In the story today from Luke, we witness a context change. Clearly the story of a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive, extravagant ointment was cherished by the early church.
In all four gospels there is a story of a woman who at a dinner party comes and anoints Jesus’ feet with a jar of ointment so expensive it’s like she won the lottery.
It is kind of fun to look at all four stories and to compare and contrast them.
When you do, you’ll see that the woman is imagined differently by name and by whether she is shamed or honored.
In each and every case somebody has something to protest about…
In each story Jesus’ credentials as a prophet or as a socially-minded person are called into question.
And in each telling of this story, Jesus defends the action of the woman.
As we’ve come to expect from the four gospel portraits of Jesus, each is a little bit different, and one is very different.
Usually when we say that, we expect the “very different one” to be John, but with this story John hangs with the majority.
It is Luke, the presumptive doctor who changes things up!
Luke is the only one who doesn’t put this well-remembered story immediately before Jesus’ passion.
He doesn’t put it so close to Jesus’ death that – we make the connection – between this anointing and the preparation for his death and burial.
In his portrait of Jesus, he paints with a color of his own creation.
He fashions a new color – by taking this story of anointing, placing it in the house of a Pharisee – and mixing it up – with a parable and other teachings, to give us a startling new image of forgiveness projected directly from the heart of God.
Most of the accounts of this story agree that the ointment the woman used to anoint Jesus wasn’t just expensive but it was extravagant.
It was so pricey that those who witnessed the act of anointing were shocked, so shocked they remembered it well and kept it in the memory of the church.
It’s the extravagance of the story that draws us in and makes us pay attention.
Luke makes the connection between this extravagantly odd action – in Simon’s house – to something that’s extravagantly odd about God.
For Pharisees like Simon and for all others who attended the same Sunday School program, God has been taught as one “whose righteousness” cannot “endure sinners” but “saves” only those like Simon – who uphold the laws of God in all their purity.
But Jesus teaches a different lesson.
He says that the depth of gratitude – is proportional to a person’s need for forgiveness.
The math is so simple that Simon can’t disagree with it.
Luke connects “grace and gratitude” as Jesus reveals himself – to be the one – who has God’s authority – to forgive sins and “as the one” who shares God’s generous intention – to heal life, restore relationships and forgive the sinful.
For a creditor to forgive a debt simply out of grace is indeed extravagant.
Justice rather than forgiveness simply seems more practical “in the real world.”
I guess that’s the tough challenge for us whenever we smell that “extravagant ointment in the air.”
We have a God who is “unapologetically extravagant.”
He is extravagant with his “love” and his forgiveness.
He is extravagant in “showing mercy and kindness.”
And we are to follow his lead – and be extravagant toward one another…