Real Men Love Jesus

-or- How Jesus Reveals the Father and Good Fatherhood

Sunday was Father's day.  Many of my ordained colleagues chafe under Father's Day and other, what they call, "Hallmark Holidays."  They believe that these sentimental, secular, cultural holidays don't really have a place in the church--Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, etc.  And yet, if the church is to remain relevant, we need to meet the culture where it is, and speak to what the culture holds as important.

Therefore, on Sunday, I preached on the "hallmarks" of Fatherhood.  And to prevent myself from becoming too sentimental, I based my reflection on the 1st Lesson (2 Samuel 11:26--12:10; 12:13-15), in which the prophet Nathan confronts King David for the sin of killing Uriah in order to take his wife, Bathsheba.  When you read it, you will realize that it is a dreadful Father's Day text.  However, we must "get real" when treating these sentimental holidays, if we are to understand them in a Christian way.  So, I preached on David's sins, and how he learned from God (via Nathan) the qualities necessary for being a father (and a disciples, as the case may be): integrity, humbleness and mercy.  Read the text, and you can figure out how David learned each of these.  For this post, I would like to treat something related, but slightly different.  And I would like to focus on the Gospel Lesson we shared on Father's Day:

Luke 7:26--8:3 (please pause now and read it, if you like)

In the Gospel, we share the story of the woman with the alabaster jar who washes Jesus' feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints his feet with oil.  Again, not a text that most people would think of as a good Father's Day text.  A woman serving a man by kneeling at his feet and washing them seems to perpetuate traditional cultural gender roles instead of commenting on fatherhood.  However, if we look a little more closely we see that, in this story, Jesus does display those qualities I mentioned above: integrity, humbleness and mercy.

First some theological foundation.  Jesus is the epitome of human life and being.  Not only is God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, but in him also we find THE exemplary model of human selfhood.  So looking at Jesus anywhere in the scriptures is going to help us understand what it means to be human and a human in relationship.  Moreover, Jesus said in the Gospel According to John: "The Father and I are one."  And so if we can learn anything about fatherhood from our heavenly Father, then we also see the same demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

So, in the story of the woman with the alabaster jar, how can we learn about integrity, humbleness and mercy.

1. INTEGRITY: Jesus showed a great deal of integrity by showing kindness and love to the woman, who was a sinner.  Often we see Jesus socializing with sinners, but not always at such an intimate semi-public event.  He welcomed the sinful woman, despite what the host and the other dinner guests might think.  He maintained his values no matter what other's thought of him.  This is the core of integrity--to stick to ethical rules and stand up for what one believes in the face of differing attitudes or pressure to make exceptions.  Besides, if Jesus was going to eat with Pharisees, which are hardly models of faithfulness in the Gospels, he must also welcome the woman with the alabaster jar.  And he did.

2. HUMBLENESS: Ostensibly, Jesus shows no humbleness as he sits back, getting his feet washed.  In fact, he seems to act like he deserves the foot-washing treatment.  Who does he think he is?  This part of the story seems to perpetuate sexist gender roles.  Should the woman in the relationship be a servant or slave to the man?  (A resounding no.)

But when you look deeper into what is going on, that the woman is washing his feet in an act of love and gratitude for having been forgiven, for having been saved.  Jesus tells simon in verse 47 "...her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence [this is why] she has shown great love...."  One must be humble in order to accept such a work of love, and, indeed, one is humbled by such works of love.  And I am not simply talking about the humiliation of having the woman wash his feet in the middle of a dinner party.  Accepting any gift takes humbleness and grace.  Moreover, Jesus, who was without sin, could very well have remained haughty and dismissed the woman as unworthy to be with him.  Instead, in humbleness, he welcomed the sinner as though she deserved to be there--because she did.

3. MERCY: Jesus shows the woman mercy more than once.  First of all, as I said, she was forgiven before she came into the room, as she wanted to wash his feet precisely because she was thankful for already having been forgiven.  Jesus recognizes and believes that God's mercy was active in the woman's life, and believed that that was why she was compelled to interrupt the dinner party.  Second, Jesus forgives her presently, after she completes the foot washing.  Third, Jesus sends her out with words of peace, promising that she will be shown mercy even into the future.  Mercy in the past, present and future.  This means that Jesus knew she was a sinner and knew that she would probably sin again, and still he knew that showing mercy (and promising it) was what he wanted to do.  Because God shows mercy eternally and continuously and repetitiously in the same way.

And so, these hallmarks of a good father (and a good disciple) are embodied and perfected in Jesus Christ.  Precisely because Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to emulate and reveal the way the Father operates.  When we look to Jesus, we see a glimpse of our Father in heaven.  And when we imitate Jesus, we become more like our Father.  It is hard work.  But it is the work of becoming truly human, of becoming a true man.  And that's why real men love Jesus.