The theme of our readings is two-fold: the first part of today’s theme is the obvious one of sin and of sin’s consequences, and the gracious, renewing power of God’s forgiving love. Sin and forgiveness: that is the first and the clearest message of today’s readings. But there is a backdrop to this theme of sin and forgiveness: the people of God are all sinners, and the people God forgives are the people he has chosen to be his own. Election stands behind the Bible’s discussion of sin, and it is election that stands behind God’s gracious act of forgiveness. The word “election” refers to choice: God elects Israel, i.e., he chooses this people, to be his own. God has elected, or chosen, this particular people from among all the other peoples of the earth, so that they may be witnesses to God’s forgiving love, his purpose for creation, and his promise of life.

It is important, therefore, that we focus on the theme of election as the necessary foundation of God’s love for the individual sinner and the sinful people he has chosen for his own.

As most of you probably know, or have figured out, I find the theologian Karl Barth to be a helpful commentator on Scripture. And so it is again with regard to our first reading about David’s sin from 2 Samuel. Barth writes: “The OT version of the election of man is that it is the distinction of one who is a sinner with all others…who shows himself to be a sinner and is punished as such…[God’s election of man] stands or falls with that which God purposes and will effect and accomplish with him, and on this very account it can only stand and not fall…It does not stand because of [man’s] virtues, nor does it fall because of his failures. It does not stand because he commits only refined sins (Saul), nor does it fall because he sins grossly (David). It does not stand because he conforms to the testimony laid upon him, nor does it fall because he contradicts it. Who or what he may be, for good or evil, is God’s concern, and only to that extent [man’s] own concern. If we understand this, we can also understand that the story of David’s sin…far from being in contradiction to the presentation of him as a figure of light in contrast with Saul, is absolutely indispensible to this presentation. The king by God’s grace has the bull-king within him, not merely a minute trace, not merely in harmless intimations, but as completely and devastatingly as is described in 2 Sam. 11 [the account of David’s adultery and his sending of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, into battle to be killed]. And yet it is as this man that he is the king by God’s grace—as the man who in this sinfulness is utterly dependent upon the mercy and forgiveness of God, who is enabled to stand only because God stands and supports him, who has nothing to offer God except his need.”

How true this is as well of the woman, an apparently notorious sinner, who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears. She too has nothing to offer Jesus but her need. Immediately following this scene where Jesus forgives the woman by telling her “Your sins are forgiven….Your faith has saved you; go in peace,” we hear how Jesus traveled through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. I think the implication of this juxtaposition of the story of Jesus’ compassion for the woman and the account of Jesus’ preaching tour to proclaim the kingdom of God is that it is to such as that sinful woman in the just-concluded story of forgiveness, that it is to such a sinful person of faith, that the kingdom of God belongs; and that it is precisely they—the sinful, the sick, the guilty, the demon-possessed—in whom the Spirit works to create faith. The kingdom of God and the inclusion of such sinners within it, and thus their election to be God’s beloved people, is a gracious act of the God of Israel who raised Jesus from the dead, a purposeful act of forgiveness, reconciliation and new creation made possible for all such lost and sinful people through Jesus’ loving self-sacrifice.

So God forgives because his election of sinners is irrevocable. At its heart, forgiveness is about the persistence and faithfulness of the God who will not revoke his election of a stubborn and wayward people. He elects and forgives them in order to transform them. His election starts with Israel and is fulfilled for all in Christ Jesus, who identifies himself with the lost, the forsaken, and the damned so that one day they will shine with the glory of his righteousness.

Our problem is that we take God’s election of sinners for granted. Actually it is worse than that. Some assume that their sin is of no ultimate consequence and, correspondingly, take God’s election for granted, assuming that God owes forgiveness to his elect, that his faithfulness to them despite their waywardness is simply their due. Thus we see that both the prophet Nathan’s stern rebuke and accompanying word of pardon comes with the terrible consequences that are the result of David’s treachery. God forgives David and so God’s election of David is assured; nevertheless, David does not escape the consequences of his sin. The same is true of our gospel reading. We must not forget that Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the dinner party is set within a controversy Jesus was having with the Pharisees. Just as Jesus forgives the woman, so he rebukes the householder: “Do you see this woman?” Jesus asks Simon the Pharisee, “I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but [this woman] has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stropped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.”

We should note something else about this story: the Pharisee is intrigued and attracted to what Jesus is proclaiming. Simon invites Jesus to his home for a meal and calls him “Teacher,” and yet Simon is definitely on the sidelines, on the fringe, and cannot commit himself to be a follower of Christ. He appears to be reluctant to change his life around, i.e., to repent and become, as it were, a new person, a truly new person in Christ. Simon cannot bring himself to do what the woman has done, to come to Jesus with his need. Consequently, Simon will never know the full measure of love: “Therefore I tell you,” Jesus says to him, “her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Love, you see, is demonstrated in the giving, not the receiving; and so therefore Simon, who has only put his toe in the water and cannot bring himself to plunge headfirst into faith without which love cannot flourish, will never be able to know the truly transforming power of God’s forgiving love.

The lesson is plain: Our only hope for love, forgiveness and reconciliation both with God and with one another is to recognize our shortcomings and our failures and to be willing to suffer the consequences of our bad decisions, but all the while, in our joy and in our sorrow, to cling to him who has chosen us from the beginning to be his own and whose love for us will never die, who in Christ takes our sin upon himself, and whose faithfulness to his beloved people endures even through death.

-Amen-