The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11) Year C

Spreading the Right Rumours!

Readings: 1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a; Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-8:3

Rumours! We live with them every day. The internet, it seems, is a great medium for spreading rumours. Well meaning people send you the latest misinformation about how some terrible virus is about to attack your computer. While most rumours that spread over the internet are harmless, some that involved personal attacks particularly on young people have had disastrous consequences, leading even to suicide.

The problem with rumours is that it is difficult to overcome them. They seem to take on a life of their own. Church communities adopt rumours about themselves. Take our congregation for example. When I came here there were a few rumours that this parish had accepted about themselves. “We have a revolving door when it comes to clergy!” I was told. And another big one was, “The bishop says that we are the most unfriendly parish she has ever been in.”

Rumours, it seems, have always found voice, sometimes with dire consequences. Take for example the Old Testament lesson for today. Naboth has a vineyard. It has been in his family for many generations. It is a lovely vineyard right beside the palace of King Ahab. Ahab wants it for his own. He requests to purchase the vineyard from Naboth in exchange for either another vineyard or money. Naboth sees it as belonging to God. He does not believe that he has the right to sell what God has given him. He refuses the offer. Ahab understands, but he still covets it, pouting like some petulant child.

His wife asks him what is wrong. He tells the story, leaving out the rather crucial information that it is Naboth's inheritance. “You're the king,” she says to him. “You should have whatever you want.” She hires some thugs to start a rumour about Naboth that he has cursed God and the king. He is taken out and stoned to death. Ahab's pouting leads to the telling of half truths. That leads to manipulation and finally to plotting, murder and theft. The real hero of the story is Naboth who realized that any power or security that he possessed was a gift from God that he could not afford to sell at any price. It cost him his life.

The gospel is another story about rumours. The rumours are about an unnamed woman. There was a party given by a rich Pharisee in honour of Jesus. While they were reclining around the table, the woman, uninvited, and about whose life there were many rumours, all of them bad, came in and began to wash Jesus' feet with her tears. She dried them with her hair, kissing his feet and pouring precious ointment on them. Simon was appalled that Jesus would allow her to touch him in this way. "Can he be a real prophet," he wonders, "if he does not even recognize what kind of a woman she is."

Even before Simon can give voice to his sentiments Jesus addresses him. He doesn't let the rumours influence him. Rather he sees past the rumours to the real person. He sees her loving nature. “Her sins which were many have been forgiven,” he says. The rumours may be well founded, but it is Simon who needs to learn about God’s love. She already knows. That is what has brought her to Jesus. That is what has prompted her acts of kindness and love. She knows that she is a sinner, but she also knows that God loves her. She knows what it means to be loved. That experience of unconditional love has enabled her to become a loving person.

To love as God loves is the Christian call. It is a call to "do" acts of love.  We all know that.  But let's face it; most of the time, doing the loving thing does not come easily or naturally.  It does not always leave us with warm or peaceful feelings.  Truly, it is often the way that requires the most effort to accomplish.  It is far easier to find other ways to get people to do as we think they should.  Fear, punishment, manipulation, even abusing power come to mind as pretty normal tactics. 

Don’t you just hate to hear someone say, “I’m only telling you this out of love”? Or even worse, “God told me to tell you…” You know that the ‘advice’ comes with an expectation that you will not only listen to what is said, but you will change, even if it is based on rumour. How different it is when people do act out of love, for true acts of love are responses to the unconditional love of God.  They come from our utter dependence on God who is love. 

Most of us put conditions on love. If he weren’t so stubborn … If only she would stop nagging … If only I could get them to clean their rooms …

And truly, we live in a materialistic society where nothing is unconditional. We become suspicious if something is offered to us for free. We ask, “What will it really cost?” And when we look into it, of course, we find that our suspicions are well founded.

Paul knew that God's love was unconditional. He knew that it was not by keeping to the letter of the law that we please God. “How is it possible”, Paul responds, “for a human being to stand before the throne of God, perfection itself, and have any hope of being accepted?” The wonder of it is that we are justified through the grace of God who offers us unconditional love. Forgiveness depends on our faith in God’s compassionate love, and not on how righteous we may strive to be.

It is difficult for us to even conceive of that. How can we be expected to understand a God who loves unconditionally? It isn’t how we experience life. We expect to have to earn our way. And the wonder of it is that God does not accept us on some basis by which we can never be acceptable. God does not listen to the rumours about us and judge us on the basis of what is said about us. God does not grade us with some pass/fail system. God does not expect perfection. We are judged by whether we have loved or not. We are judged by whether we do the loving thing. Because we know God’s love, we know that we are forgiven. Because we know God’s love, we are able to reach out in love to others.

So we need to be able to say for ourselves, “God loves me”, knowing that it is not because we deserve it. It is not because we have earned it. It is not because we are clever. It is not because we are attaining perfection. To be able to say “God loves me” and stop there is the beginning of knowing God’s grace at work in our lives. It is the beginning of knowing that we are forgiven, reconciled people of God. It brings us to the understanding that we are created by a loving God who continues to find us precious and valuable.

That is what the unnamed woman did. She said to herself, “God loves me.” She knew it to be true. And so she did a remarkable thing. She wept, knelt at Jesus feet, anointed them with oil, and wiped his feet with her hair. She became a healing presence.

So the real question for me comes back to the rumours. How do we change the rumours about ourselves. In our personal lives it is about telling ourselves that God loves us. It is about saying it over and over again until we believe it.

We can do it as a community as well. In recent years I have not heard you say that St. Francis has a revolving door. You have pretty much dispelled the myth that you cannot keep a priest. As for being the most unfriendly church in the Diocese, that too is pretty much dispelled. But what other rumours have we adopted along the way? I think there is a rumour in this congregation that we are a poor community that simply survives. I think there is a rumour that we can never grow. I for one do not believe the rumours. I want to start a few of my own. This is the congregation that can open its heart to the community around it. This is the congregation that prays for one another and expects God to answer our prayers. This is the congregation that is diverse and youthful and full of life and joy and peace. This is the congregation that is Christ in Meadowvale.

Believing that God loves us is just the beginning, you know. We are called to share that message with others, to reach out with that same loving spirit. Become a healing presence. See Christ at work in others. Share the love of God with those in need. Pass on that message of love. It is a message that is sorely needed in our world. So let us share that all important rumour. God loves us. Amen