1 Kings 21:1-21a;  Psalm 5:1-8;  Galatians 2:15-21;  Luke 7:36-8:3

Have you ever been totally tongue-tied?  Dr. David Nott is a London surgeon who suffered PTSD after the horrors he had witnessed while volunteering in war zones and other crisis situations—including operating on badly injured children in a makeshift operating theatre while under fire in the embattled city of Aleppo.  In honour of his 20 years’ work he was invited for a private lunch at Buckingham Palace, but was still too traumatized to speak to the Queen who was sitting right next to him.  Sensing his problem she said, Well, shall I help you? then signaled for her corgis to be brought to sit beneath the table.  Opening a tin of biscuits she invited Dr. Nott to feed and stroke the dogs, so during lunch, that’s what they did.  It was so therapeutic, he said it helped him enormously and showed how wonderfully kind the Queen is.

At the other end of the scale… apparently, during the British Raj, some high ranking government officials invited Ghandi to dinner, hoping to undermine his influence on the life and future of India by demonstrating he didn’t know ‘his knives and forks’.

Now let’s turn the clocks back 2000 years to a fancy Jewish dinner party in occupied Palestine—I say fancy, because from the Gospel description, the guests must have been reclining on couches and leaning on one elbow to eat Greek or Roman fashion, with their feet facing away from the table, (copying the high society manners of their conquerors).  Simon the Pharisee sounds quite well-to-do, hosting such a dinner, which given the climate probably took place in a lovely cool courtyard surrounded by colonnaded or arched passageways where locals would be permitted to watch from the shadows, and at the right moment or signal would be allowed to briefly approach one of the important guests to ask for help or a favour.  That was the way patronage worked—like a ripple effect of privilege passing from rich to poor, but at every level of society, a person’s reputation and honour was paramount.  To humiliate someone in such a semi-public situation would be the worst insult and put-down possible, so there were strict rules of behaviour and conventions governing how to be good hosts, as well as good guests.  Add to that any religious rules or taboos against associating with outcasts, touching or being touched by anyone considered ritually unclean, and how being unclean was consideredcatching so could be passed on by people helping themselves from the same plates of food, or dipping their bread into the same sauce—and we have here is the makings here of an utterly disastrous dinner party.

Had Jesus been set up?  Why else would a Pharisee of all people—someone who prided himself with following all the rules, deliberately humiliate a guest and visiting rabbi who he himself called ‘teacher’, unless he was being sarcastic, adding insult to injury having already failed to welcome him with a kiss, have a servant wash his feet and anoint him with oil in an age-old custom of treating a guest like royalty?  That would not have gone unnoticed and neither would the embarrassingly lavish attention Jesus received from a woman who Simon regarded as a sinner, whatever that meant.  Was she a young widow, in effect a single mum forced into doing menial dirty work, begging, stealing or even the sex trade to feed her family?  Or was she branded a sinner because she suffered some physical condition or mental illness that was regarded as a punishment or perhaps demonic possession—either way proof that she was a sinner, no matter how good or honest she was?  Her presence may have come as a complete surprise, but what a perfect test to see if Jesus was a real prophet, capable of knowing people’s secret lives and thoughts.

So what did this young, upstart rabbi from the sticks do to impress his self-righteous host at such a sophisticated gathering?  He did three things: firstly he presented Simon with a question that forced him to recognize different responses to God’s grace and by implication his own inability to accept it, since he thought himself pretty perfect anyway; secondly Jesus called his host on the game he had been playing by exposing his calculated insults and comparing them to the loving response of the woman; and lastly assuring the woman that her sins were forgiven, saying that her faith had saved her.

Clearly Jesus could read the hearts and minds and motives of those present, demonstrating he was a true prophet, but even more than that—he shared the loving, forgiving nature of God and that certainly set tongues wagging.  Some speculate that the woman was Mary Magdalene because she is mentioned amongst his faithful female followers in the next paragraph describing how they accompanied Jesus and his disciples, funding his ministry.  Who knows?  We can only guess that out of deep gratitude for something he had done for her earlier, she was completely overcome with love and thankfulness, and didn’t care who knew it.  Some dinner party! Around that table, truth and hypocrisy were revealed, but love triumphed over ridicule, and the power of forgiveness was proclaimed loud and clear.

I don’t know what you consider to be the hallmarks of a good host, but I was taught to put guests at ease and help them feel at home, to the point that if they balanced their peas along their knife and poured them into their mouth, (rather than delicately mashing them onto the back of their fork), then as hostess, I should do the same, sending a subtle signal for every-one else to follow suit, thus sparing any judgement or embarrassment.  Thankfully summertime entertaining tends to be more casual, and maybe that makes it far easier to focus on enjoying good conversation and simply showing each other we care. There is nothing quite as beautiful or effective as sharing even a simple cuppa’ or ‘cool one’ with someone in terms of getting to know them better, listening and caring for one another, enjoying a good story and a laugh, or helping to put past misunderstandings to rest by letting forgiveness happen spontaneously.  That is why table fellowship plays such a big part in many cultures and religions—it was a huge part of Christ’s ministry.  Even the uncomfortable situation our Gospel described provided Jesus with a golden opportunity to show and teach others about the true nature of love—the unconditional love of God.  They say it’s because he was able to love all sorts and assure folk of forgiveness, that he revealed the very heart of God.  It is that loving, forgiving God who was prepared to forgive a repentant Ahab, who Paul came to know personally through Christ, and who saved an unnamed woman from nameless suffering or sins too.

It is no coincidence that we gather around a table, just as Jesus asked his disciples to do and that the table fellowship of sharing a simple, symbolic meal is fundamental not only to the way we are fed through worship, but also through such a basic human experience—the need to eat that can be transformed into a profound sign of our shared humanity.  Of course, we can make every meal a thanksgiving, which is what the word Eucharistmeans.  One way to turn any meal into a special occasion is to say thanks to God. Another way when we are invited for dinner, is to take a loaf of bread along with a bottle of wine, or spring water.  You don’t need to say anything, just quietly remember Christ, silently invite Christ into the gathering and watch love happening.