36One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee?s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee?s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ?If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him?that she is a sinner.? 40Jesus spoke up and said to him, ?Simon, I have something to say to you.? ?Teacher,? he replied, ?Speak.? 41?A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?? 43Simon answered, ?I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.? And Jesus said to him, ?You have judged rightly.? 44Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, ?Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.? 48Then he said to her, ?Your sins are forgiven.? 49But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ?Who is this who even forgives sins?? 50And he said to the woman, ?Your faith has saved you; go in peace.?

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3and Joanna, the wife of Herod?s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.?

I invite you to pray with me as we join together in the message.

This past year, we have gone full force into the wizarding world of Harry Potter. With Emma reading all 7 books this past year and joining the million word club of readers at her school, we have done lots of reading about wizards and wizard things. And we are anxiously anticipating the 8th book that will come out at the end of July. I might be more excited than she is. Well, one of the things I love in the Harry Potter books is the invisibility cloak. Harry is given the cloak by Professor Dumbledore for Christmas his first year at Hogwarts, the wizard school. One of the first things Harry does is to put the cloak on and go exploring around the school at night. And in the 7th book, we learn that the cloak is essential to end dark wizard. The cloak allows for Harry to go in and out of places unseen, unnoticed, and it truly helps to keep him alive.

In reading all of these books, I have often thought about how cool it would be to own an invisibility cloak. Not necessarily to be sneaky, well, maybe just a little sneaky?but to go unnoticed or unseen at times. Maybe to live into the phrase, ?To be a fly on the wall,? and understand more about what was happening in homes, meetings, or even as Emma grows older and I am curious about her friends and what they are talking about and doing. I think it would also be cool to have the ability to be invisible by choice and go unseen at times. So I think having the ability to become invisible would really be helpful for me. Don?t you think? Or have you ever thought about it?

Well, as I think about that more, I realize that although Harry could choose when he wanted to feel invisible, not everyone can. There are many people in our community that feel invisible, going unnoticed by others. And I think as we reflect on our journeys through life, there have been times when we have felt invisible, tried to be invisible, or wished we weren?t invisible to others. We have wanted desperately to be known, seen, and heard, but realized we weren?t given the opportunity to be seen and known. As we wrap up our last week in the series ?Journey of Life,? our story from Luke continues to reminds us who the prophet is, what the prophet is all about, and how the prophet came to live and share a message for everyone?s journey. Jesus, the prophet, the Son of God, the Messiah, came to fulfill the Scripture for all people.

Jesus has arrived for a meal at the home of Simon, a Pharisee. Simon must not have been as uptight and righteous as the other Pharisees because he allows Jesus into his home and keeps the door open for those gathered on the outside. It promises to be an evening of high hospitality. The invitation implies there to be a cordial relationship between Jesus and Simon. We can also probably sense some tension that usually follows Jesus wherever he goes. My guess is the air would be thick with whispers from the crowds as they all try to peer through the entryway of Simon?s house. People would be wondering what Jesus was really doing and going to say to Simon and Simon to him. I bet everyone wanted to be ?a fly on the wall? to hear the conversations. But the crowd stays outside and just watches from the entryway. Yet, one person does make it through the entryway. One person who had been following Jesus and learning his ways. No one even notices her silently moving forward into the home and through entryway. Without an invisibility cloak, she is invisible to those present, and she kneels behind Jesus. Still not causing a stir or a commotion. And then the women began to cry and bathe Jesus? feet with her tears, then with oil. And Jesus once again responds to the hidden person we at first do not see.

Like Jesus, she finds that her reputation has preceded her. Simon?s knowledge of her sin implies that, whatever her wrongdoing, it carries with it a public shame. Her low, inward body gesture suggests that she has long been cast out from community gatherings. The shame she carries has pushed her to the fringes of society and has left her looking up at the world from a lowly place. It is only when she touches Jesus that she becomes visible to Simon, causing him to mutter under his breath, ?if Jesus were really a prophet, he would know about this woman.? With his usual flair for seizing the teachable moment, Jesus offers a parable of forgiven debts to help Simon understand the depth of gratitude experienced when one?s costly heavy burden is lifted. Jesus gently chastises Simon by pointing out that the woman he has judged so unworthy has offered the gifts of hospitality that Simon as host should have provided.

Jesus responded earlier in this chapter to an outsider, a centurion, by healing his slave from a distance. At his next stop in this series of traveling stories, Jesus risked touching the ritually unclean coffin at a funeral to respond to a grieving widow by raising her son to life. The message is clear: the presence of God with us is good news for all people, for everybody?the powerful Roman soldier and his powerless slave, and the suffering widow and her restored son. In this story for today, we heard about God?s graciousness toward the sinner who was invisible and considered unworthy by others to be in Jesus? presence. She becomes the forgiven one who is exalted for her faith.

Once again, in these stories, Jesus has changed the rules. Jesus continues to bring good news to the poor, release to the captive, vision to the blind?Jesus is acting out that the good news is truly for everyone. And Jesus is doing this through acts of compassion and abundant love. Through her compassionate act of generosity in bathing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair, she demonstrates abundant love. Her love for Jesus becomes the sign of God?s extravagant love for us. Yet many folks don?t focus on the action that is happening, but focus on the ?sin.? Earlier in Luke chapter 5, Peter, Jesus? disciple, says to Jesus that he is a sinful man. And we know the woman in our story today has sinned. Haven?t we all? But the beauty of this passage is the reminder that in their sinfulness they were still willing to serve Jesus. It reminds me that even in our sinfulness we have a choice on whether or not we are willing to serve Jesus as well.

The woman with the alabaster jar joins the company of all of us who want to serve Jesus. Though broken and flawed like Peter, she becomes a means of grace for the glory of God. This gives us great hope that we too may be a part of God?s continuing story.

As we started this journey in Acts and Luke 7, I wasn?t exactly sure where it would take us or how long we would stay focused on it. But I love how God works through the Scriptures and guides us along the way. Throughout these few weeks, we have really talked about the values our church holds so closely. We have talked about welcome, fellowship, worship, and service. We have in ways talked about our mission statement about being in our community and being present with people where they are. And this passage transitions us into topics many of you have placed in the summer topic box. Because it is important, we are going to spend the next 2-3 weeks on forgiveness. This passage takes us through the transition from learning how Jesus was a prophet of God who came to share God?s love with everyone and leads us to the place of understanding, receiving, and giving forgiveness.

As we think about this story and the journey of our lives, I pray we all continue to think about how we show compassion to others and how others might receive the compassion we give. Out of that compassion, I hope we can open our eyes to those who are unseen or unnoticed. People go unnoticed and unseen all the time. Yet, Jesus sees everyone and knows everyone. It is my prayer that you will invite those who might not be seen by others into our faith community so we can journey closer to God together and everyone can sit at the feet of Jesus. Amen.