Without a Word
Bad Girls of the Bible • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsThis woman is able to convey a depth of worship and love for Jesus without a single word. Do our lives similarly convey that love?
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Today we wrap up our series on the ‘bad girls of the Bible.’ We’ve explored the story of Eve and our need to pursue wisdom. Then last week was the story of Rahab, who helped the spies of Israel as they attacked the city fortress of Jericho. Rahab chose what we called “consolation.” She moved closer to God despite the chaos and the struggles she faced. As the trumpets play and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down she was rescued by the spies and eventually becomes part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Its an incredible story and a reminder for all of us to draw closer to God no matter what challenges are ahead of us.
Now we look at our final ‘bad girl.’ This is the story of a woman who is not named. She is simply known as ‘the sinful woman’ or sometimes ‘the woman with the alabaster jar.’ Her story, on its surface, seems simple, but we are going to dive deep into it and hopefully discover something truly revolutionary for all of us. (Eric/Kara) is going to read for us today. This passage comes from the Gospel of Luke and in the previous passage Jesus says how people accuse John the Baptist of being bad because he won’t sit and eat with people, but when Jesus does it they call him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Well here we have an example of Jesus being friends with these people. As Jesus is traveling the countryside preaching and teaching, he is invited to a religious leaders home. There’s all kinds of subtext here, and we’ll get to that later, but listen closer for the perspective of the woman who was a sinner. This is from the Gospel of Luke 7:36-50 Hear now the word of the Lord:
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said 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.” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
[And from
2 Corinthians 2:14-15
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;]
The word of the Lord for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray: Lord, may we be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. Open our hearts to your word, that we would love as you love, and defend others as you would defend them. Bless us to both hear and understand your word this day. Amen.
A woman by the name of Susan had a very unusual experience. When she was a teenager she was hit by a truck and ever since had trouble reading. She was very bright, but bored out of her mind in school. So one day a friend suggested that she go to her college with her. She told her it was much better than high school and she could simply listen to the lectures from the professors and learn; so she decided to try it. She wandered onto campus, into a building and she opened the first door she came to and her life was changed. She had stumbled into a sign language class. This was back when such classes were rare, but seeing people make pictures with their hands was so much easier for her than reading books! Susan was hooked, and studied Sign Language. After graduating she found herself in demand and working at a community college with students. Her first day was chaotic and the students are all signing to each other. Susan walks up to the professor and she notices there is one student off by himself. He isn’t signing to anyone; he’s just holding himself like he’s all alone. She decides to go up to him and ask him some questions. She first signs, “Hello, my name is Susan” and he signs it right back to her, “Hello, my name is Susan.” She’s a little confused, but she shakes her head, “No, no I’m Susan.” He signs back, “No, no I’m Susan.” And she figures out he has no idea what he’s doing. He was born deaf, he was 27 years old and he has no idea how to talk to other people. He had no language.
Being born deaf this man didn’t know there was such a thing as sound. He thought everyone around him figured out all this stuff just from visual learning, and so at some point he decided that he must just be stupid; he simply couldn’t do it.
Susan didn’t give up so easily, though. She decided to try and teach him some basic sign language. She signed “table” and got “table” back. She tried “book” which in sign language looks like opening a book, and he thought she was commanding him to open a book. This went on for weeks, until finally Susan has a brilliant idea. She would ignore this student; she would look somewhere else and not pay any attention to him. She said of this moment that if ever she had a stroke of genius in her life, this was it. She started to teach an imaginary student. She would sign to an empty chair and then after go and sit in that chair. She would react the way she wanted her student to react. She would hold a picture of a cat, sign cat (pull whiskers) and pretend to pet the cat. Then she would pass it to the imaginary student who…was her…and act as though she got it! She understood and would sign back “cat.” On and on this went. At least he had stopped copying her, and was watching her, but sometimes he seemed very bored. She didn’t give up, though. She kept trying and one day, in the middle of an exercise, she sees him shift. His eyes grow wide and he slams his hand on the table as if to say, “Oh! Everything has a name!” And he’s looking at her in a demanding way pointing to the table and she signs table. Then he points to the clock and she signs clock. He points to the door and she signs door. He points to her and she signs Susan and he starts crying. He collapses in tears as the full weight of what he has learned hits him; this is language - everything has a name. He can talk, he can remember and tell stories. He is no longer imprisoned because he has a way to communicate with others around him.
It’s a beautiful moment, and reminds all of us of just how powerful language is. I think of Helen Keller and her teacher spelling ‘water’ into her hand and how that moment would go on to change the world as she became the first deaf and blind graduate of higher learning. Keller wrote over a dozen books and became world famous for her ability to describe things most of us don’t even notice.
But there’s something interesting about language. We say sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, and even if they do hurt, at least a little, words aren’t everything. Plenty of research points to how important other factors are in our communication. The data says that about 35 percent of what we say through verbal communication is what people actually hear from us. The other 65 percent, though, is all about non-verbal communication. Its all the things we are saying without any words at all. Think about it; if something happens and I say “great” it could mean two totally different things. Great with a fist pump means it really is good! ‘Great’ with two hands thrown up in the air in exasperation means its not great at all; its probably really, really bad. That’s non-verbal and it literally contradicts my words. I say one thing and mean something completely different.
This is something I’m still working on in my own life. When I hit my teenage years I discovered sarcasm, and I hit it hard. My parents loved it (that was sarcastic). I used it against everyone, including my family. Sarcasm was a way to attack people without ever actually saying anything wrong. I used it to hide the real meaning of my words, so I wouldn’t get in trouble, or to confuse people so I looked smart. None of that is terribly life-giving, but imagine if I had used non-verbal communication to do good! I would probably be my parent’s favorite child, but instead my brother gets to be that!
I’m still figuring out how to implement the things I’ve learned about marriage and how churches work. I do premarital counseling with couples getting married here at the church and every time I start with the same basic idea – communication is the key! If you want a successful marriage, focus on communication. The ideas are true at work, too. How do you have good, solid communication? Its simple – be assertive and use active listening. The assertive part always gets me; if I want a good relationship with someone I have to tell them what it is that I want. They can’t read my mind, but if I’m giving other signals non-verbally or I’m being sarcastic its confusing. People won’t know what it is that I really want and I will find myself disappointed.
Active listening is staying engaged when someone is talking. Its nodding and affirming what their saying; even repeating back to them what they’ve said to make sure you’ve understood them properly. Too often we try and give unsolicited advice, when really people want to be heard. That’s an incredible gift we can give to our families or our co-workers. The easy way to put this is that good communication is literally the opposite of everything I did when I was a teenager. Don’t be bitter, don’t confuse people or disguise your meaning; just say what you want and let your non-verbal communication line up with it and you’ll be on your way to a happier, healthier relationship.
Non-verbal communication is such a potent way to express ourselves, we get this whole story in Luke chapter 7 about a woman who never says a single word. All the non-verbal communication she does says everything that needs to be said. Even then, because this story comes to us from Ancient Israel it may be easy for us to miss a whole bunch of non-verbal cues here. Explaining the customs and the situation will help us catch the real meaning here from this ‘Bad Girl of the Bible.’ So let’s walk through it.
The story starts with Jesus eating a meal with a religious leader. It’s a big banquet and Jesus would have been an invited guest. As Jesus travels the countryside it was appropriate to invite him to a special meal. We don’t do this today, but meals were also considered a time where a Rabbi could give teachings so its expected that Jesus would give an important lesson here. This woman who is only described as “a sinner” is thought to be a prostitute because of her alabaster jar of ointment, but we don’t know that for sure. Either way, she is an uninvited guest, but that’s normal. Important people would host a meal and anyone could come as long as there was room. The interesting thing here, though, is that this woman begins to weep at Jesus’ feet and then uses her hair to dry it. The force of this is lost on us. In that time a woman’s hair was always to be covered. In fact, if a man and a woman were going to get a divorce, the man would have to pay a fee to the woman for the divorce, except in three situations 1) if she speaks with another man 2) if she spins in the street or 3) her hair is uncovered. The idea here is that these actions were so provocative and so careless regarding the marriage vows, it was like inviting divorce.
When a man and woman were engaged to be married, the man would have never seen his bride-to-be’s hair. Only on the wedding night would she take the head covering off. So this woman at Jesus’ feet, when she has her hair uncovered and is using it to wipe Jesus’ feet, it would have been absolutely scandalous. What for us is a small act, for them would have been her, essentially, pledging her life to Jesus. That’s why the religious leader who invited Jesus in the first place says, “Huh! If he was a real prophet, he’d know how scandalous all of this is.”
That’s when Jesus shifts the attention from the woman’s sin, from what a disgrace all of this is, to a much bigger picture. The story Jesus tells of two people in debt is simple enough. Which one, whose debt is forgiven, would love more? The one forgiven a little, or the one forgiven much? And the obvious answer is the one who is forgiven much, whether we are talking about money or the debt we owe because of our sin. But Jesus doesn’t stop there; he points out all the things that this religious leader, this Pharisee Simon, has not done.
It was standard custom that when someone entered your home the host, or a servant of the host, would wash your feet. Its dusty and dirty on the streets, so it was a gesture of good will. Jesus points out that his host has not done this. He has also not given any oil which would be another kindness, and he has not kissed Jesus, which would have been a respectful greeting. The subtext here is that this religious leader doesn’t actually have any respect for Jesus. He has invited him over for dinner pure and simply so he can ignore him and insult him by treating him poorly. This (quote, unquote) “sinful woman” has seen their insults and instead of joining in, getting on the good side of powerful people, has sided with Jesus. She anoints him and signals here total and complete commitment to Jesus.
In the Gospel of John there is a similar story about Mary. She was one of many people who traveled with Jesus, learning everything they could from him and discovering a different way to live. They are showing their devotion to Jesus, just as this nameless woman is doing here.
And I wonder, for us, how many of us here have that same kind of commitment to Jesus? We are usually quick in the church to use words to show our devotion. We say we love Jesus; we quote the Bible or stand and sing and we think that shows our love. But here we find this wordless example. You’ve probably heard this quote before attributed to St. Francis, “preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” I think that expresses something similar to how God would have us love him; love Jesus at all times and if necessary, use words.
Some of you, though, might be thinking ‘love God? How do I love God?’ You can’t just choose to love someone, can you? Well, maybe you can. You know what the number one predictor of love between two people is? Proximity. The more you are around someone the more you grow to love them. There was this huge study last year about successful relationships and they found what matters most for success is perceived partner commitment. When you spend time with God, in prayer, in study, in reflecting on your finances so you can make a commitment to God and to the church, these things draw you closer to God. The more time you spend with God, the more your commitment to God will grow. You don’t need lots of words to prove your love for God; just let your life reveal your priorities. And if your life isn’t in the place you’d like it to be, start working on it. What’s that one thing you can do today to move toward God?
To close out our series on the ‘Bad Girls of the Bible’ we are going to hear from one of our own bad girls of Grace. Kathy Myers has volunteered to join me today to share a story of hers. As we close, can you welcome Kathy here with us today?
1. Intro
2. Work (nursing)
3. Tell us about a boy you helped
As we’ve seen throughout the series on the ‘Bad Girls of the Bible’ just because you do something wrong doesn’t mean you are too far gone for God. A kind word, a listening ear, patience and some love can help us get back on track. The Lord loves us and calls us into a deeper relationship with him and with those around us. This nameless woman devoted herself to Jesus giving an example to all of us as to what it looks like to love God. Will you do that, too? Will you find ways to communicate and build that loving relationship with God? If you do, you’ll find yourself loving Jesus even without a word. Amen? Amen.
anointing