Rod Harding
Christ Church Anglican Church
‘Grace’ is a word we don’t use often, and probably don’t understand well. There are two accounts in Luke’s story of Jesus (in the Bible) which show what ‘grace’ meant to Jesus and what it might mean for us and our relationships, as we live together in this small and somewhat isolated community on Lord Howe Island.
The first was when Jesus accepted an invitation to dine at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. ‘Pharisees’ were religious leaders, upright and influential men in the Jewish community at the time of course you’d accept an invitation to dinner, if you were invited. But an uninvited guest also turned up to the dinner party she was known throughout town as a ‘sinful woman’, which is a lovely biblical euphemism for a prostitute! This woman wept at Jesus’ feet as he reclined at the table, washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them, then anointed them with expensive perfume and Jesus let her do it! He was severely criticised how could anyone claiming to be a spiritual leader allow a prostitute to touch him in such a personal and somewhat intimate manner? But Jesus defended her, suggesting that she had showed him proper hospitality, which Simon had failed to do foot washing and drying, as well as a welcoming kiss, were socially expected ways of welcoming a guest to your house and while Simon had failed at all of them, this woman had more than made up for it. Jesus commended her, saying to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven … go in peace.’ (Luke 7:48, 50)
On another occasion, Jesus invited himself to a meal at a very different person’s house. This man, Zacchaeus (let’s call him Zac), was a tax-collector. Tax collectors are largely disliked in most historical and social contexts, but at the time of Jesus, Israel was a subject state, under the authority and government of Rome and the Romans hired Jewish men who were willing to collect the taxes from their fellow Jews. Those who chose to work as tax-collectors were branded as traitors not only were they paid to collect the Roman tax, but they also used the opportunity to exact their own ’fees’ on top of the taxes they were commissioned to collect. They were wealthy people, hated and rejected by their communities, but well protected by their Roman overlords.
Once again, Jesus was criticised by those who observed his request to share a meal at Zac’s house this was one of the most marginalised and ostracised men in the community, yet Jesus went to his place for lunch! At the lunch, Zac was so affected by whatever it was that Jesus said to him, that by afternoon he was heard to say he would give half of his wealth to the poor, and pay back anyone he had cheated four times the amount they claimed!
This time, Jesus words were,’ ‘Today salvation has come to this house … for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ (Luke 19:9-10).
Jesus offered a fresh start for those who lived on the outside edge of the accepted social system of the time. The outcasts, the rejected, those who didn’t fit into polite and proper society these were the people Jesus spent time with he attended their parties, he stopped and spoke with them in the streets, at the waterholes, on the beach or the hillside. His attitude was always that everybody matters, everyone is loveable, everyone belongs and he not only taught that, he lived it and demonstrated it in so many ways. That was the nature of his grace!
I’ve heard it said that when people live together in a small community, you make a mistake, and there’s nowhere to hide. There are no secrets, and memories last a long time. Of course, people being people, there could be lots of reasons why we might not like someone, why we don’t talk to them, why we avoid them. Whether we live in small communities or large cities, there will always be those who are different to us, and sometimes those differences are enough for us to maintain our distance from them. Here, they could be fellow islanders, neighbours, even family but something has happened that has driven a wedge between us, and the relationship is now broken, and difficult to repair.
That’s when we need to grab hold of grace when our attitude needs to be like that of Jesus when we are prepared to make the first move to speak a word of love, to offer forgiveness, to bring new hope to relationships, and new ways of embracing those from whom we have been estranged. ‘Grace’ means everybody matters and if we really understand that, and then put it into practice, it could change the way we do life together wherever we live, and whoever is around us.