uncomfortable.

Because he knows what kind of a person this woman is ... and every fiber of Simon’s being is screaming out that SHE shouldn’t be here ... hanging around his table.

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What do you think has been the most popular subject on television in recent years?

• Is it ‘sports’? No!
• ‘Comedy’? No!
• ‘Gossip’? No!
• ‘Crime’? Not even!

No ... at least the way I see it ... the most popular subject on television over the past quarter century has been “judgment”.

JUDGMENT!

Oh sure ... there’s been Judge Wapner and Judge Judy ... and now Judy Justice ... rendering their daily verdicts.

But more importantly ....

• You’ve got those singing shows ...
• And dancing shows ...
• And cook-off shows ...
• And surviving shows ...
• And dating shows ...

ALL of which are really ALL about judgment ...

• Be it a group of people out casting down judgment upon their peers.
• Or a panel of experts rendering their verdict.
• Or millions of people across the country judging via text message.

You see ... from what I can tell ... most of what’s on TV these days is about people judging ... and people being judged.

We like to judge people ... we like to hear people judge other people ... we like to see people get called out for their short-comings ... just like Simon did.

Like Simon ... we seem to relish judging folks who don’t measure up to whatever standards we have.

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But to people like Simon ... and I guess by default people like us ... people who like to pass judgments upon others ... Jesus tells a story.

What does he say?

He says:

“Listen. There was a rich fellow who had two poor people who owed him money.

• One of them owed him two months worth of pay checks ...
• The other of them owed him two years worth.

“But the rich fellow was a generous man ... and when he found out that neither of them could pay off what they owed ... he simply canceled their debts.

“Now which one of them ... the fellows that owed two months worth of paychecks ... or the one that owed two years worth ... would appreciate him more?”

“Well” ... replies Simon ... “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.”

“You’re right” ... says Jesus ... and then he looks down at the woman.

Of course ... everybody else has been looking at her all along ... except the couple of fellows who are secretly trying REAL hard NOT to look at her ...

∙ The women in the room are giving her a contemptuous “we know what you are” sort of a look.

∙ The men in the room are staring in disbelief that she could so shamelessly appear in front of such a group.

∙ Simon himself is glaring at her ... aghast that she has ruined his little party.

But Jesus way of looking at her is neither glaring nor leering nor contemptuous.

There isn’t a name that anyone has called her that she hasn’t heard a hundred times before ... except for what Jesus calls her ... “child of God.”

And then he says those astonishing words to her ... “Your sins ... though they are many ... are forgiven ... go in peace.”

“Your sins ... though they are many ... are forgiven ... go in peace.”

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You know ... just a few minutes ago ... we had the privilege of welcoming Isaiah and Lilian into the household of God through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Now I know that some of you think those two kids looked all cute and sweet and all.

But ... if we were to put Dennis and Vicar Meagan on the spot ... they’d be willing to own that their kids are exactly ‘perfect’.

In fact .. I suspect that each of them ... at some time in their short lives has ... like the woman in this morning’s lesson ... probably “disrupted” a family meal or two.

But though mom and dad may get frustrated with them on occasion ... and maybe even downright perturbed ... it doesn’t make Lilian and Isaiah any less a part of the family.

They’re still their kids.

And so it is with God.

For in the waters of Holy Baptism ... Jesus called Isaiah and Lilian the same thing that he called the woman at Simon’s dinner party ...”child of God”.

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So let me leave you with a question this morning.

Seriously ... I want to ask you to think about you answer to this question: “Who is the greatest sinner you know?”

Really ... I want you to think about that ... don’t answer TOO quickly ... “Who is the greatest sinner you know?”

And I want you to picture that person in your mind’s eye.

Now ... does that person whom you are picturing look anything like the person you see when you look in the mirror?

If it doesn’t ... I think you should probably ... in light of Jesus’ words ... think again.

But then remember what he says: “Your sins ... though they are many ... are forgiven ... go in peace.” ......

And remember that you are always welcome at the table with Jesus.