Shedding Shame and Embracing Love: Pentecost 3 Yr C

+I know the reading from Kings was a little hard to follow this morning, so let me sum it up for you—Ahab is a spoiled brat who, because he was King, figured he could get whatever he wanted, just by asking. He wanted the vineyard next to his summer home but when the owner said no, it wasn’t for sale, Ahab didn’t push the issue. While he was a spoiled brat kind of King he wasn’t all that assertive. But when Jezebel, his wife got wind of this, she flipped out and proceeded to manipulate and threaten her way to acquiring the land for Ahab. Pretty brutal stuff and a behavior which any normal person would label shameful. But people like Jezebel and Ahab don’t feel shame. Because to feel shame suggests caring what others think. Rarely do Kings and Queens care what other people think.

Shame is insidious. It eats away at us and before we know it, we become so mired in self-loathing that it can take years to dig ourselves out. Therapists across the globe make a living from those of us beset by shame.

Jesus had no use for it. Shame was, to him, a worthless emotion, a waste of time, a false wall we put up between God and us.

Shame is a shame…because shame keeps us locked up and shut down.

Shame is at the root of so many self destructive behaviors that, in twelve step groups, recovery focuses on shedding shame---confronting it, admitting it to God, to yourself and to another human being. And then moving on, living a life free from torment.

Shame is paralyzing. We can be so caught up in the shame of letting someone down---or worse---that we can’t move out of it. It weighs us down. To move out of it, to step out of the morass of shame, requires both great courage and tremendous faith.

The woman in today’s Gospel had: both great courage and tremendous faith.

Let me set the scene a bit. In Jesus’ time, a dinner, such as the one Luke describes, had the guests seated—well reclining really-- in couches lined in a semi circle around a banquet room. The servants would scurry about behind the scenes, out of view. Other people, beggars usually, would be invited in for a portion of the evening, to take their shot at getting a handout or two. This is probably how the woman gained entry. But instead of seeking a handout, a scrap of food or a few coins, this woman boldly walked in and dared to touch Jesus, bathing him in aloes, cleansing him for whatever would come next (the other evangelists place this Gospel on the cusp of Holy Week, interpreting her actions as an anointing ritual, preparing Jesus for his impending death---but Luke places this episode much earlier in Jesus’ ministry.)

This behavior was incredibly risky for the woman---at best she would be further ridiculed and rejected by society, at worse, she would be arrested and put to death.

This woman, in encountering Jesus, knew that she was sitting at the foot of love and forgiveness and that nothing---not even that wall of shame around her, the judgment of the world, the scorn of the host, the whisperings of the others in attendance----would keep her from the source of love. She had such faith and such trust in God that she was able to let go of her shame and sit at the foot of forgiveness. And by doing so she was healed—she was freed from the bonds of guilt and shame. Through her own outpouring of love for another she was washed in love herself. Her giving of love freed her to accept the love of God through Christ. By giving love, she received love. Shame blocks the light of Christ from our lives. Shedding that shame, brightens our life because the light of Christ is given full access to all corners of our being---illuminating the darkest corners of our souls, where we store our shame. When we hold onto our shame, we block that love—it can’t break through unless we are willing to set our shame aside.

That’s the real lesson in all our readings today:

We must be willing to love freely and without restraint. By shedding our shame we will, like the woman in today’s Gospel, open ourselves to receiving the free, abundant and unrestrained love of God as given to us in Jesus Christ.

Likewise, we must be willing to shed all the hurtful thoughts words and deed we inflict upon others—words and actions we use to shroud others in shame.

Only when we free ourselves from shame—the shame within us and the shame we throw upon others—are we able to receive the full bounty of God’s love, a love which was promised to us at our baptism.

The cleansing waters of baptism open us to the Kingdom of God.

Those promises made today on behalf of Sophia at this very font, the promises we all made—or had made on our behalf--give us all we need.

The cleansing waters of the baptism, the seal of chrism on our foreheads and the promises made through the baptismal covenant is the perfect antidote to shame and doubt and fear and sin.

You see, we don’t earn the love and forgiveness of God, it’s a grace bestowed upon us at baptism.

A grace which will wash over Sofia Rae is a few moments.

So, no matter what Sofia may encounter in her life, no matter what we have and will encounter in ours---no matter how far any of us may stray from the love of God, that love is never removed. If , like the woman in today’s Gospel, we have faith then all our human foibles, all our miscues, all our sins won’t keep us from the love of God.

The only thing-- the only thing-- which keeps us from that love, the light of Christ—the love of God in the flesh-- is us--our own doubt, our own fear and our own shame. So, on your way up to the altar, to be fed the food of eternal light and life, dip your fingers into the font and remind yourself of the healing, forgiving and enduring love of God.+