James N. McCutcheon tells a wonderful story of Fiorello LaGuardia. LaGuardia was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and during all of World War II. Devoted New Yorkers called him “the Little Flower” because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation on his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, and take entire orphanages to baseball games. Whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he used to go on radio and read the Sunday “funnies” to the kids.

One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a bad neighborhood, your Honor," the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson."

LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said, "I've got to punish you… The law makes no exceptions--ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero, saying, "Here is the ten-dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."

So the following day, New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered woman who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation. (1)

In ancient times, women, with the exception of a few cultures, had little or no status. Some women today would say that modern culture hasn't made a whole lot of progress. In the United Methodist Church we have made great strides over the past century to develop equality among men and women. As a number of us in this conference have worked hard to make this a reality, I've learned who I can tease and kid around with and not be misunderstood. Recently, I needed help getting a resource from our conference center, and one of the women with whom I have worked and gotten to know over the past decade went out of her way to get me the resource I needed. Since I didn't expect her to be able to help me, I was naturally surprised and pleased, so I emailed her and said, “Thanks, Carol. You're a peach.” Then I wrote, “How's that for being sexist.” She wrote back and said, “Thanks. The humor brightened up my day.” You see, I knew she would take it for humor. But for many women having a difficult time working in male environments, that statement would have been fighting words.

Certainly, if we consider the status of women in some foreign cultures, no progress has been made in 2000 years and in some cases has actually gotten worse. Of course, when we read scripture, the role of women has to be taken into account. By 21 st century standards, the New Testament doesn't seem to give women much consideration, but in Christian circles, women actually had more status than the other women of that day. Christians were much more progressive in how they regarded women in their circles than their neighbors of other faiths. So please be careful that we judge the role of women in scripture in the context of the first century and not by standards 2000 years later.

Now you are probably wondering why I make mention of the status and role of women. It's one of the keys to understanding the scripture passage. We have a confrontation in this story: religious ruler vs. Jesus, men vs. women, great sinner vs. the run of the mill type. Notice that Jesus is eating at the home of a Pharisee. Here is the first confrontation: a recognized and authoritative religious leader with all of the credentials eating and talking with a self-proclaimed teacher who is considered an unlettered peasant. Next we find a woman daring to enter this great man's house and wash the feet of the male guest, Jesus. Males and females were supposed to maintain distance. And finally we have a comparison between a female sinner who has disgraced and condemned herself under the religious law and the fine upstanding male spiritual leader who is in God's eyes a sinner also, but a person who thought he was almost sinless, if not sinless, and therefore so much better than this big sinner. And of course, a notorious female sinner was more lost and condemned that a big male sinner. Men had more latitude than women; and then for Jesus to pronounce forgiveness on her soul was not only blasphemy that he should usurp God's power, but he did it for a woman of all people.

So what's going on and what does it mean for us? Well, first of all this story points to Jesus' authority to grant forgiveness. One of the problems that the earthly Jesus had with the religious authorities of his day was their indignation over his saying that he had the power to forgive. Who did he think he was? That power belonged to God. How dare he compare himself with God; how dare he act like God. If the religious leaders couldn't and wouldn't offer human grace to sinners, how dare Jesus proclaim divine forgiveness.

But Jesus had that authority, for Jesus was the son of God, the incarnation of God. In the name of God, Jesus could and did forgive. Of course, for many it was only after the crucifixion and resurrection that people understood this authority. But for us today, we have been given the knowledge and assurance that Christ can and does forgive us, offering us a saving grace that removes sin and evil from our souls and makes us new persons. Not only can the risen Christ do that in the name of God, but God in Christ desires for that to be available and accepted by all.

Having experienced Jesus' forgiving grace, the woman washed Jesus feet as an outward sign of gratitude. How do we show our gratitude to Christ for the transforming love that we have received? Having received divine forgiveness, we must make the proper response of showing gratitude. So how do we show gratitude for God's saving grace in our lives? By humbly serving others. And here's the surprise. The one who has sinned greatly shows more gratitude. When a larger burden has been lifted from the soul, the more that soul desires to give to others. But you want to know what is the bigger surprise? There are no small sinners. We're all big sinners, like the woman who washed Jesus' feet. The people sitting in the court room with Mayor LaGuardia were just as sinful as the woman who stole the bread. So shouldn't all of us show a lot of gratitude for the great saving grace that God has given to us through Christ? My friends, if all Christians would practice this gratitude every day of their lives, communities in which Christians live would not have people who are poor and neglected, would not have crime and disunity, would not have hurts and loneliness. For Christians are those who have been saved by the grace of God in Christ, and therefore have much gratitude to offer in service to Christ to the world.

One final thing needs to be said about the woman in our scripture story. Her life dramatically changed. After receiving forgiveness, she never went back to the life of sin that she had lived. She was a new person, and therefore lived a new life. I suspect that the woman in the courtroom found new life after her experience. Can we say the same thing? Are we living a new life having experienced salvation in Christ? Are we showing others what God has done for us by serving other people in ministry? In the words of Jesus, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

(1) William J. Bausch, A World of Stories for Preachers and Teachers (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1998), pp. 233-234.