A Story of Reconciliation
Feb. 28, 2021
Imagine a few years after the resurrection, the gathering of a small house church in a certain city where Simon the Pharisee lived. The followers of the Way walk into Simon’s house one by one, and as the host, he greets them each in turn. Finally in walks this woman. The woman.
In Luke 7 she slinks into Simon’s house, uninvited, unwanted, weeping and causing a scene. Simon responds with contempt and disgust. Here she walks up boldly, confidently, with joy. Simon greets her at the door with a holy kiss, leads her to a chair, washes her feet, and anoints her head with oil.
After the service, the assembly proceeds to the dining room for a meal. In Luke 7, the woman arrives in the middle of the meal. She doesn’t get a place at the table, but rather stands or kneels at Jesus’ feet to wash them with her tears, dry them with her hair, and anoint them with oil. Now she reclines at her place at the table as one part of the body of Christ.
At a certain point, perhaps after the meal, Simon gets everyone’s attention. “You may not know,” he says, “but this is the anniversary of the day I formally met [this woman] (surely he would know her name by now, even though we do not). She had no business being in this house, at this table. I didn’t want her here, nor did my revulsion at her actions remain hidden. Being polite, I said nothing, but our Lord and Teacher wouldn’t let that stand.”
“He said to me, ‘Simon, you look at me and see someone you want to please. You respect me, and want me to respect you. You look at this woman and see something broken and worthless. Meanwhile, you treat me so poorly, so casually, as if I’m not important, whereas this woman honors me beyond measure. Truly, I see her for who she really is, and I look upon her with love and compassion, even as I see you for who you really are, and I look upon even you with love and compassion. So now, if I see her this way, and you the same way, and if you respect me, then should you not see her the way I do?’ ”
“You all know that I did not. It simply did not make sense. How could this Teacher expect me to see someone so sinful as worthy of love and compassion? But you know what happened—how he entered Jerusalem as the Messiah, and was unjustly put to death by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law with the help of the Romans, and how God, our Father, did not leave him to the dishonor of the grave, but raised him to be the first fruits of new creation, that we might be made new in him! And so now, every time we gather around this table, we’re reminded that God has accepted her, and so should we all. After all, we’re reminded that God accepted even me, hard hearted though I am. Therefore we gather around this one table to partake of our one Lord as one body, Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, reconciled to one another and God by our one Lord and Teacher, Jesus Christ.”
—John Coffey
