Looking At Sinners

A Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Lent Thomas E Wilson, Guest Preacher April 6, 2025 Grace, Plymouth and St Mark/St. Anne, Roper Isaiah 43:16-21 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8 Psalm 126 LOOKING AT SINNERS The opening line from the Collect for today is, “Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners:” Usually the church likes to take a look at Saints for the edification of its members, but today we will look at Sinners. I am not going to pass out any mirrors, but a Sinner is someone who commits a sin. On line, I came across a list of 82 behaviors considered to be identified as sins by passages in the New Testament. The list was in Alphabetical Order from Adultery to Wrath. On the list were three just before wrath and they contained the only three on the list I had not committed; Woman cutting her hair short—1 Corinthians 1:14-15 Woman with her Head uncovered—1 Corinthians 11:5-16 Woman speaking or teaching in public—1 Timothy 2:11-15; 1 Corinthians 11:33-37 Mathematically my batting average of purity percentage of my time without being involved in sin is 0.036 % purity. We like to think that saints are people who have no faults and always keep themselves pure; Saints like Paul for example. Paul always wrote to people to remind them of their behavior. In the translation of his letter to the Phillippians today he writes :”For his (The Christ’s) sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,” “Rubbish”, isn’t that a wonderful word. So precise and yet gentile. Except, that is not what the original Greek says at all. The word in Greek is “skubala”, one of my favorite swear words, a word I discovered in my Greek class in Seminary, that I would mutter ‘skubala “under my breath whenever I was frustrated with something or another, The Greek word, the one Paul would have written in his letter is σκύβαλον (skubalon), In English, it is a four letter word starting with a letter “s” meaning human excrement. It is one of those very rude words that are not supposed to be said by Pious folk. Paul said it because he was angry that people are missing the point. But Christians don’t like people to get angry, usually we feel better if they just sulk quietly. Paul’s translators want not to offend people, so they add watered down words, so the little old ladies, male and female, of all ages, would not be exposed to anger. Because Christians are supposed to be nice, and especially well behaved and not associate with people who are sinning. . Jesus had that problem in the Gospel lesson for today. And here he was, the Holy One and this woman, to whom he is not married with, or related to, is kneeling at his feet, pouring a small fortune of oil to anoint and wash his feet and dry them with her hair. This is way beyond appropriate; as Judas points out. But Mary is one of those people who is often not well-behaved. We have seen her in an earlier incident when Jesus is visiting their house, where she leaves her sister Martha to do all the work while she sits at Jesus’ feet to listen along with the men. She just does know her place; because she loves Jesus unreservedly. I remember being a Rector of one church where it was a habit for a number of the women being upset with other women members of the church who were not doing the work that was expected of them in the dinners, and bazaars. They also quietly disapproved of and resented people who went way overboard. Paul’s sin of using a swear word in church would have been seen as on the same level of Mary’s going way overboard with welcoming Jesus. Paul and Mary are both committing the sin of having their heart go faster than their brain out of love for God. Mary’s action reminds me of the old Sam Cooke song of 68 years ago; some of you might remember the song “You Send Me” I know, I know, I know, you send me I know you send me Whoa, you you you you send me Honest you do What a wonderful sin to have! To have the power to overwhelm someone with your passion, with your love.. When we do something out of love rather than duty; we live into the moment when we are surrounded by Grace, hope and thanksgiving. I should have sung that song to my wife every day in our marriage, but I was so self conscious because I knew that I couldn't sing worth a damn. In a polite society of following all the rules, sometimes we have to apologize for slipping free of our leash of self-control, and allow ourselves to sing along with Sam or swear along with Paul. I remember when I was a Rector of a Church about 30 years ago, and I wanted every little thing to go “right” in a service, because I was supposed to be in control. One Sunday; suddenly, as I finished my sermon and was about to go into the Creed, there was this very loud woman’s voice coming from a back pew, joyously proclaiming that Tom Wilson was the best preacher in that city and county. I knew her as a parishioner and was well aware that she had times when she would have a slippery.hold on her mental faculties. She was trying to bless me, but I was so embarrassed that she had chosen me. She was outside of my control. George H.W. Bush was President at that time, although I am a Dirty Dog Democrat, I would have preferred she had said something nice about the then resident of the White House instead of me. You may ask yourself if my response would have been different if it were a man who stood up. It probably would, I tend to give women a lot more slack than I give men, I came across a quote from 20th Century French writer, Marguerite Duras, who had more than a few lovers in her life: "You have to be very fond of men. Very, very fond. You have to be very fond of them to love them. Otherwise they're simply unbearable.” In the Hebrew Testament passage for today, the Prophet is seeing the people in Exile coming back to Jerusalem after being set free to return. He sees God providing water in the wilderness for the exiles, so they would have the strength to return. Years later, I am able to look back at that moment when the woman stood up at the back of the church and I bless her for wanting to make me feel better. I think the Holy part of her was trying to provide me with some spiritual water on my journey. Today, a little bit later in the service, we will do the prayers of the people and then we exchange the Peace of the Lord with one another, even the ones, or especially the ones, those sinners who we need to forgive.. Looking At Sinners There are those embarrassing moments, That we wish we could better control, Like having a better behavior patrol Trying to keep into line our opponents. What about, if we took some jeopardy Using the exchange of peace touching Almost enemies, the past declutching The engines of all our wrath’s energy. To take the moment to boldly forgive. Before resentment is allowed to rest, In our sulking and so resentful chest, Now making decisions to clearly live, Sending our precious anger fleeing. With love as the center of our being,