Audrey Borschel

A Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner. When he arrived, he took his place at the table with the others. All of a sudden a woman sppeared with a jar of ointment. She was well-known to be a sinner. Imagine the scene. The woman with the jar of ointment stands behind Jesus, weeping all the while. She comes before him on her knees and bathes the feet of Jesus with her tears, drying his feet with her hair. She anoints Jesus’  feet with the precious salve, which would have been  a costly gift.

Their host queries Jesus that he would allow such a reportedly sinful woman to touch him.  In his inimitable way, Jesus turns the opportunity into a teaching lesson. He tells a story about debt and debtors.

Two debtors owed the same creditor widely different amounts, but neither could pay up. The creditor chooses to cancel the debts of both clients. Jesus turns to Simon Peter to ask him which one of the debtors will love the creditor more. When Simon Peter responds, as Jesus knew he would, that the debtor who owed more would love the creditor more, Jesus delivers an unforgettable lesson to his Pharisee host about hospitality and humility.

The much-maligned woman had tended to Jesus from the time she came in. She anointed his dusty, well-traveled feet with healing balm and her tears of repentance and love.

Jesus noted that his host provided no such hospitable welcome to him. He proclaims how the woman who had sinned much was forgiven much as she had atoned by her actions. “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

The loving act of Jesus to forgive the woman spurned many loving acts among the people he served as he continued his travels. Those he helped assisted him on his journey and became co-ministers with Jesus.

Do you believe in miracles? Our scripture texts today deal with miracle stories, one  from the first or old  testament and one from the second or new testament of the Bible. First we need to define what we mean by a miracle.

Many people would probably say that a miracle is an event that is unexpected and difficult to assign a reason for its happening. There is no rhyme or reason for this to happen. It doesn’t make sense. It seems impossible. There’s no logic in it.

Think about some of the miracles from the Bible. Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. He blesses a couple loaves of bread and some fish and feeds a gathering of 5,000 people. Very familiar is the death of Lazarus and Lazarus’s restoration to life through Jesus.

Our two biblical miracle stories for today hone in on a strong theme of justice in antiquity, that are both relevant to us today. Both concern non-Jewish women. The readings highlight the scriptural imperative that we care for the hungry and impoverished among us, whoever they are.

The first story is chronicled in the 1^st Book of Kings and takes place between 874-852 B.C. Elijah has arrived on the scene to a Zaraphath, which is experiencing great poverty. He encounters a woman whose husband has died, and although he realizes her condition, he has come asking her for food. He claims to be speaking the word of God. Although she is in dire straits for food and water, with a son who is starving, she shares what she has with the stranger, offering what she can for hospitality. She tells him that with what little remains she will make one final meal before their total lack of food causes them to perish.

Elijah tells this widow from Zaraphath that even in the drought she and her son will survive and become stronger.  Elijah has been seen as a prophet sent by God and by God’s word he tells them they will prosper. “The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jar of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” Do not be afraid.  The hospitable widow provides for Elijah and Elijah helps a foreign woman, as the people of the Book have been taught to do in the scriptures.

When the widow’s son appears to be dying, Elijah places the boy in his bed and prays to Yahweh who hears the prophet’s prayers. Elijah’s petitions are heard and the boy is revived. Elijah has stretched himself out dramatically over the boy three times. The newly-healed boy is returned to his mother who gratefully acknowledges that Elijah is a man of God who speaks the true word of God. This validates the ministry of Elijah.

Let’s fast forward some 800 years .to a small town called Naim.  Naim is roughly 30 miles south of Capharnum in the Galilee. Prior to the second miracle  reported in today’s lectionary, Jesus meets up with a funeral procession at the city gates. When Jesus discovers the deceased is the only son of a widow, Jesus’ compassionate heart reaches out to her. He knows how difficult it will be for the mother to survive without the protection of a man in the household. The son has died out of time, his life cut short. Her son would have been responsible for the support of his mother, but now there is no one. Jesus reaches out to the grieving widow and suffering, grieving mother. He touches the funeral bier and tells the young man to rise.  In doing so, Jesus, according to the religious law, has defiling himself by touching a dead body.  At his command, the young man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus promptly restored him to his mother. The Lucan text reads, “ Fear seized all of them, and they glorified God saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably upon his people!” As word spread swiftly, the people wondered who this was who could accomplish miracles.

The Apostle Paul began his epistle to the church at Galatia by asserting that his ministry was not from any secular authority or even from a synagogue, but through the mercy of Jesus Christ, who set in place the model of faith to which Paul adhered.Paul emphasized that the gospel of Jesus was given to him, Paul, in a revelation. We’re familiar with Paul’s conversion and his dogged focus on spreading the Word throughout the Mediterranean after he received his stunning vision.

Proclaiming the message of Jesus became Paul’s entire reason for being. He who had formerly persecuted Jews had converted to the Way of Jesus. He had atoned for his previous bad behavior and had become a radical, even obsessive advocate for the Christ he had earlier dismissed. Paul tells the Galatians about his former practices, before he learned the truth, when as a Pharisee he had persecuted many Jews who had converted. Paul was disturbed that the Galatians weren’t  living the Way faithfully and that they needed to be strong in their faith, not swayed by forces that would influence them to abandon it.

At this time there were several Christian- believing groups, but not one organized, formal church for all. The institutionalized church developed over centuries. Paul was certainly responsible for the spread of the gospel in many areas of the Mediterranean. He was the foremost member of the second generation of those who carried the gospel to many places and who seeded and established churches in the towns to which he journeyed

Galatia was a Roman province in western Asia, located in today’s  modern central Turkey. Paul was very concerned that the people adhere to the message of the gospel. and not fall away. He wanted to assure the people of Galatia  of his certainty that the gospel was of God, a revelation of God, not Paul.