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June 13, 2004; Proper 6, Year C
    The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector

Simon, the Pharisee, had a few of his friends over to dinner one evening.  He also extended an invitation to the man called Jesus to eat with them.  During the meal a woman of questionable reputation entered the room and stood near Jesus.  She had been there just a short time when tears began running down her cheeks.  She knelt down beside Jesus and allowed the tears to fall on his feet.  Taking each foot, she washed them with her tears and then dried them with her hair.  After she had done this she rubbed his feet with expensive lotion.  She never spoke a word, yet by the end of our Gospel reading for this morning Jesus affirms her by saying, "Your sins are forgiven," and "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Obviously, there is more to this story than meets the eye.  To help us see, Luke provides us with a special pair of glasses so that we can see what is really happening.  These glasses let us see into the mind of the Simon and his friends who are sitting around the table.

As we look into the mind of Simon, the Pharisee, we see and hear an inner dialogue taking place.  Luke writes, "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.'"  Simon was talking to himself, making a judgment about Jesus in his mind as the woman was washing Jesus' feet and rubbing or anointing them with lotion.

In and of itself, there is nothing unusual about this.  After all, most people carry on internal conversations about what is going on around them all of the time.  We observe, think about, and even make judgments about what we see happening before our very eyes. 

We all talk to ourselves from time to time.  It helps us to think through what we have experienced, how we feel about what we have seen, and even what we believe. 

What is unique about our text today is that Luke is indicating that Jesus could read the minds of the people around him.  And, as he did so, he learned the real attitudes of those people.

This mind reading prompts Jesus to tell Simon a parable, a parable that focuses on a spiritual problem in Simon's life.  It is a parable about forgiveness, love and the notion that the more a person is forgiven, the more that person will love.

Since Simon thought he knew it all and had everything under control, he did not feel that he was in need of very much, if anything, at all, from God or anyone else.  Jesus then made the link between the loving behavior of the woman who anointed him with her tears and ointment and the person in the parable who had been forgiven much.  He condemns Simon for his lack of carrying out the common courtesy toward a dinner guest in his home.  The condemnation of Simon is seen in Jesus' comment, "The one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."

Imagine – all of this because Jesus read what was on the mind of Simon.  But there is more to the story.

Luke records that the rest of the dinner guest began talking among themselves.  Other versions of this verse read "to themselves," "within themselves."  "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

Jesus also reads their minds.  Maybe he did so by observing the non-verbal signals they were giving.  Maybe he could see the questioning look on their faces.  Maybe be picked up on the muttering between them when he told the woman that she was forgiven.  Whatever it was, he picked up on their attitudes and pointed out that it was her faith that saved her.

I cannot help but wonder that if Jesus could read what was in their minds and hearts, then certainly he can read what is in our minds and hearts.  That is – my attitudes toward other people.  Can we hide anything from God? 

The second thing that I say each Saturday/Sunday as we begin our worship service is the Collect for Purity:

Neither Simon or his guest said anything.  Yet, Jesus knew their thoughts, and their thoughts condemned them.  Certainly one lesson from our Gospel for this morning is, "Be careful what you think.  Your thoughts can condemn you."

But the sinful woman never said anything either.  And she was forgiven.  Could it be that Jesus also read her mind?  Could it be that from her actions he was able to determine the condition of her heart, and thus could declare her a woman of faith?

She must have heard of Jesus and his teachings.  She may have had a conversation with herself that forced her to look at her life, consider what she had done with it, and then made a decision to change.  If she had, she did it before she ever arrived at the home of Simon.

Jesus could tell by what she did and the way she did it that it came from a deep sense of love for him.  He read her mind, heart, and actions, and they revealed to him a difficult struggle, a struggle between the way she had been living and a new way of living.  It was a struggle of faith that brought her to his side.  Because of this struggle and her decision, Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven."

The good news and bad news of the Gospel reading from Luke this morning is that God knows.   He knows our thoughts.  He knows the conversations that we hold with ourselves.  He knows what lies behind our actions.  He knows and he cares.  God wants our thoughts to be right.  He wants to cleanse them with his Holy Spirit so that we may know true forgiveness.  Indeed, God wants to say to each of us, "Your sins are forgiven.  Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

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