At Simon's House

I convinced myself that I had to do it. I had to try. But that’s not exactly right. Because what I was about to do, didn’t actually come from me.

I felt compelled to do it... compelled to go.... no, better yet called to go, summoned to go, it was is if the voice of another within my body said, “come.” It wasn’t even a voice, it was like a tender touch…the kind of touch I had never really felt. It was a wordless touch, a touch of tenderness and love, that spoke as clearly as I’ve ever heard anybody speak. “Come to me.”

I know it sounds crazy, but I have no other way of explaining it.

“Come.”

Do you know how hard it was for me to hear that tender touch and actually get up and go?

I guess that’s why I’m saying I had to convince myself to do it. As much as I heard that tender touch like a clear call, most all the touches I’ve ever received have been humiliating touches, disgracing touches, traumatic touches that took away my dignity, commercializing my body.

It’s the only way I could survive. Selling my body for the pleasure of another…allowing others to take from me with their tormenting touches.

And every touch I felt spoke loudly to me: “You’re dirty.” “You’re a commodity” “You exist simply for the pleasure of another.”

So much of what I heard other people say about me, were wordless messages. People didn’t have to say anything, but what they spoke with their bodies was all they needed to say.

Looks of disgust as they passed me by in the marketplace. A show of coins, if they wanted me to come close. An exaggerated distance as though my presence was like a contagion.

Can you understand why it was so hard for me to convince myself that I had to go?

It was the story Levi told me. Levi…actually most people called him Matthew… … But on that particular day he approached me in a way I had not experienced before. No coins in his hand, no looks of disgust or disdain, only compassion, tenderness. He saw how I was being despised and he told me about a man he met. He talked about a great banquet that he had recently hosted at his home and how his life had been transformed. He told me how this remarkable man named Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, called him, a tax collector no less, the kind of person that every Jewish Rabbi would despise, he called him and said, “Follow me.” And Levi told me from that day on everything changed. In fact what he said to me about his encounter with this Jesus was something like this:

“I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between, was him!”

Then Levi said to me something that Jesus told him and all who were gathered at that great banquet: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

And the moment Levi shared those words with me, I knew I wanted to meet this man.

Well, not long after my unexpected encounter with Levi I learned that Jesus was going to be eating at the Pharisee named Simon’s house. The village I live close to is a small one and news spreads quickly about dinners and banquets, especially when they involve outside guests.

And it was when I heard about that dinner, that I felt that tender touch I describe a few moments ago. It was like a wordless call, a summons, “Come to me.” So with all the courage and strength I could muster, I went.

Thankfully by the time I arrived at Simon’s house quite a few people had already come. Some of the invited guests were already reclining at the table in the middle of the room. I tried my best to disappear among the uninvited guests who were standing and sitting around the perimeter. But it was impossible for me to disappear. I felt the stares, I heard the unspoken words of derision and disdain. I even sensed the shock that some people felt because Simon had not insisted I leave. Simon it seemed let me stay.

I have become very good at listening to unspoken words. I can read a room pretty well. There was lots of chatter going on, lots of expectation and anticipation. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a friendly dinner or if Simon had something else in mind.

Simon carefully greeted his invited guests with a kiss, an embrace, a gesture to a place at the table. A quick nod to his servant ensured that the guest’s feet were washed and fine smelling oil applied. No surprises here.

The shock came when a man arrived who I had not seen before. The chatter that had filled the room became a muffled murmur. This must have been him, the guest everyone was expecting. Surely this was the man Levi told me about. And I couldn’t help but notice what Simon didn’t do!

No kiss when he entered. No embrace as he came in. No water for his feet, no oil of refreshment for his body. I could see I wasn’t the only one who noticed. These wordless omissions filled the room with friction.

As the man reclined at the table, I felt as though he were all alone. Water that brings life was denied him. Oil that brings healing was refused him. The held back kiss of friendship left him abandoned. “Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” (Isaiah 53:3)

The whole of my gaze was filled with this one man. And that’s when he looked at me. That’s when he looked into me. Eyes that penetrated me, touching me with tenderness and compassion. Without words, those eyes touched me and said, “Come. I know you. You are mine.”

My heart welled up with warmth. I was overcome. I had no words. I was summoned. I was seen.

Everything that others had taken from me with their tormenting touches, I felt this man giving back to me with His touch of tenderness.

It’s hard for me to describe what happened next. I needed to speak, I needed to reverse the wordless omissions of Simon with the only thing I could offer this man. But I had no words.

I prostrated myself before his feet and washed them with my tears. I let down my hair as only a bride would do with her bridegroom and wiped them. I broke open the jar that was a tool of my former way of life and anointed his feet with tears and the oil of gladness. And I couldn’t stop kissing his feet!

Then I heard those words that I had heard dozens of times before, “She is a sinner.”

And that’s when he spoke for the very first time. Not to me but to Simon.

“Simon, I have something to tell you. Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

The Jesus looked at me with those penetrating eyes and he touched me with his tenderness.

He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? Because I do. I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown.”

“She is a sinner.” I have heard that dozens of times before.

But on this day I heard words that no one has every spoken to me. I mean who else but God could speak these words? Jesus looked at me, and I knew that I knew that I knew that this man knew everything about me. He knew the whole story of how I found myself selling my body to survive. He knew all the anger and bitterness and resentment that I felt towards so many who treated me like property or like a contagion. He knew me. Everything about me. And he said, “Your sins are forgiven.”

It was as if I heard Jesus say,

This woman was the only person in the room who didn’t utter a word. She had no words. Only the body that God has given her and she spoke with her body a most powerful sermon.

Her tears that washed my feet are like the waters of cleansing that I offer when I take up the basin and the towel to wash the feet of my disciples.

Her ointment is like the oil of gladness and healing that I offer to all when I pour out my Holy Spirit on the hearts and lives of my disciples.

Her kisses of tenderness and affection are like the great love that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, for that is what we are!

Indeed, this woman spoke a most powerful sermon, I could imagine Jesus saying, without saying a word.

From that day on, Jesus has never left me.

He sent me away with a blessing of SHALOM. Go in peace.

Your sins have been forgiven.

This is what the Lord says— he who created you, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; you are precious and honored in my sight, and love you, . 5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

That is the blessing of peace that I experienced, and truth be told it has never left me.

You know, since that day many have asked me, “what happened?”

And the only way I can explain it is like this:

“I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between, was Jesus!”

Prayer

Thank you Lord Jesus for the eloquent sermon that this woman preached without words. And we pause for just a moment now to listen for how your Holy Spirit may be speaking to us. Lord, are you summoning us to surrender ourselves more fully to your will and purpose for our lives. Are you calling us to proclaim an eloquent sermon with our bodies, with our deeds and actions, so that others might know the love and grace of Jesus? Are you saying to us, I see you. I know you. Your sins are forgiven, go in peace. We get so many mixed and distracting messages from the world we live in and from the experiences of our daily lives. You know our questions, our doubts, our broken hearts, our dashed dreams. Let us hear once again these words that you’ve spoken to us through the prophet: For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. As you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” And so Lord Jesus Christ as you did with this woman so long ago, thank you for sending each one of us from this place with your PEACE. In your strong and tender name we pray, AMEN.

Woman: “I didn’t utter a word....and he knew me” Before I even came near, I felt the touch of this man.”

A sermon without words.... preaching with your body.... let our meals together be occasions for us to speak, and love each other without words.

(If you want to view a powerful sermon on this story from Dr. Luke Powery, Dean of the Chapel at Duke Divinity School, click https://player.vimeo.com/video/112743043?autoplay=true.)