Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, Sunday June 16th The Reverend Alan Neale

, Studies in Vulnerability The woman, who was a sinner stood behind Jesus at his feet Luke 7:38 Last week I preached about well, let me ask you can you remember the theme of last weeks sermon? It was vulnerability. In microcosm, this just now was a study in vulnerability. Maybe I was a little hesitant to ask lest it be confirmed that the sermon and the preaching made no effect and maybe one or two of you felt more than vulnerable to let your voice be heard in this sacred building with maybe not the correct answer. Last week I discovered that the preacher (cest moi) had forgotten to switch on his microphone so the sermon was poorly recorded and several groups simply could not hear the sermon (though Im not convinced whether they looked for congratulation or commiseration). Why was it, I think, that nobody called out, Your mikes not on? In microcosm, again, a study in vulnerability. Maybe, perhaps, the whole of life, each of our lives today, is filled with the ebb and flow, the flux, of windows of vulnerability. Some are forced, enjoined upon us whereas others begin to approach us with increasingly recognizable shape and then we either embrace or refuse them. What do you think? Todays Gospel (Luke 7:36 8:3) is truly a study in vulnerability first Jesus and then the anonymous but notorious woman. Jesus. Jesus accepts the invitation of a Pharisee to eat at his house. Was this a nave fly being enticed into yet another trap of the religious spiders of the day? Only a few days earlier the Pharisees (in Luke 6) had tried to seduce Jesus into breaking the Law should the disciples pluck grains to eat on a Sabbath? Should a man be healed on a Sabbath? Jesus was in no doubt as to the legalistic trickeries and the clever sophistries of the Pharisaical mind and yet there he goes striding, no flying, into the spiders web, vulnerable indeed. Jesus. You, I, cannot believe that Jesus was unaware of the woman behind him; he surely knew of her presence and also of her past (as the Message Translation describes her, she was the town harlot); doubtless the ointment had been purchased by fees paid to a prostitute. And this woman was touching Jesus; God save the devout Jew from being touched by a woman let alone a woman of dubious morals. And yet, he continues to recline and seemingly enjoy the feast set before him though vulnerable indeed. Jesus. This stunningly beautiful scene (recounted in several Gospels) is alive, shot through, maybe even pulsating with sensuality as this woman touches, rubs, anoints his feet, kisses them and then wipes them with her hair (I assume this was no Keira

Knightly pixie cut). Yet Jesus does not command the woman to desist, he does not react with aggrieved sanctimony she continues leaving Jesus vulnerable indeed. And then the woman. What person with blood in their veins, with warmth in their heart cannot but admire, respect, be moved by this woman who risking all, is ready to endure, to bear, to stomach the probable ignominy of ensuing humiliation and ostracism of vulnerability? If this womans desperate love, if her wanton affection does not warm the readers heart then that heart is wretchedly cold indeed. Do you agree? (John 12:3 the aroma of the perfume filled the whole house.) What enabled, what mobilized, what empowered the woman to act as she did? What gave her the resolve to don so boldly the garments of vulnerability? She did this because first Jesus had shown by deed (often by word) that he was the one whose birth, life and death would be characterized by vulnerability. This apparent weakness of soul, this psychic flaw became in the person of Jesus the most attractive, ennobling, liberating, saving strength that somehow by osmosis permeated the deepest being of those who chose to be as close to him as possible. And look, behold what ensues! The womans vulnerability is not abused by Jesus but rather leads to forgiveness and dignity. It is sometimes said that we are as sick as our secrets what do you think? Our secrets, our buried lives persuade us to be vulnerable will end in ruin, isolation, despair and darkness its always best to be cautious, circumspect and guarded. We bury these secrets, disguise them as best we can, but in doing we run from the inevitability of vulnerability and we run into the arms of unhealthy control and dysfunctional direction of others and of our lives. Here is the classic theological story of salvation re-told in psychotherapeutic mode, the story made no less historical because it is made starkly relevant. We come to Jesus as vulnerable (sinners) knowing that His vulnerability (woundedness) will protect us, keep us from harm and nourish us. And whenever we choose to halt the flow of vulnerability, refuse surrender, so we choose to stifle our spiritual lives; we become harsh, stoic, cynical and embittered. What vulnerability can we offer to Jesus today as a sign of our love and affection? Will you, will I, consider a ready willingness to share at cost some of our possessions, our talents, our time? Will you, will I, refuse to live in shadows and fear of light and come clean with apologies to others and to the Lord?

Treading, though hesitantly, this path of vulnerability will always cause us to hear these words and experience them (as the childrens hymn says) down, down, down in my heart Your sins are forgiven; your faith has saved you. Go in peace. AMEN