October 26 - Luke 6-7: No Outsiders

"But with God there are no outsiders.

"Luke is a most vigorous champion of the outsider.  An outsider himself, the only Gentile in an all-Jewish cast of New Testament writers, he shows how Jesus includes those who typically were treated as outsiders by the religious establishment of the day:  women, common laborerers (sheepherders), the racially different (Samaritans), the poor.  He will not countenance religion as a club.  As Luke tells the story, all of us who have found ourselves on the outside looking in on life with no hope of gaining entrance (and who of us hasn't felt it?) now find the doors wide open, found and welcomed by God in Jesus."   (Peterson, Intro. to Luke)

Chapter 7 contains two stories that aren't told anywhere else in the gospels:  the story of the widow of Nain (v. 11-17) and the town harlot who washed Jesus' feet (v. 36 - 50).   Two women who were religious outsiders and social outcasts - no rights, no power, no status.
Peterson is right in saying that we have all felt like outsiders at some point in our lives.  Usually it's something that we don't have that pushes us to the margins:  a house in the right part of town, a husband or children, a religious background, or a common history, to name a few.  Or, it might be something we do have (that we didn't particularly choose) that excludes us:  something questionable in our reputation, a special needs child, a physical deformity or limitation.  Within the social scene that we live, any of these things can serve to single us out in an undesired way.  Even in adulthood, we have a longing to belong, to be loved.  We've often learned to disguise it better than when we were thirteen, but it's still there, still aches, still drives us to certain behaviors and words.

Jesus is once again turning the world upside down and challenging the social and religious norms.  He could have gone past the funeral procession for the widow's only son - He didn't know her, He had other things to do and people to see.  Why was his response to this scene so intense?

When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. (7:13)

Then, when He went to the Pharisee's home, why did Jesus allow this embarrassing display of affection by the town harlot?  He could have just ignored her, as many of us ignore the woman who scrub our feet during a pedicure.  Or, He could have turned her away so that He would be undisturbed while speaking with the important host about weighty, religious matters.

I know that there are applications here for how I should value and love people.  I feel that intensely.  But, there seems to be a deeper call here for me to see myself in the place of the completely helpless widow or the absolutely ruined harlot.  That's who I am.  And I need to re-read these stories with more of an identity with the outcast sinner and less of the desire to find out what to do to make my life go better.  The marginalized were the ones who recognized "they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them" (7:16).  The untouchable was the one who "was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful"  (7:47).  They were the ones who "got it."

"You must now determine which you want more:  apparent maturity that wins recognition from others and numbs the anguish of feeling desires that nothing in this world can satisfy [read: my longing to not be an outcast] - a way to live that never enters the deep battle going on in every redeemed soul - or perfect maturity that puts you in touch with desires that will remain unsatisfied till the next life, that engage you in an internal battle that depletes your resources and leaves you exhausted - sometimes feeling that your worst nightmare has come true: that you're worth nothing and that you are nothing - a battle that leaves you entirely dependent on me for the courage and strength to continue." (66LL) 

These women had every reason to believe they were worth nothing - their society, their friends and even their family told them that.  Jesus spoke very differently, honored them, valued them, called them to dependency on Him.  They were ready because they had already been depleted and had no resources of their own.  Am I willing to go those depths in order to find Him?