FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The Rev. J.D. McQueen, II - All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Diego, CA

In today’s gospel lesson we see a really striking contrast between Simon the Pharisee, who’s forgiven little and loves little, and the sinful woman, who loved much and has been forgiven much.

- Now, Jesus tells us that nothing matters more than loving God and our neighbor with everything we have and everything we are, so whether we’re able to love much or just a little is hugely important.

- What we’re seeing here is the difference love makes when it enters and matures in a relationship.

In a relationship without love, nothing changes.

- Who we are and what we want remains the same, and the relationship is based on me being happy and getting what I want.

- I’ll make some compromises, but that’s really just negotiation.

- Repentance is basically just accounting – fixing the circumstances to maintain something that’s good for me.

- If it starts to seem like I’m not being served by the relationship, either something’s got to change or the relationship is going to end.

Now, in a relationship with a mature love, everything changes.

- Love transforms us and our desires, so that we point our lives in the direction of another person and their well-being, and to find our joy and satisfaction in that.

- Compromises then are really about negotiating with ourselves, to gradually grow in our ability not to get our way.

- Because this is a process, repentance is what happens when we see the reality of what our selfishness has done in the relationship and are moved to heal it.

We see a great example of this at the first Pentecost.

- In response to the confusion and amazement of the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem for the festival, Peter proclaims the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

- These are faithful Jews who genuinely love their God, so when they hear reality of who Jesus of Nazareth is, Luke tells us that they’re “cut to the heart,” and “they cry out, “Brethren what should we do?”

- Peter tells them, “Repent and be baptized,” and gives us a perfect picture of the transformation true repentance brings.

We might just as easily understand “repent and be baptized” as “turn around and point your life in another direction, Jesus’ direction.”

- To “be baptized” doesn’t mean a one-time event, like paying off a debt to fix your circumstances.

- It means a whole new life, that it is no longer us who live, but Jesus who lives in us, as Paul writes to the Galatians.

This is especially important for us, who have begun a relationship with Jesus and are trying to rise from good to better.

- The reason is that when we just take a glance at our lives, it might be easy to conclude that we’re in pretty good shape.

- We’re not perfect, of course, but we’re definitely not the sinful woman of the city in today’s gospel lesson.

This is a really dangerous place to be because even though we still have a daily need to turn around and point our lives in Jesus’ direction, it’s not as easy for us to be “cut to the heart.”

- We don’t confess much because we’ve settled for who we are and what we’ll offer to God in the relationship.

o If you want to test this, start thinking about what more you could offer to God or do for your neighbor and the internal negotiating will start almost immediately.

- And so we can easily slip into a comfortable space where we go through the motions of repentance, but we’re not transformed.

Jesus is speaking to that exact thing in his parable of the 2 debtors.

- I’m always cut to the heart when Jesus points out that it’s the one with the greater debt that loves more, as if I’m wearing an “I followed Jesus and all I got was this lousy t-shirt…and a place in the divine love of the One who created the universe, I guess.”

- And that right there is the reminder of just how much forgiveness and love is really available to me.

What we always have to keep in mind is that even though one’s debt was 10x greater than the other’s, it didn’t matter; neither of them could pay it back.

- We are all dead in our sin, even if it’s not as obvious.

- For example, I can’t really consider myself less sinful than someone else if instead of praising God for preserving me from the pain and woundedness of sin, I’m resentful of all the fun they had breaking the rules.

- The closer we come to God, the more clearly we’ll see all the smaller things that stand between us;

- Our affection for sin, how attractive it is, our inordinate attachment to things that keep us from him, the calls to us that go unanswered, his desires for us that get left unfulfilled, and on, and on.

You see, even on our best days, we still have a long way to go – and we should rejoice at that.

- So take time this week to pray for a greater awareness of God’s presence in your life and an increased sensitivity to his prompts and nudges.

- God is not close to being done with us or having nothing left to offer, so pray for him to keep pouring more of himself into your life.

- Because the difference between loving much and loving little isn’t what Jesus is offering, but what we’re willing to receive.