( Lk 7, 36-50 ) - [ Deutsch ]
I was here early earlier. The place - this church - welcomed me. I felt that and breathed in the freshness. This is where I was confirmed. Now I am going to be a pastor. I ask you: What does being welcome mean to you? For me, being welcome is in the little things. Here in South Africa, I feel it again and again. That is because South Africans are hospitable people. I have just come from a round trip through South Africa. I was able to see this for myself again. Everywhere I was warmly welcomed: In Kimberley, Cape Town, Durban and also here in Pretoria. Here in the Johannesgemeinde I feel it clearly. When I look at you, I know: You and you welcome me. I give thanks for that. So the question is all the more on the tip of my tongue: What does being welcome mean to you? I imagine some of you feel it in the good food: Lamb stew, bobotie and potjiekos. It brings back memories of being welcome. Some feel welcome in the view of the plains, in the view of the acacia trees and the shallow riverbeds. Around them they hear a concert of birds. Antelopes, elephants and giraffes roam the land. There you feel welcome. Some feel it in shared moments with family. Arms open and squeeze you tightly. A hand is extended. Maybe one or the other even kisses it. They feel welcome.
I tell you this because today's sermon text is about being welcome. It is a welcome of a special kind. It's about a welcoming that shines through all of our welcoming moments. Think about that when you hear today's sermon text. The text is handed down in the seventh chapter of Luke the Evangelist. Over the centuries it has been handed down to us. This is how it begins: Lk 7, 36-39.
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.
38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
That hits differently. The Pharisee Simon is quite speechless, isn't he? I for one am. Simon is hospitable in the best sense of the word. He welcomes Jesus into his home. He prepares a banquet for him and his fellow travellers. So also a town-known sinner comes to his house. Probably she is a prostitute. She comes to his table. Then it happens. The woman gets down on her knees. She washes Jesus' feet with her tears. She anoints him with oil from an alabaster jar. This is worth more than a year's salary at that time. Let one thing be said right away. All the people involved are Jews: the Pharisee Simon, the sinner woman and also Jesus. So the narrative is not about specific transgressions. According to the motto: If Simon had washed Jesus' feet, everything would be okay. It is a fortiori not about transgressions of a Jew. The Pharisee and Jew Simon behaves as it is to be expected. All the more strange is the behaviour of Jesus and the sinner. To be welcome means to be habitually polite. It is the same today as it was then. It means appreciating and acknowledging as it should be done. That is welcome. Often it is unimaginable for me to just welcome everyone. It's human. I avoid going into some neighbourhoods. I avoid sitting at a table with criminals. Jesus' words are mixed into this impression. I continue to read. So it goes on in the evangelist Luke: Lk 7, 40-50.
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
I hear the words, God. I need a moment to understand them. Jesus and the sinner then open my eyes. The sinner loved much, Jesus says in the narrative. This is the key passage for me. It means, translated, that she has received love from God. In it she is forgiven and she has peace. She passes on this love. It is love that makes her act in a caring way. It is love in which she overcomes boundaries and acts closest. Her own limits she overcomes first of all. There are moments of our time when we experience comparable things. Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years. It was an exceedingly punishing time for him. On February 11, 1990, he was released. In the streets, people celebrated. They were in each other's arms. Anyone and everyone who wanted to join in the celebration was welcome. Such moments make me humble. Because in them I feel the other welcome I spoke of earlier. It is God who welcomes me as a human being among all human beings. I am welcomed by God. This makes me humble. For humility is to perceive one's own limitations and to leap over them with God. God's love helps in this. I need that again and again. It is the same today in the here and now. We may know that God goes further and higher. That is how it is said: Neither high nor low nor anything in this world is able to separate us from God's love.
(Rom 8:38-39) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In it, being welcome becomes being accepted before God. If we dare, we can see that. Humility shows the way. We experience humility in others. Sometimes we experience it in ourselves. God prepares the table for it. Everyone takes a seat at this table. They say, "You are a God who sees me." They see each other and smile at each other. Chains break. Ropes come loose. We move forward. From all places, those who hear God gather. They come to God's table. They come to it. For God's door is open. This door is open to all. It welcomes all, at all times. Everything that seems difficult to us becomes easier in it. Because God promises to keep the door open for us. So I ask him, "God, let me leave my little one. Make my heart wide. God, show me the way. God, let me overcome my limitations again and again."
Amen