Luke 7:48: Jesus said to her, Your sins have been forgiven.

As Pastor Sumpter has pointed out, there is a liturgical structure to this episode in Luke 7. Jesus is in a house at a table. The woman comes in and offers her oil to Jesus and mourns her sins. Jesus teaches Simon about his duties as host, pronounces the woman forgiven, and then sends her away in peace. It’s all there: Gathering at a table, offering and mourning, teaching, absolution, benediction. The woman is renewed by her contact with Jesus.

One of the focal points of the story is hospitality. Simon the Pharisee has Jesus to his home, but doesn’t offer him welcome in the traditional way. He doesn’t give him water to wash his feet; he doesn’t kiss him in greeting; he doesn’t anoint Jesus. The woman does; she is the better hostess, even though it is not her house.

We can put these two dimensions of the passage together. The story is ordered liturgically; it is about hospitality. That means our worship is hospitality. It is true that God is welcoming us into His home. But it is equally true that in worship we, the palace servants of the Lord, prepare a suitable place for Him and welcome Him into our presence.

In this way too, our liturgy sets the pattern for our homes. Our calling is to make our homes places where God is comfortable. We are to make our homes a hospitable environment for the Spirit. Our lives together should be such that Jesus would be happy to be among us. Because He is.

The incident in Luke 7 takes place at a table. Here especially we are to welcome Jesus our Lord, Jesus our Host, even as He welcomes us. And having welcomed Jesus here, we are sent out to our homes, so we can welcome Him there. Make your home a place where you can sing, as you do here each week, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”