From the Feet Up – Saying “Yes, and…” to Jesus Week 1 (Luke 7: 36-50)
This morning, we will return to an idea we touched on over a month ago. The idea was inspired by the book the Elders have been reading the past several months. The book is called God, Improv, and the Art of Living by a pastor and writer named MaryAnn Mckibben Dana. The book is about the author’s interest in improvisational theater, which means, basically, making up the performance as you go, on the spot, often based on suggestions from the audience. Think Who’s Line is it Anyway? if you are familiar with that show. The book covers how using the principles learned in this art form, and how having an improvisational spirit in general, can help us navigate and provide a fresh perspective on our life of faith. It is from this book that I first read the line “Bring a brick, not a cathedral,” which inspired the gathering of this collection of items representing some of the bricks of our faith. Small steps, small tokens that lead to the creation of something bigger. In that spirit, the worship theme for the next five Sundays will focus on stories of characters in the Gospels who encounter Jesus in his travels and offer him a small token, or act of service, through which, Jesus is able to reveal even more of the Good News. These are characters who live out something the book would call “Yes, And…” living. “Yes, And…” is a principle of improvisational theater which teaches that to say “Yes” means to accept the situation or idea the performer is presented with, for instance, whatever suggestion the audience made, or whatever the other actor is doing on stage. To say “and” means adding something to that situation or idea that helps build it into something new. The opposite side of this coin would be to say “no” or “yes, but,” both of which tend to stop a scene from moving forward in an interesting way, if it moves forward at all. During this sermon series we will hear stories from the Gospels about characters who respond to Jesus with a “Yes, and” that points the way toward new life in Christ. In some cases, we may even see Jesus living in this improvisational way.
First, an example from an improv class that I was in. I took some improv classes while I was in seminary in Indianapolis, and in those first classes we learned the principle of “yes, and…” During one class, I was in a scene that took place in a dog park. My scene partner and I were playing with our imaginary dogs when she suggested that my dog was wearing roller skates. For some reason I said “no, but he likes to skateboard.” And we went on with a scene where my imaginary dog was riding an imaginary skateboard. I don’t remember much else about it, so it can’t have been that funny. After the scene, when we were talking about it as a class, acknowledged that I had not been a good scene partner because I had rejected my partners idea of the roller skates and instead changed it to something I felt more comfortable with. I realized that if I had accepted her suggestion of roller skates, if I had said, “Yes, and,” there may have been more possibilities for the scene. Plus, it probably would have been funnier. Think about it, a dog with a roller skate on all four feet is funnier than a dog just standing on a skateboard. (Well, it is to me anyway.) That’s the value of saying, “Yes, and…” instead of “no” or “yes, but…”
In the Bible there are many examples of people who have said “Yes” to the call of God, or who have said “yes” to following Jesus. People who could have rejected what God put in front of them in favor of sticking with what was comfortable, but who thankfully chose to work with God. When we think of these people, I imagine some of the first names that come to mind are people like Abraham and Sarah, who follow God on a long journey, and start a family at an advanced age because God has promised that from them will come a great nation. We think of Moses, who God calls to stand up to Pharoah so that the people of Israel will be liberated, and then leads the people on a forty-year journey through the wilderness because God has promised to deliver these liberated people to the promised land. Perhaps you think of the first Disciples, who put down their fishing nets and got out of their boats to go follow Jesus when he invited them to become “fishers of people.” Of course, there is Mary the mother of Jesus, who even though she was a virgin and not yet married agreed to give birth to the Son of God. These are just some prominent examples of people who responded to God’s call by saying “yes,” and they did it in a big way. They responded by making grand gestures, and big commitments, that changed their lives, and the lives of others, in major ways for centuries to come.
However, there are other characters in the Bible who also said “yes” to Jesus, but not in big, grand ways. They didn’t quit their jobs, they didn’t go wandering in the wilderness for decades, they didn’t agree to an immaculate conception. Instead, they said “yes” in small ways. They responded to Jesus through simple, everyday actions. They brought a brick, not the whole cathedral. Yet their lives, and the lives of others, were still changed. Those small gestures helped Jesus’ ministry grow. These gestures also helped to reveal to people the nature of Jesus, as the Son of God.
So, let’s take a look at our first story. This morning, we heard the story of Jesus and the forgiveness of the sinful woman. In this story we find Jesus dining at the home of a Pharisee, named Simon. A woman finds her way into this party, her intention is to see Jesus and she has brought perfume oil for anointing his head. In Luke’s Gospel this woman goes unnamed, but she has a reputation, a poor reputation, a reputation as being sinful. For her to come to this party uninvited is not well received. Then, she approaches Jesus. She goes to his feet and begins to cry on them. She lets down her hair to wipe his feet. All of this is wildly inappropriate. In the eyes of the other people at this party, this behavior is just reaffirming their prejudices about the woman’s reputation as a sinner. Jesus does not seem bothered by it, however. Jesus takes it all in stride. Jesus says “Yes” and accepts what this woman is offering. And what is she offering? She cannot offer Jesus a meal and a comfortable place to spend an evening, as the Pharisee does, all she can offer is her gratitude, represented by the oil she brings for anointing, but also by her tears and the hair she uses to wash Jesus’ feet. It isn’t a lot, but for Jesus it is more than enough, and he responds by acknowledging, before everyone there, that the woman’s sins are forgiven.
There is some debate about whether the woman came to see Jesus in order to have him forgive her sins, or whether she knew that her sins were already forgiven so she seeks out Jesus for that reason. Either way, coming to Jesus that day was a “Yes” on the part of this woman. She was saying “yes” to the possibility of forgiveness for the sins in her life. She was saying yes to the knowing she seems to have that Jesus represents forgiveness and will not judge her the way the rest of the world does. So, she brings the perfume as a symbol of this belief. She says “Yes,” the “and” comes when she stands by Jesus and instead of anointing him with the perfume right away, the first thing she does is begin to weep on his feet. Then she lets down her hair -which was something most respectable women of the time did not do- and she begins to wipe the tears from his feet with her long hair. This action, this “and,” takes her acceptance of the possibility of forgiveness and belief in who Jesus is beyond gratitude and reverence and moves it to the possibility of living life in a new way. As we mentioned before, to touch a man’s feet and to let one’s hair down were scandalous actions for woman of the time, especially for one with a reputation as a sinner. So, to weep on and anoint Jesus’ feet was a sign that this woman not only accepted the possibility of forgiveness, changing the way she would live her life. She was humbled by the grace of God found in this forgiveness, but she was also unafraid to live her life. She was not concerned with what others would think of her actions. She was not going to live in the shadow of her sin, the shame that so often comes with sinfulness. As Jesus says to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” So, not only were her sins forgiven, but her life was changed, and blessed with peace.
There is, of course, another prominent character in this story. It is the pharisee, named Simon. Simon sees all of this happening between Jesus and the woman, and he is filled with doubt and judgement. He sees the woman touching Jesus’ feet, and that Jesus is not recoiling in disgust, and he comes to doubt that Jesus is the prophet people believe him to be. After all she was a known sinner. How can Jesus not recognize her as unworthy? Jesus is more than a prophet, though, so he knows who this woman is, and he knows who Simon is. So, as a response to his doubts, Jesus tells Simon a story about two men who owe a debt. One man had a much larger debt than other, but both men have their debt forgiven. Jesus asks Simon which man would be more grateful at this forgiveness, and Simon rightly suggests it would be the man with the bigger debt.
Jesus has set Simon up a bit with this story. He uses it to illustrate for him that this woman has expressed such love toward Jesus because she has experienced much forgiveness. He also points out that he has not received much love from Simon since entering his home. He did not receive any water for his feet, or oil for his head, or even a kiss of greeting. All things the woman did for Jesus. It is suggested that maybe this is because, unlike the woman, Simon does not believe that he has much to be forgiven, or does not see himself as sinful. If the interaction between the woman and Jesus is an example of “Yes, and…” living, then the interaction between Simon and Jesus is an example “no” or “Yes, but…” living.
I think Simon is also an example of one of the big traps we can fall into on our faith journey. Simon wonders why Jesus does not recognize the woman as a sinner and treat her accordingly. He thinks he know who Jesus is, and this is part of the mistake. It is a mistake when we think that Jesus, and by extension God, think the way we think. To think that God made the world in a way that we understand perfectly, or to think that we are living exactly as God intended, or that (and this is a very problematic one) God hates the people we hate or judges the people we judge. To live from that place, to think we know the mind of God so perfectly, is a stumbling block to living out our faith improvisationaly, in the spirit of “yes, and…” illustrated by Jesus and the woman and the acceptance and forgiveness modeled there. Simon thinks he know who Jesus is -a prophet- and he thinks he knows how Jesus should respond to the woman, which is by rejecting her, as everyone else was. But this kind of thinking isn’t improvisation. At best this is guessing or assuming. At worst this is judging. It certainly isn’t responding to what God’s creation confronts us with in a loving way. So, with that kind of thinking it becomes impossible to say “Yes, and..” to Jesus when we are so busy putting him and the rest of God’s creation into boxes of our own limited understanding. Simon could not respond with a Yes to Jesus because it did not make sense to him that this sinful woman could be forgiven. Just as I could not say Yes to my scene partners suggestion because it did not make sense to me that that dog could be on roller skates. In the box of understanding I had created dogs rode skateboards. End of story.
The unnamed woman, on the other hand, says “Yes, and…” to Jesus because she is humbled by life, she does not need to control things. She is sinful, she knows this, and she knows she needs forgiveness. Still, the woman is open to the possibility of God’s forgiveness. So, she goes to Jesus and her selfless, loving response is accepted as an act of faith. Her forgiveness is a kind of salvation for her and brings her peace. This is in contrast to Simon, the one who has been “forgiven little and loves little.” He was closed off from the idea that he needed forgiveness, and so he was closed off from the possibility of forgiveness. This happens to all of us at times though. Perhaps we don’t think we need forgiveness, or maybe, and I think this is more often the case, we don’t believe that we are worthy of forgiveness. We cannot say “Yes” to Christ when that is the case.
The woman though, knows and believes in the possibility of forgiveness. Her actions, and Christ’s response to those actions, show us that the first, and biggest, “Yes” we must utter is saying “Yes” to forgiveness. Say “yes” to our worthiness for forgiveness. Say “Yes” to God’s grace in our lives. Say “yes” to Christ’s love. And when we do that, we will be amazed at what can happen next.
Amen.