“Handle with care”

Father:”Fray gee lay! Oh that must be Italian!
Mom:”No I think that says fragile honey.”

Lol, if you have ever seen the movie “A Christmas story” than you no doubt remember the scene where the father receives his big prize from the newspaper contest. It’s a classic. To him this prize is the most valuable thing he has ever won. He can hardly contain his excitement. Yet even though the box clearly says “Fragile” on the front, the guys delivering the package drop it on the floor without a care. Why would they care? It doesn’t belong to them. It’s not their prize.

But there is something that is worse than ignoring a person in pain and that is exploiting them. For people who experience poverty being exploited can be a daily fact of life. Their lack of money and resources leaves them vulnerable to people who are looming to take advantage of their situation. I have personally witnessed youth on the streets being recruited into prostitution. I have seen people who are panhandling be spat at or have hot coffee thrown towards them because the people doing so thought it would be funny. They also know that the homeless rarely report anything to the police. Recently I had a conversation with a young lady who’s mother put her into prostitution at the age of 10 so that she could afford her drug habit. The mom exploiting her age knew there was nothing the daughter could do. The men her purchase her exploited her weakness for their own personal gratification with no thought to how they were destroying her life. I’ve seen landlords allow bedbugs to infest their buildings and ignore the pain of their tenants because they were poor and couldn’t afford anything else. It gets to the point where people will just begin to accept it. They get used to the message that the only value they possess is in what they can be used for. It can effect every decision they make.

In the book of Luke 7:36-50 we read the story of Jesus having dinner at the home of a Pharisee. I can only imagine the pride that the Pharisee must have felt having Jesus in his home. Such an obvious sign that he was a very important person. He probably went through great efforts to make sure that everything was just right. I imagine he had just the right food, just the right music, just the right decorations. Everything was perfect. Until, she walked in to the room. She was a known prostitute who had an unsavoury reputation. Probably the absolute last person that a Pharisee would expect to find walking into his dining room while hosting Jesus in his home. While reading this story I began to cry when I thought about the courage of this woman. Here is someone that the community looked down on. She would have been shunned by most of the women of her time and therefore denied the kind of friendships that are so vital to a persons well being. As for the men, they either hated her, or loved her, but for all the wrong reasons. Daily she would have been experiencing the pain of being exploited for someone else’s pleasure as they purchased her. or exploited for someone else’s need for self righteous superiority as they would mock her. But at some point she had heard that Jesus was in the house, and she knew that she just had to go and see him. Maybe she had heard about him from others. Maybe she had heard the rumours that he would love her no matter what. Maybe she had heard the stories of how he healed the sick and how he comforted the people that most cast aside. But there was one problem. Jesus was in the home aid a Pharisee. One of the most religious and influential people of his time. In Order to see Jesus she was going to have to go to that house. She would have to make herself vulnerable to the judgement of others. She was going to have to take the chance that Jesus would not treat her the same as everyone else had. But She had to see for herself. She had to know if it was true that compassion like that really existed. I imagine that she probably walked right through the door with a determination that could not be stopped. There was probably servants or bodyguards who would have tried to stop her. But nothing was going to prevent her from seeing Jesus. She walked right past them ignoring their protests, and their dirty looks. She walked right up to Jesus and falls to his feet. Overcome with emotions she can’t find the “right words” to say. So she immediately starts to wash the feet of Jesus. It’s almost as if she is trying to say “please Jesus, find something valuable in me. Please tell me that there is something about me that you see that is good. Please, I’ll do anything.” It’s a crossroad moment. One of those times in a persons life when things can go terribly wrong or incredibly right. Everyone is looking at Jesus. Wondering why he doesn’t rebuke her. They’re wondering if maybe he doesn’t know who she really is otherwise he wouldn’t allow her to be anywhere near him. But he knows who she is. He knows her better than anyone else in that room. He knows her story. He knows what has happened to her. He knows what others have done to her. He knows exactly who she is. Then Jesus looks at the Pharisee and begins to tell him a story about people in debt and about gratefulness. Jesus points out that this woman has shown greater faith than every single other person in that room including the Pharisee. Jesus could have exploited her vulnerability, but instead he glorified her in front of the entire room. He lifted her up and put her in the place of highest honor. Jesus made it clear that this woman was to be praised for her faith. What Jesus says next can change everything. He looks at the woman and says “your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you, go in peace.” Go in peace. When you came in this room you were afraid, now go in peace. When you came in this room you were an outcast, now go in peace. When you came in this room your sins, and the sin that others have committed against you had been controlling your whole life. Now, go in peace. They are no longer your masters. Go in peace.

There is no shortage of hurting people in this world. No shortage of possibilities to either exploit them or to help them. What do we see when we are confronted with someone’s weakness? What do we see when we are forced to see someone’s vulnerability? Some see an opportunity to take what they want without opposition. But Jesus would teach us to see the chance to bring hope. A chance to build up a life instead of tearing it down. It’s not charity, it’s justice.