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| Power Ranger, Halloween 2013 |
[This blog post is the text of a sermon I delivered on December 11, 2013]
Luke
7:36-39, 44-50
One of the
Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him,
and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And
a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the
Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind
him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry
them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with
the ointment.Now when
the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were
a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is
touching him—that she is a sinner.’ … turning
towards the woman, Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your
house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she 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 stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head
with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore,
I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown
great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then
he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with
him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives
sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’
In our reading
tonight, Jesus and a Pharisee, a religious insider, are eating dinner and this
“sinner” interrupts. She has not kept God’s law in some unknown way and she is
not “our kind of people” – according to Simon, the Pharisee. He says to himself, “‘If Jesus were a prophet,
he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that
she is a sinner.’” Oh – the disdain!
He saw her,
deemed her unworthy, and was blind to the hospitality she showed Jesus (that
the he himself had failed to offer). Instead,
the Pharisee drew two neat little boxes and put himself in one – the good guy –
and put her over here as “the “other”. We
too reveal our oh-so-human self-absorption, and get in the way of building
peace, by creating divisions like the Pharisee: “There’s me, who is worthy –
and there are the others”.
Sometimes,
when we have commonalities – we come from the same family, the same town or
same religion, we draw a little bigger box around our own – the “like us” box
but then we still set up a little hierarchy, with “me”, “us” and “the others”
You see
this in the media, our cities and our families. Red states vs. blue states. Liberal
vs. conservative. We’re Lutherans, they’re not. We recycle, they drive a gas
guzzler. Even ducks and beavers are opposed.
We know
this, but we still fall into our habits of seeing the world in terms of “us”
and “them”.
Keeping all
of this in mind, I would like to connect this passage in Luke to my own story.
This year I
realized that I am transgender. I am willing to answer any questions you may
have, but the short explanations is that even though I was born female, I now
identify as more male. I’m one of the guys.
Part of
this journey has really taught me first hand how we try to put people in boxes
to label, understand, and sometimes judge them.
Very
briefly, let me explain three concepts used to understand gender identity. For each one, they were previously thought of
in terms of two opposites, instead of a spectrum as we now see them.
There is
the continuum of biological sex (our chromosones, hormones, etc), which goes
from male on the one side to female on the other.
Next, there
is gender identity – the interior understanding of one’s gender – which goes in
varying degrees from man to woman.
Thirdly,
there is gender expression – the outward appearance and roles by which you show
your gender, and we each fall somewhere on the line between masculine and
feminine.
This last
one, gender expression, is where we can sometimes most easily see ourselves in a
continuum rather than polar opposites. Maybe you are a woman, but you don’t
like to wear dresses, which our culture may define as feminine. Maybe you are a man, but don’t like sports,
which culture may define as masculine. Maybe you are a woman who likes to work
on cars, or a man who likes to cook. Gender expression is very heavily culturally
defined by what is expected, typical or considered appropriate.
One place
we see a strong enforcement of gender expression is in children’s toys – with
the pink toy aisle and the blue toy aisle. There are other places we can see
strong cultural messages for appropriate gender activities. Examining these can
show us where we build barriers and turned people into “the other”.
First there
is the question, “are you one of us,” in settings where people are excluded
based on gender. Another question is “are you fitting into my expectation of
how men or women should act?” Like the
Pharisee, we may say “sinner” if someone does not follow our own rules, if they
are not “like us”. We may judge, insult, or even hurt the other, enforcing
cultural expectations of gender. We see bullying and intimidation against those
who are different, and this is one of the ways the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender communities are alienated or harassed.
At one
level, you may hear statements such as “boys don’t cry” or “oh – a woman driver.”
For me, I get funny looks and hear comments
about my clothes or hair that make me uncomfortable while in the women’s
restroom. My friends have been the victims of gay bashing, most recently this
Halloween. As the gender expression enforcement becomes extreme, people are
beaten up or murdered for defying expected gender norms.
So connecting
this with our bible passage tonight and the theme of peace – am I trying to say
that I, as transgender, put myself in the position of the outsider, of the
sinner, who in our story receives forgiveness and accolades from Jesus? Oh, that would be so easy.
No, I have
to admit it. I am the Pharisee. And I can give you a vivid example. A friend has stopped speaking to
me since I came out as trans. They have shared with others that they are
embarrassed and offended by my public displays of male identity.
And I judge
them. I mean, they are closed minded and
I am the righteous one being discriminated against, right? Right?
The tricky
thing about this is that every one of us is the Pharisee at some time or
another and has drawn lines in our lives where we are “right” and “righteous”
and the other is a “sinner”. Where does each of us do this in our own lives?
So I am the
Pharisee, and you may be too. But all is not lost! Look what Jesus does. He
dines with the Pharisee and the sinners. He accepts the hospitality of each. He
points out to us the gift of connection that we miss when we create these
divisions.
Jesus
models servanthood, reconciliation and restoration within our communities and
across borders. Jesus loves us each one of us and calls us to do the same.
I still
have work to do to break down the boxes and barriers that I build up between myself
and various categories of “those other people,” so that I can truly be a peace
maker. Thankfully, like he did for the
sinner at his feet, Jesus also forgives our sins and helps us begin each day
anew.
This
advent, let’s reflect on where we set up walls of separation for us vs them and
see with new eyes those to whom we can offer more hospitality, more grace, and
more love.
May God
give us strength and patience in this discipline, and may peace abound in our
families, in our communities, and in our world.
Amen.
