A boastful American from Texas was being shown the sights of London by a taxi driver. \u2018And that is the Tower of London, sir\u2019<\/i> said the taxi driver. \u2018We can put up buildings like that in two weeks\u2019 <\/i>said the tourist. A little later: \u2018That is Buckingham Palace\u2019<\/i> said the taxi driver, \u2018where the Queen lives.\u2019<\/i> \u2018Is that so? You know, in Texas, we could put up a palace like that in a week\u2019<\/i> said the tourist. And when they were passing Westminster Abbey, the American asked, \u2018Hey, what is that building over there?\u2019 \u2018I am afraid, I don\u2019t know, sir\u2019<\/i> replied the taxi driver, \u2018it wasn\u2019t there this morning.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n
Simon, the rich and influential Pharisee in today\u2019s gospel, invited Jesus to be his guest at dinner. There were others invited too, and we can have an educated guess that they were Simon\u2019s friends \u2013 you hardly ever invite strangers or people you dislike to dinner. The party seemed to be ruined by a woman of ill-repute, behaving in a pretty embarrassing way. She was weeping, pouring her tears upon Jesus\u2019 feet, then drying them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with a fragrant, expensive ointment. It\u2019s not your usual \u2018do\u2019 at dinner unless it\u2019s a stag night that isn\u2019t going according to plan! Simon the Pharisee watched the whole situation with barely-concealed satisfaction, with a strong sense of superiority, and with utter contempt for the woman. I think that this happening was pre-arranged in order to embarrass Jesus and to ruin his reputation. It\u2019s hard to imagine that someone could actually get into the house without being stopped and be allowed to perform such a bizarre ritual uninterrupted without the host\u2019s consent. The gospels are rife with snares set by Jesus\u2019 opponents, mainly the Pharisees; so it\u2019s quite likely the meal was yet another trap. And, like many others, this one backfired. Instead of tarnishing Jesus\u2019 reputation, it uncovered Simon\u2019s duplicity, conceit and arrogance, which up until then had been disguised successfully beneath self-respect and good manners.<\/p>\n
In the course of the last 50 years we have gradually ditched the concepts of sinfulness and of personal moral responsibility. Nowadays the common perception of us is as near-perfect people, with a strong sense of our individual worth and self-esteem. But when we look a bit closer at this seemingly desirable attitude, we can notice that quite often it\u2019s achieved at the expense of other people. We make ourselves seem better by belittling others. Need an example? Here it comes. Have you ever met a driver who regards himself as a bad driver? Those I\u2019ve come across have always been Masters of the Road \u2013 and if anything went wrong, it was always the other driver\u2019s fault. We are pretty good at finding excuses and justification for our own actions and behaviour, and we are similarly good at blaming others, deservedly or not. Consequently if anything needs to change or improve, it\u2019s not \u2018me\u2019, it\u2019s \u2018the world around me\u2019.<\/p>\n
Jesus in today\u2019s gospel does what Simon the Pharisee did: he makes a comparison between the two individuals. But, unlike Simon, Jesus doesn\u2019t condemn either of them, but presents the woman\u2019s case as an example to be followed. Simon is invited to look at himself with a critical eye in order to recognise his own imperfections and shortcomings. In this way, and only in this way, Jesus will be able to offer him anything. It\u2019s the same story for you and for me. Jesus remains powerless as long as you consider yourself powerful and perfect. He offers forgiveness and healing to those who need these. Or, to be more exact, to those who recognise those needs in themselves. Empowerment begins when you recognise your own powerlessness. Only then can you hear Jesus telling you: \u2018Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A boastful American from Texas was being shown the sights of London by a taxi driver. \u2018And that is the Tower of London, sir\u2019 said the taxi driver. \u2018We can put up buildings like that in two weeks\u2019 said the tourist. A little later: \u2018That is Buckingham Palace\u2019 said the taxi driver, \u2018where the Queen lives.\u2019 \u2018Is that so? You know, in Texas, we could put up a palace like that in a week\u2019 said the tourist. And when they were passing Westminster Abbey, the American asked, \u2018Hey, what is that building over there?\u2019 \u2018I am afraid, I don\u2019t know, sir\u2019 replied the taxi driver, \u2018it wasn\u2019t there this morning.\u2019 Simon, the rich and influential Pharisee in today\u2019s gospel, invited Jesus to be his guest at dinner. There were others invited too, and we can have an educated guess that they were Simon\u2019s friends \u2013 you hardly ever invite strangers or people you dislike to dinner. The party seemed to be ruined by a woman of ill-repute, behaving in a pretty embarrassing way. She was weeping, pouring her tears upon Jesus\u2019 feet, then drying them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with a fragrant, expensive ointment. It\u2019s not your usual \u2018do\u2019 at dinner unless it\u2019s a stag night that isn\u2019t going according to plan! Simon the Pharisee watched the whole situation with barely-concealed satisfaction, with a strong sense of superiority, and with utter contempt for the woman. I think that this happening was pre-arranged in order to embarrass Jesus and to ruin his reputation. It\u2019s hard to imagine that someone could actually get into the house without being stopped and be allowed to perform such a bizarre ritual uninterrupted without the host\u2019s consent. The gospels are rife with snares set by Jesus\u2019 opponents, mainly the Pharisees; so it\u2019s quite likely the meal was yet another trap. And, like many others, this one backfired. Instead of tarnishing Jesus\u2019 reputation, it uncovered Simon\u2019s duplicity, conceit and arrogance, which up until then had been disguised successfully beneath self-respect and good manners. In the course of the last 50 years we have gradually ditched the concepts of sinfulness and of personal moral responsibility. Nowadays the common perception of us is as near-perfect people, with a strong sense of our individual worth and self-esteem. But when we look a bit closer at this seemingly desirable attitude, we can notice that quite often it\u2019s achieved at the expense of other people. We make ourselves seem better by belittling others. Need an example? Here it comes. Have you ever met a driver who regards himself as a bad driver? Those I\u2019ve come across have always been Masters of the Road \u2013 and if anything went wrong, it was always the other driver\u2019s fault. We are pretty good at finding excuses and justification for our own actions and behaviour, and we are similarly good at blaming others, deservedly or not. Consequently if anything needs to change or improve, it\u2019s not \u2018me\u2019, it\u2019s \u2018the world around me\u2019. Jesus in today\u2019s gospel does what Simon the Pharisee did: he makes a comparison between the two individuals. But, unlike Simon, Jesus doesn\u2019t condemn either of them, but presents the woman\u2019s case as an example to be followed. Simon is invited to look at himself with a critical eye in order to recognise his own imperfections and shortcomings. In this way, and only in this way, Jesus will be able to offer him anything. It\u2019s the same story for you and for me. Jesus remains powerless as long as you consider yourself powerful and perfect. He offers forgiveness and healing to those who need these. Or, to be more exact, to those who recognise those needs in themselves. Empowerment begins when you recognise your own powerlessness. Only then can you hear Jesus telling you: \u2018Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-c"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}