Solving the Puzzle of Me
Eleanor Oliphant is the main character of a book by Gail Honeyman.[1] She is raised by an abusive mother. As an adult she reacts to the pain of the childhood abuse by withdrawing socially and spending her weekends behind closed doors in her small apartment drinking vodka.
After a particularly depressing weekend in which she almost dies from alcohol poisoning, Eleanor comes to her senses:
My life, I realized, had gone wrong. Very, very wrong. I wasn’t supposed to live like this. No one was supposed to live like this. The problem was that I simply didn’t know how to make it right…no one had ever shown me the right way to live a life, and although I’d tried my best over the years, I simply didn’t know how to make things better. I could not solve the puzzle of me. [Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman]
The Bible is full of people like Eleanor. People who aren’t sure how to live a life. People who can’t solve “the puzzle of me.”
Then along comes Jesus. Now there’s a person who knows how to live a life! There’s someone who can solve “the puzzle of me!”
It’s been so refreshing to see people in the past few weeks at Highland like Ryan and Tricia and Jaci and Nicholas and Brooke being expressing their faith, through baptism, in Jesus as the one who knows how to live a life. Testifying that they trust in Jesus as the one who can solve this puzzle of me.
What’s Next?
But what happens after baptism? What happens after we come to our senses and come to faith?
- T. Wright tells of his friend James who came to him in the days after James came to faith in Jesus.[2] James was so grateful for Jesus. It was, he said, like walking ten miles in the hot sun and suddenly finding cold water to drink. But a few days after savoring the grace of salvation, he wondered, what’s next? What happens after you believe?
When we walk away from the waters of baptism, what’s next? What do we do with the rest of our life?
Jesus in Need
That is the question asked in our text this morning.
But before it answers that question, it demands we picture Jesus in a unique way. It asks us to see Jesus not as someone who meets our needs, but as someone who has needs:
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” …44 Then 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 wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. (Luke 7:36-39, 44-46 ESV)
A dinner in Jesus’ day was very different from a dinner in our day.[3] In our day a dinner is a private affair. In Jesus’ day a dinner was a public affair. People could come and go and observe even if they were not invited guests. If you try to do that in our day, you just might get arrested!
But if you were an invited guest like Jesus, you would expect to be the recipient of 3 gestures. These three gestures were designed to meet three needs. At this dinner, Jesus had 3 needs: to be refreshed, to be welcomed, to be soothed.
First, Jesus needed to be refreshed. At a dinner like this, your feet would be washed. Because you had to walk everywhere, your feet would be tired. And, because the walkways were dirt, your feet would be dirty. The washing of your feet would cleanse your dirty feet and refresh your tired feet.[4] As Jesus enters this dinner he comes with this need. His feet are tired and are dirty.
Can you remember the last time your feet were really tired because you’d spent the whole day on your feet? Can you remember the last time your feet were filthy because you’d been working all day in the yard? That’s Jesus at this moment. He needs his feet refreshed.
Second, Jesus needs to be welcomed. At a dinner like this, you would receive a kiss. This was a customary way of welcoming a guest. Even Jesus would desire this gesture of hospitality.
He’s walking into a social setting where a lot of people may know him, but he wouldn’t necessarily know them. It’d be helpful to have someone reach out and say, “I’m really glad you’re here!” That’s what the kiss was all about.
Can you remember the last time you walked into a church, a school, a home and you didn’t know anyone? Remember how uncomfortable it was? Can you remember how it felt when someone shook your hand and sat down by you and started talking with you and made you feel like you fit in? That’s what Jesus needs at this very moment. He needs to be welcomed.
Third, Jesus needs to be soothed. At a dinner like this, some inexpensive olive oil might be used to anoint your head.[5] This might be comforting in the hot dry climate of the Mediterranean. It was the equivalent of lotion, something that would cool dry cracked skin. Jesus would have been in need of such treatment after a long day in the sun.
If you’ve ever spent time in the Southwest, you know this feeling. By the end of the day, your skin is so dry it is flaking off. Your skin is thirsting for relief. But even here in the Mid-South, as the temperatures cool down, we get a sense of this. The dry heat in our homes makes our skin dry. We need soothing oil or lotion. That’s what Jesus needs at this moment.
In this story, Jesus is the one who is in need. Jesus’ weary and dirty feet are in need of being refreshed. His lonely spirit is in need of being welcomed. His dry skin is in need of being soothed.
Two Responses to Jesus in Need
But in this story there are two very different responses to these needs.
Simon responds to the needs with lethargy. Even though he issued the dinner invitation, he is apathetic when it comes to the needs of Jesus. He offers no water to refresh Jesus’ feet. He gives no kiss to welcome Jesus. And he offers no oil to sooth Jesus’ head.
What makes his response worse is that he is a Pharisee. He is a deeply religious man. Yet all his religion has not resulted in a response to others in need.
The story is just the opposite, however, for the woman. The woman is not an invited guest. She is among the onlookers. But, seeing the unmet needs of Jesus, she cannot stand on the sidelines. She is compelled to fill the unfulfilled needs herself.
She has an alabaster jar of perfume. Some scholars say that Jewish women would carry this around their neck as a dowry. It was that expensive. It is possible that she now intends to use this to anoint Jesus’ head.
But she is so overcome with emotion that when she reaches his feet, which stretch away from the table because he is reclined at the table, she begins to weep tears of joy.[6] Seeing that Jesus’ feet have not been refreshed, she washes his feet with the water from her tears. Not having any towels available, she takes down her hair, and she dries his feet with her very own hair.
Seeing that Jesus has not been appropriately welcomed into this gathering she plays the role of host and welcomes Jesus, kissing him not just once but, over and over, making sure that he knows how welcome he is in this place.
Finally, she anoints his feet with her ointment.
Simon responds with lethargy. This woman responds to the needs of Jesus with love. And what makes her response all the more surprising is that she is not some deeply religious woman. Up until very recently she has been living a questionable life. And yet even she can see that a person should respond to needs with love.
Forgiveness
And this, Jesus explains, is what is supposed to come next. Forgiveness is intended to foster love. Once a person experiences forgiveness, what comes next is expressing love, especially for those who are in need. This is Jesus’ point in the little story he tells:
40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:40-43 ESV)
Jesus isn’t saying the woman is forgiven because she loved. He’s saying she loved because she was forgiven. Notice that in Jesus’ story cancellation of debt leads to love, not vice versa. Apparently, at an encounter prior to this one, Jesus had forgiven this woman her sin-debt. Here, she responds with love.
And Jesus isn’t saying Simon had little to be forgiven of and therefore he loved little. Jesus is saying Simon had little awareness of his forgiveness, therefore he loved little. The woman had a large awareness of her forgiveness, and therefore loved large. Jesus is saying this: when we are truly aware of our forgiveness, we respond to needs with love.
Large Love
A small group at Highland has allowed forgiveness from Jesus to foster love for those in need. I am speaking about those lead the Pack a Sack ministry. These leaders saw the students at LaRose Elementary school where many Highland members do tutoring. LaRose is one of our adopted elementary schools. One of the great tragedies is that many of these students do not have sufficient food at home. All the good work we do tutoring fills their heads, but their bellies are empty.
These Highlanders could not remain on the sidelines in the face of such needs. They began the Pack a Sack ministry. They literally began packing sacks with nutritious food and sending these sacks home with students identified by the principal. The ministry was funded by their own donations and that of Highland members in the hallways of Highland who were touched by the need as well as non-Highland members who were touched by the need. The need is so great that this year they have taken on 120 children at LaRose.
We have asked, and they have agreed, to come under the umbrella of our Outreach Contribution beginning this fiscal year. When you fully fund our Outreach contribution you make it possible for them to no longer have to raise funds in hallway donations. They can instead focus on ministering to these wonderful children.
Here’s a video that tells you more about this life-changing ministry. [VIDEO]
Outreach Contribution
During this fiscal year we have committed about $460,000 to about 30 outreach ministries. Pack a Sack is one of those ministries. We raise those funds through two Outreach Contributions. The first of those contributions is in two weeks on November 19. Our goal for that contribution is $240,000. That’s about six times what we currently gift on an average Sunday morning. We are asking you to give generously and sacrificially on November 19 so that we can meet our goal of $240,000. This will help us to meet our commitments to ministries like Pack a Sack. It will also enable us to do good work around the world in places like Papua New Guinea, which you will hear about next Sunday from Eric.
What happens after we’ve been forgiven? Jesus says it’s intended to foster a life of love, especially toward those in need. Our outreach contribution allows you to do just that.
[1] Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman, 232.
[2] N. T. Wright, After You Believe, 1-3.
[3] Morris, L. (1988). Luke: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 3, p. 166). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[4] Mills, M. S. (1999). The Life of Christ: A Study Guide to the Gospel Record (Mt 3:11–Lk 3:18). Dallas, TX: 3E Ministries.
[5] Morris, L. (1988). Luke: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 3, pp. 167–168). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[6] Morris, L. (1988). Luke: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 3, p. 166). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
