Have you been slapped by grace?
Grace, by definition is unmerited divine
assistance, so one is often surprised when grace happens. One may experience grace when a stranger
helps another pick up items that have dropped, or perhaps when late to work one
day – you find all the lights on Hillsboro Street turn green at just the right
time. Grace flows freely. But when one is slapped by grace there is an
additional current that suddenly runs perpendicular and grace runs right into
you. Please note – I don’t imagine that
it is grace being hard, but quite the opposite – I imagine grace being well –
graceful, kind, soft. What is hard is
actually us in our stubbornness, in your “have to be right-ness” - in our dichotomic way of existing in and
seeing the world – when this unmerited
assistance runs into us – it hurts. We
are slapped by grace.
I help an organization called Love WinsMinistries. No, I’m not referring to Rob
Bell’s Love Wins – though mutual liberation is probably found in both. I am referring to the Love
Wins Ministries at 707 West Jones Street that provides hospitality and presence
to anyone experiencing homelessness.
Love Wins is best expressed through its hospitality house that provides
coffee, toiletries, an advocate, conversation or just a place “to be” when the
shelters are closed.
We get slapped by grace a lot at Love Wins.
A few months ago Love Wins celebrated
their birthday. To celebrate the
occasion, we threw a birthday party, invited friends and neighbors from all
around. We spent the month before
collecting plates, dinnerware, chips, and other yummies to throw on the
grill. One day, during an informal
meeting about what else we needed – a friend of Love Wins expressed she would
like to contribute too:
“I will get my EBT right before the
party. I’m happy to buy the hotdog buns
we need,” she said.
I stood shocked. Shocked at the selflessness. Moved by the
compassion. When she left the room, I
asked my colleague – “we’re not going to let her do that are we?” My colleague responded – “why not? She wants to share what she has. She wants to contribute and be a part of
this.”
In that moment I was slapped in the face
by grace. I had yet to offer anything
for the party and there I was witnessing hospitality and charitable giving from
what Jesus considers “the least of these.”
Have you ever been slapped in the face by
grace?
I ask because in our scripture story,
Simon the Pharisee was slapped by grace!
Simon fell into the trap. He fell into that parable trap that Jesus
always sets. You can see it coming– you know someone is being set up – like in
Meet the Parents – where you just feel bad for the guy. All the way back in Chapter 6 of Luke the
table is being set. Jesus gathers his 12 Disciples, he preaches the Sermon on
the Mount, he talks about how it’s easy to love those who do good – but what
you really have to work on is loving the unlovable. Jesus talks about being those who are
hypocritical – “why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not
notice the log in your own?” Jesus wants
those who really love him – to hear his words and act on them. And for those in which words are not enough –
Jesus heals the centurion’s slave and raises Nain, the widow’s son.
By the middle of Luke chapter 7, Jesus’
popularity is rising. There is
discussion from Jesus and John the Baptist about whom the other is and what the
other has come to do…. They have come to
announce the Kingdom of God is near – but this announcement does not fulfill
the expectations of God’s promises. And God’s
people act like children, sitting on the sidelines, pouting, refusing to join
in the game. God is not acting as they
had expected – they refuse to respond to God’s call to join in the fulfillment
of God’s redemptive purposes for the world.
And who is part of this rat pack refusing to be a part of the solution - Simon the Pharisee - who then thinks it’s a
great idea to invite Jesus to dinner!
Such a dinner banquet was not a private
affair. It wasn’t a quiet evening
sharing a community meal with close friends.
On the contrary - such a banquet was public with the paparazzi
townspeople, including that woman – who was a sinner - crowded around to check
things out.
We don’t know this until the end of the
story – but apparently, Simon was not the most hospitable host. According to Jesus, Simon does welcome Jesus
with a kiss, give Jesus water to wash his feet, or anoint his head with
oil. All considered hospitable
gestures.
It is clear from the story that the woman
is aware of who Jesus is and what he has been doing, Seeing a space to offer
hospitality where Jesus’ host does not – this woman walks in. As an expression of love and gratitude – she
anoints Jesus. We don’t know anything
about her – other than she is a sinner (usually inferring prostitute). The women’s actions violate all social norms
– she has invited herself into this banquet hall, the act of anointing in this
particular way has sexual overtones, and as a sinner she would be considered
unclean and made Jesus unclean by touching him. Even in modern times - this is a SCENE!
Only a small percentage of communication
involves actual words: 7%, to be exact. In fact, 55% of communication is
visual. It must have been a look that
Simon gave Jesus during this scene – a look of judgment, a look filled with
assumptions, a look inferring “otherness”:
I am clean. She is unclean. I have invited you to dinner. She is poor.
I am a distinguished gentleman, she is a prostitute, -
A look so dynamic that before Simon can
say word – Jesus tells a riddle that levels the playing field for
everyone. Leaving Simon slapped in the
face by grace.
Simon learns about hospitality from the
poor woman – the woman he has always differentiated himself from. He learns about kindness from the person whom
society says is unclean. He learns what
it means to be compassionate from the one who is an outcast and doesn’t fit
in. It is in this moment that (I imagine) Simon sees his need for grace.
This scripture demonstrates perfectly my
experience with Love Wins. I am Simon the Pharisee. I am the man blinded by ego and unable to see
my need for grace and forgiveness and I need to see it. I need to experience grace and I know I can
only experience grace if my neighbor experiences grace.
So, I will knowingly be slapped and
punched by grace. Sounds exciting
right? It’s the workout you hate to do –
but you know it’s good for you. This is
the place where I am forced to take a good long look at myself – the dark
corners, the scary places. It is here
that I can learn and work to unbind myself from the “otherness” that the world
presses upon me and that I often carelessly participate in.
The work of Love Wins is not to make me
feel better, or because the bible tells me so.
On the contrary, I participate in the work of Love Wins because this is
the place the Gospel makes sense.
Because unbeknownst to most, there are
hidden tent cities that people call home
Because on Thursday night, while thunder
storms and 60 MPH winds raged through Raleigh, I knew Jay didn’t make it to the
bus on time and therefore didn’t arrive at the shelter on time …and therefore
was out in that thunderstorm.
Because how the hell is someone supposed
to find and keep a steady job when they need to be lined up at the shelter by
4:00 PM?
Because it shouldn’t be so damn hard to
get a North Carolina ID.
Because a mother shouldn’t have to choose
between her child and a safe place to sleep.
Because those who have served and
protected this country deserve better.
Because there are holes in the system and
injustices to address.
Because people can and do and want to
change.
Because I claim a tradition that
proclaims that there is good news, newness of life, and hope!
Because there is a chorus of voices
asking God “where are you?” and I cannot help but wonder if God asking the same
question….
Because my liberation is bound up with
yours.
Love Wins is by no means, the only place
such work happens in the world. It cannot be.
Love Wins sets out to be a catalyst, an example, an inspiration, a
sounding board to the work that God calls ALL of us to.
We probably are not going to eliminate
poverty and homelessness. I believe in
the words of Jesus when he said, “The poor will always be with you.” But if our work as people of God can be to
focus on unwrapping ourselves from the labels we give each other and that
separate us – that gives us the illusion we are safe. If we concern ourselves
with the same issues Jesus was concerned: pride, injustice, hypocrisy,
blindness; what Richard Rohr calls the three “P’s” – power, prestige and
possessions - then no longer will we see
poor – but a child of God; no longer will we see homeless – but human, not race
– but friend, not republican or democrat – but neighbor, not sexual
orientation- but brother and sister in Christ.
Let it be so.
