The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
... you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, and evil cannot dwell
with you ... you hate all those who work wickedness.
That word, wickedness, bothers us.
It is not a word that is much used nowadays. And when we do use it, we
usually use it to describe a fictional character, such as the wicked Witch of
the West in The Wizard of Oz.
But, let me tell you, there is much wickedness in the world nowadays, even if
we do not call it by that name. There is bullying in the schools and
playgrounds, for example. There are administrators and judges who apply the law
without any reference or respect to the details of a specific case. There are
people who figure that "if I want it" it must be right. There are people who do
not see other folks as being people with rights and feelings, but simply as
obstacles to getting what the first person wants. They feel no guilt about
riding roughshod over everyone and everything to fulfill their desires and
dreams.
That's wickedness.
King Ahab, in the first reading, and his wife, Queen Jezebel, are prime
examples of wickedness. Ahab, in the reading from the first book of Kings,
sounds like a spoiled brat: I want that vineyard, I must have it, never
mind about the owner's rights! And so the queen set up a fake trial that
condemned the owner of the vineyard so that the king could get his hands on it.
That's wickedness. In fact, that is wickedness doubled...wickedness on both
their parts.
The Pharisee, Simon, in the Gospel reading, assumed that because he was a
Pharisee and was descended from Abraham, he himself had no sin. I'm a good
guy. I belong to the "in" group. How could I be a sinner? And so he felt
entitled to look down his nose at the woman who came in to wash and anoint
Jesus' feet. He felt that he was so much better than THAT woman! How he must
have blushed with shame when Jesus pointed out that Simon had failed in common,
every-day courtesy, and implied that this was the least of his wrong-doing. The
story that Jesus told to underline this fact actually teaches two lessons.
The first lesson is that the Jewish Scriptures, which we call the Old
Testament, pound home the point that God is a God of mercy as well as a God of
justice. It's not enough that we, who are bidden to follow God, be just. We must
also be merciful. Neither Ahab and his queen or Simon and his Pharisee friends
were merciful in their speech or their actions.
The second lesson is that the Jewish Scriptures also say that the Lord
forgives the people who have repented for their wrongful actions. Ahab and
Jezebel showed no repentance; in fact, they showed only triumph at their
wrong-doing, their sin. Simon and his friends did not believe that they had done
anything sinful or wrong at all...overlooking the fact that arrogance and lack
of mercy are sins. And, by the way, Luke is careful to make it clear that the
woman who came to anoint Jesus' feet did so as an act of thanksgiving...she knew
that she had repented and been forgiven already, before she came,
even if the self-righteous Pharisees didn't grasp that point. Jesus, of course,
wanted to make it absolutely clear, so he said plainly that God had already
forgiven her. And how that shocked Simon and his guests! I wonder how they
reacted, later on, when Jesus died on the cross and rose again, and his
disciples began preaching that Jesus' death provided forgiveness for all sinners
who turned to him?
Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia does not specifically address the
points of forgiveness and mercy, but they are very definitely part of the
background of the letter. As we read the letter, it sounds as if Paul felt he
had to answer people who had been saying that since he had once persecuted the
Christians, he couldn't be a real Apostle, and couldn't be teaching the true
Gospel of Jesus. Paul's letter shows why he must be considered an Apostle and
why his teaching is true. He is clearly aware that he, himself, has been
forgiven, and forgiven much, and then honored by being made an Apostle. As a
former Pharisee, well-versed in the Law, he was very aware of the teachings
about mercy and justice, and while he admits the justice of the criticism people
have aimed at him, he obviously wonders where the mercy is.
A few years ago, many people were shocked because a gunman entered an Amish
schoolhouse and murdered eight of the young girls who were studying there. That
was shocking enough, of course, but what was even more shocking was the way the
Amish community reacted. They showed no desire for revenge, in fact they made it
clear that they forgave the gunman, and went out of their way to attend his
funeral, and to help his wife and children, his parents, and other members of
his family, who were just as shocked as everyone else by his actions. When
reporters and others asked how the Amish people could do this, they all pointed
to the Lord's Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught: Forgive us our sins as
we have forgiven those who sin against us. The Amish, you see, take this
literally. They feel that they cannot hope to be forgiven for their own sins if
they fail to forgive people who sin against them, such as that gunman. They also
point out that forgiveness does not mean ignoring the sin. If the man had not
killed himself, he would have had to face the consequences in a court of law.
But, as they point out, they cannot hold it against the gunman, who apparently
must have been deranged or mentally upset in some way. They still had to treat
him, and his family, as God's beloved children, who were, like the Amish
themselves, caught up in a bad situation.
Perhaps it is also proper to note that the Amish have a saying: JOY means
Jesus (or Jehovah) first, Others second, Yourself last. I
challenge you to apply that saying first to the cases of Ahab and Jezebel, then
to the case of Simon, and finally, to your own life. Then, go to God in prayer
and discuss what you have found.
Amen.
