April 11: Knowing Ourselves as Forgiven Sinners
♫ Music:
Thursday, April 11
Knowing Ourselves as Forgiven Sinners
Scripture: Luke 7:41-48
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss 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 are many, are forgiven – for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Poetry:
Magdalene at the Theopoetics Conference
by Marie Howe
Yes, the scholar said, but why ask your students
to write these close observations?
What use is it to notice the rusted drainpipe?
The young woman asleep in the library
her head resting on her folded arms?
Why should they look inside the petals of the purple tulip
to its yellow pollen-coated stamen?
Or under their beds to where the dust has collected?
KNOWING OURSELVES AS FORGIVEN SINNERS
If we were honest, we are all guilty of prioritizing the seriousness of sin—and usually with the assumption that another person’s sin is far more heinous than our own. Surely, my faithlessness, selfishness and pride cannot be compared to another’s greed, lust and murder, I might say while wrapping my pharisaical robes around me. This was clearly my response towards the man who killed my son. But, Jesus shocks us with the declaration that if we do not honestly see that our sinfulness and need for forgiveness is as great as any other person, my love for him will be weaker and apathetic compared to the one who sees the nefarious quality of their sin against God and is forgiven. “But he who is forgiven little, loves little,” says our Savior.
Lent is a season of the church calendar that is set aside for us to intentionally allow God to search our hearts and lives in order to bring into our awareness the depth of our sin—both overt and covert—that require God’s forgiveness and grace. This forgiveness is always offered to us; and while it is always undeserved, God declares it is abundant and complete. Reflection on my sinful state brings me to confession, cleansing and then produces an overflowing of love of my Savior. This cleansing allows me to glory in the life-giving reality of the Resurrection. And, in addition to heart-felt devotion, it results in a surrender of my life to His service.
In our passage, Jesus obviously uses the act of devotion by this woman who had experienced the forgiveness of an abundance of sins as an illustration of who we are to be. Her forgiven life resulted in an act of devotion and inexhaustible gratitude. She is an example to each of us who recognize the magnitude of God’s forgiveness for ourselves.
The beautiful music by Vladimir Martynov, a contemporary Russian composer, is both mystical and evocative. It mirrors our contemplation for today. The pathos heard in the repetition of the haunting theme echoes our repeated plea for God’s forgiveness, and it ends in peace and rest, much as God’s grace is experienced by us when we know we are fully forgiven.
Both the artist and poet assume that the woman in today's passage is Mary Magdalene and that she was most likely a prostitute. Though these have been common assumptions over the centuries, their biblical basis is thin. She was almost certainly not Mary Magdalene, though it's very possible she was a prostitute. Whomever this woman might be, the truth Christ was demonstrating remains the same. Acknowledging our sinfulness, confessing to God and accepting his unconditional cleansing will bring us to a deeper, all-consuming love for our Savior. This woman represents every one of us.
May we prepare our hearts and lives to celebrate the coming glorious day of the Resurrection, with the joy and delight of being fully forgiven children of God.
Prayer:
O Lord, who has mercy upon all, take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me the fire of Your Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore You,
a heart to delight in You,
to follow and to enjoy You,
for Christ’s sake.
Amen
-- St Ambrose of Milan, 337-397 AD
Dr. Dianne B. Collard
Alumna, Cook School of Intercultural Studies
Biola University
Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Mary Magdalene Anointing Christ’s Feet in the House of Simon the Pharisee
Between 1596-1641
Artus Wolffort
Oil on canvas
159 cm x 204.5 cm
Private Collection
Wolffort’s painting depicts the feast in the house of Simon the Pharisee, at which Christ and His disciples are in attendance. A woman, believed to have been Mary Magdalene, enters the house and washes Christ's feet with her tears; wiping them with her hair and then anointing them with oil. Simon criticizes Christ for allowing such a “sinful woman” to touch him and the wasting of expensive oil. Simon, the host of a meal, is the one who invited Jesus to his house, but he failed to show Jesus the customary marks of hospitality offered to a visitor - a greeting kiss, water to wash his feet, and oil for his head. Subsequently, Jesus compares Mary’s faith and care with Simon's failure to show even common decency.
About the Artist:
Artus Wolffort (1581–1641) was a Flemish Baroque painter known mainly for his history paintings depicting religious and mythological scenes. He trained as a painter in Dordrecht where he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1603. He returned to Antwerp around 1615 and worked as an assistant in the studio of Otto van Veen, one of the teachers of Peter Paul Rubens. He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1617. He is thought to have operated a workshop in Antwerp, which produced various copies of his works.
About the Music:
“The Beatitudes” from the album Music of Vladimir Martynov
About the Composer:
Vladimir Ivanovich Martynov (b. 1946) is a Russian composer known for his music in the concerto, orchestral music, chamber music and choral music genres. The son of a well-known musicologist and writer, he studied music from a young age and attended the Conservatory before expanding his musical pursuits beyond the traditional classical canon and into folk songs, early music, avant-garde, rock, and electronic music. In 1979, he entered the Spiritual Academy at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, where he worked on preserving and restoring the traditional Russian Orthodox chant. He returned to composition in the 1990s with a new style that combined the traditions of American minimalism with the repetitive chant of Russian Orthodoxy. The Music of Vladimir Martynov includes three works written for Kronos by the Russian composer: "The Beatitudes,” "Schubert-Quintet,” and "Der Abschied.” Kronos' artistic director and founder David Harrington says Martynov's music "straddles various points of musical history and time; the music seems to me to reflect and absorb humanity in such a beautiful way."
About the Performers:
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco, California. They have been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for over forty years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres including: Mexican folk, experimental, pre-classical early music, movie soundtracks, jazz and tango, as well as contemporary classical music. More than 900 works have been written for them. Violinist David Harrington from Seattle, Washington, founded the quartet in 1973. With almost forty studio albums to their credit and having performed worldwide, they have been called "probably the most famous 'new music' group in the world", and have been praised in philosophical studies of music for the inclusiveness of their repertoire. They have worked with many minimalist composers including John Adams, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, Henryk Górecki, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and Kevin Volans.
About the Poet:
Marie Howe (b. 1950) is an American poet who was named the 2012 State Poet for New York. Howe did not devote serious attention to writing poetry until she turned 30 when she was accepted at Columbia University, where she received her MFA. She is presently on the writing faculty at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and New York University. After Howe's brother died of an AIDS-related illness, she co-edited a collection of essays, letters, and stories entitled In the Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic that sought to foster open dialogue about the plight of AIDS in the United States. Her poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, Agni, Ploughshares, and The Harvard Review. Her honors include a National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
About the Devotional Writer:
Dr. Dianne Collard
Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Dr. Dianne Collard received her MA and DMiss from the Cook School of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. She has served as a cross-cultural missionary for over thirty years. Currently, she is the Europe Ministries Director for Artists in Christian Testimony International and the Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte in North Carolina. Dianne’s revised edition of her book, I Choose to Forgive: An Intimate Journey with God, chronicles her and her family’s journey of forgiveness and healing in the aftermath of her son’s murder. It has been published in sixteen languages and has been made into a short film entitled Abstraction produced by Makoto Fujimura and Paul Nethercott, filmed by Windrider Productions.
For more information: https://www.ichoosetoforgive.com/