Did You See That Woman?

Sermon-3 Pentecost-Proper 6-June 13, 2010
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
There is a weekly newspaper in Belleville that is very popular. The editor of the paper has strong feelings about the town, and many of the people in it. On occasion when she is reporting a story (not an editorial) she will refer to someone-and if she doesn’t care for that person she will always mention something from their past. It would be as if I said, Deacon Dick here, the man who used to drown kittens, was seen yesterday buying a shirt. When referring to someone she likes, this editor may write something like, “Deacon Dick, the man who saved kittens as a child, was seen yesterday buying a shirt. You always know how this editor feels about the people that she’s reporting on. So a few years ago I wrote a letter to the editor about judging others, and especially how dangerous it is when we ascribe motives-good or bad-to someone. So my letter was published and after the letter there was a response-saying what my motivation probably was for writing it.
That’s usually the problem with judging someone-we tend to see someone, believing that we know what’s in their heart-good or bad. We know why someone does something. If it’s someone we like, they acted with noble reasons. If it’s someone we dislike….
Here is Simon the Pharisee condemning this poor woman in the story. He is judgemental, critical, disapproving of her. He obviously had never read the Hebrew scriptures. He clearly was not familiar with the prophets. He did not deserve to have Jesus come into his home. Right?
Do you see what I’m asking? I’m asking you to judge Simon. That’s the thing about judging someone-it comes so easily to us. I can get to judgement so quickly about someone-whether I have known them a long time-or just met them. And by judgement, I mean making a negative decision about someone-without any foundation or reason.
I had a professor in seminary once who said that he could make a case, that the worst sin, the sin Jesus condemned the most in the New Testament, was being judgemental. It is certainly what cost Jesus his life. Jesus was judged and found guilty. The problem is when we talk about “why” someone is doing something-or, when we talk about a whole group from the actions of one. “They”, for instance, is the most judgemental word I know.
What got me started on all this was one sentence in today’s gospel, “Then turning towards the woman, Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee, "Do you see this woman?...” Do you see this woman?
Everything Jesus does in this story is trying to get Simon to “see” her-as a person-not as a sinner, not as an offender, not as someone who was bad-but as a person. Jesus wants Simon to stop judging her for just a moment so that he can see a person who is in pain, a person who is suffering with their sin-whatever it was.
“Simon, "Do you see this woman?...”
The Old Testament story is probably even more painful. David, the powerful king of Israel, sent one of his soldiers, Uriah, to his death-so he can have his wife, Bathsheba.
This leads to the second teaching about judgement in today’s readings. We will never, ever, admit to being judgemental. No one ever admits to being condemnatory.. We will never, ever, admit to being disapproving of someone else’s motives. And so, when someone is guilty, of acting terribly, we almost always have to carefully describe it. David has a man killed so he can have his wife. So Nathan the prophet comes and tells the king a story about a rich and powerful man who takes away a poor man’s only possession. It ends with Nathan pointing at David, “YOU, ARE THE MAN!”. You are the man. It’s the only way David could hear his story.
We hate being judged. We hate being condemned, disparaged, disapproved of. We hate it so much that often we will go to the ends of the earth to fight it. Often we will judge someone else-for fear that they are judging us. Back in the late 60s I was at the campus Episcopal house, and a visiting bishop was there. A girl came to the service, WEARING JEANS. After the service she came up to the priest and said, “I THINK I SAW THE BISHOP GIVE ME “A LOOK” WHEN HE GAVE ME COMMUNION!” The priest gently told her, “I’m sure you were mistaken, the bishop doesn’t care if you’re in jeans.” But the rest of the semester this girl kept telling people that Bishops couldn’t handle people just “being themselves”. What she didn’t realize, of course, was that she kept judging this bishop, all bishops-not the other way around.
All this is by way of saying, “do you see this woman?” Can we see someone else as a person, not as a sinner, not as someone who is evil, not as someone who is judging us, not as two dimensions. Can we see someone as a person. “Do you see this woman?”
Jesus goes to a religious man’s house for dinner. While there, a woman who is racked with shame and guilt, washes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair-an extraordinary act of penance. He forgives her sins-without knowing what they are. And proclaims her free. And the woman-and Jesus, are both judged and condemned by the man of religion. Simon the Pharisee. This is like Nathan talking to David. We are supposed to hear this story and see ourselves as the religious people. We are supposed to hear this as a parable-about us. How easy it is to judge, how tempting it is to condemn another. This is a story for the good religious people-us-warning us to be on guard-against ourselves.
Yesterday a panhandler came into the church looking for money, not very presentable-he obviously had slept outside last night. I gave him enough for breakfast, and as he was going away I asked him, “hey, what’s your name?” He told me Clyde Budd-but he goes by Bud. And I thought, you’re not a beggar-you’re Clyde Budd. Did I see this man?