Scandalous

And one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

A woman of the city who was a sinner.

Can you imagine her? I can. I walked past her on my way to take the bus to church that morning, standing in doorways, waiting, fishnet stockings and heels, a thong and a shirt so low cut the only thing you don’t see are her nipples, a mesh dress over nothing.

Imagine her, this woman of the city, showing up at your pastor’s house, causing a scene, crying and wiping her tears away with her hair.

And he said to her “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Scandalous grace.

While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

I don’t know any lepers. But I know who we treat the same way- untouchable, unclean, someone to walk away from. Here, the very word that’s used to describe them shows how they are valued, desechables, disposables. A pile of rags and a garbage bag shifts. I notice the shoe sticking out at the bottom of the pile. Not a pile of rags after all. A homeless man who has covered himself to escape the cold.

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean”.

Scandalous love.

The other morning, I got a call from Sara. She was distressed. “There’s a little boy here. He’s sleeping on the street. There’s something wrong with him. I don’t know what to do”

She did what Jesus did. She reached out and touched him. Helped him put his shoes on. His feet were too swollen and cracked to walk so she stopped a taxi. The first 6 drove away as soon as they saw who she was with- a boy dressed in nothing but a bag. While she waited for the Other Way to open she bought him bread and hot chocolate and listened to his story. He was kicked out of his house when he was 4, he’s been living on the streets since then. He’s 12 now, addicted to drugs and hardened by 8 years of life on the streets. He was picked up and sent to a foundation once and lived there for a year, but he ran away. He wasn’t used to being told what to do. He felt closed in.

He slept on the ministry bus all day, dry and safe. But when everyone left for the day, he asked to be dropped off again where Sara picked him up. She prays for him and keeps looking for him, for another chance to show God’s scandalous love, a love that looks past the dirtiness, brokenness, and addiction and sees a little boy.

Jesus was not a model member of society. He hung out with the despised and rejected. He ate with the oppressor and the oppressed. A corrupt official who took bribes. A woman who had a string of unhealthy relationships and was living with her boyfriend. An officer from the occupying army.

Scandalous love. Scandalous grace. Scandalous mercy.

I’m not comfortable with scandalous. I like acceptance. I like to be approved. But more than that, I want to follow Jesus. I’m trying to learn to show grace, love, and mercy, even if it can sometimes be seen as scandalous.

So when Sara and I left the grocery store the other day with our 2 Colombian charges and she heard someone mutter “lesbian gringas” I just laughed (and wondered what they would have assumed about us if Sara’s husband had come along too).

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you 1 Peter 4:14