Love sometimes gets a little crazy.
In college, a friend of mine wrote the love of his life a
long and deeply romantic letter on an entire roll of toilet paper (you realize this is
no small feat if you've tried to write anything on toilet paper). Other people
in love have rented out huge billboards or hired advertising
blimps. That's just crazy. There's something about love that pushes the
boundaries.
In Luke 7.36-50, Jesus is having a nice lunch with a nice
group of very nice people. It is a pleasant moment. No one has called him
names. The conversation has been civil and respectful. All the proper
boundaries have been preserved. Simon, who is hosting the luncheon, has not
joined other Pharisees in dismissively attacking Jesus. Simon isn't like that. He
has opened his home, his table, his hospitality, and has been decidedly
respectful to the less educated Nazarene.
The pleasant lunch abruptly changes when the town's best
known whore aggressively shoves her way into the room. Before anyone can stop
her, she throws herself at Jesus' feet and starts holding and intensely kissing
them over and over.
By then the whole room is filled with an overwhelmingly
strong perfume. Since Simon's triclinium used the traditional low table, everyone
eating was lying on their left side, and using their right hands to eat. There
are no chairs. So, the scene you need to imagine is Jesus on his side with his
legs extended as this unsavory woman starts frantically kissing his feet.
The only possible reaction in the room was embarrassed silence.
No one kept eating. Not even chewing. Everyone looked away. Respectable people
did not stare at the almost pornographically embarrassing display of
feet-kissing. In polite Jewish society, men and women rarely touched or even
spoke together in public. Certainly, strangers did not touch, except for
prostitutes. Which, of course, is exactly the point. Here was this well-known woman holding and
kissing repeatedly on the feet of a traveling teacher. Such behavior would
cross all the lines of public decency.
Just as disturbing, the man on whom this uninvited effrontery
was being committed did not pull his feet away or voice a protest. In fact, he seemed
to be more or less enjoying it. It was all too much for the very respectable host.
"If he was really all that holy, he'd pull away."
But, what if there was a holiness that called not for
greater separation but for greater connection?
"If he was really a prophet he would know who that
woman is."
But, what if Jesus not only knows who she is, but also knows
that you don't think he knows? Hmm? Fit that little bit of information into your
tidy little box of messianic assumptions.
And now it's story time. Sadly, there are no puppets. Two
people are in debt. And, look, there's the cruel moneylender. Okay, change that
to there's the kind-hearted moneylender. One man owes ten times more than
other. And, poof, both debts erased. Now, which of the two will love the
moneylender more? Yeah, good job. You aced the quiz.
Now, and this is where things start to get out of focus. Lurking
in the story is a rebuke. She washed Jesus' feet, kissed him, and anointed him,
while Simon had not done any of those things. Simon got it wrong and the unnamed
lady got it right. But, take a moment to think about what this must mean.
Simon's failure was just that he had not gone overboard. Simon
did not reject Jesus. He didn't call Jesus mean names. He even opened his home
and offered Jesus a place at his table. And, on top of that, he shared some pretty
tasty food. And, all the while, he addresses Jesus respectfully.
So, what did he do wrong? Okay, so he did not go running to
the front door, fall down on the floor, and wash Jesus' feet. He didn't go running
up and give Jesus a big hug and a kiss, as though he were a long lost friend. But,
honestly, it's not like Simon got down and washed everybody else's feet or
greeted all his other guests with big kisses. He had not been rude and just snubbed
Jesus, letting him stand there as the only guy in the room with dirty feet. Simon,
after all, was a very respectful and courteous fellow.
But respectful only gets you so far. Genuine worship, like
genuine love, sometimes has to get a little crazy. Extravagant, wild, exuberant,
and uninhibited abandonment of self-consciousness and respectability are the occasional
but essential evidences of honest-to-God adoration.
No age group or worship style has a corner on people getting
a little crazy from time to time. Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, young
evangelicals, and the Scots-Irish Primitive Baptists of my youth all can have
those moments when people break out of the expected and driven by some great
rush of joy start acting a little crazy. Houses are sold and the money from it given
away. Crazy. A couple moving into retirements announcing that they're going to
Russia, instead. Crazy. Somebody in a praise service tears off some of their
clothes and goes out dancing in the streets – no, wait. That may not count. That's
King David. We can't get that crazy, can we?
Most worship ministers (and quite a few lead pastors) are by
gift and curse, control freaks. Planning, planning, and then more planning. When
the unexpected happens we keep smiling on the outside but on the inside we're
screaming, "Nooooo!" Good
worship is worship like we (prayerfully) planned it. And most people in the
congregation come each week operating within the distinct impression that
giving Jesus respectful worship in singing, in giving, in listening, and in
breaking bread is all that any Messiah could ever want.
It's good. Honestly. The worship we expect this Sunday is
not bad worship. But, if you watch Jesus, do you ever notice him glancing
around as if he's looking for something a little crazy? Jesus loves us and smiles
at our worship. But, it's still those crazy woman-at-his-feet moments that make
him laugh.
2 comments:
Prof. Lawson,
I really appreciated these thoughts. Though not a worship minister,I'm pretty sure I have been on the planned/controlled side of things many times before. This article also made me consider the importance of the worship lifestyle over the worship experience.
Hope you and your family are doing well!
-Doug Hathaway
Great artcile, I think we could use a little more crazy sacrifice in worship.
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