I want to wish all the dads a happy Father’s Day, and to celebrate with ALL the men here today – grown-ups and kids alike – the blessing of being a man. On Mother’s Day we honor not only the moms but all women, and on Father’s Day we do the same for all men. That’s because when God created human beings he created us male and female, and then God blessed us. It is a blessing from God to be a woman. And it is a blessing from God to be a man.

Let me tell you a story about my dad. It’s a story that connects into the reading we just heard from Luke 7, and it’s a story I love because it helped shape my faith as a young man.

My dad’s relationship with God crystallized in a special way when he was in his forties. While God had certainly walked with him from the time he was born and my father cherished that relationship, there came one of those mountaintop moments many years later when my dad and Jesus really became friends. Out of his deepened and deepening walk with the Lord, my father became very active in helping others and being generous with his time and even his money.

That’s when he met Joe. Joe was a young fellow who had just recently become a Christian and he was so full of faith and energy! Joe could see God’s hand in everything. He walked with God and talked with God, and Joe had a deep awareness of God walking and talking with him. In fact, Joe would sometimes say that the Lord had told him to go here, or do this, or say that.

One night quite late, Joe called my dad on the phone. He was hundreds of miles away, in northern Maine, and his car had run out of gas. He had no money. No place to stay. In fact he was calling from a phone booth at a gas station that was closed for the night. My dad – being the loving, generous Christian that he was becoming – told Joe that he’d come and get him. So my dad rolled out of bed, got dressed, went out to the car, started it up, and drove off to Maine to rescue Joe. He didn’t get home until 3 or 4 in the morning. And when he came through the door, my father was mad! Oh, was he EVER mad!

It seems that Joe had gotten himself stranded in Maine – out of gas, out of money and out of luck – as a result of his faith. Here’s my version of the story Joe told my dad:

When Joe left work that afternoon, he and Jesus walked across the parking lot together, talking like old friends. They got into the car, and Joe jokingly asked Jesus if he wanted to drive. Jesus said “no” because he doesn’t have a license, but told Joe that he would navigate while Joe drove. “Turn left,” Jesus said, when the car reached the main road. “Turn right,” Jesus said at the ramp onto the northbound expressway. And Joe was happy to comply as Jesus barked out the directions all the way to northern Maine where they ran out of gas in the middle of the night.

I don’t know if my dad was madder at Joe or Jesus! But I do know that he was really upset at the kind of religion that would do something as irresponsible as what Joe had done, and then take advantage of the generosity of a friend to bail him out.

I like to imagine my father’s closing conversation with Joe as going something like this:

“Joe, that was really a stupid thing to do.”

“But, Mr. Singley, I was only following Jesus!”

“Well, Joe, the next time you let Jesus take you on a road trip, you’d better bring along a good map and a lot of cash because Jesus obviously doesn’t know diddilysquat about driving!”

I know a lot of people who think that faith is supposed to be like the old Greyhound Bus commercial where the announcer says, “Next time, take a bus…and leave the driving to us!” Many of us want faith to be a relationship in which God has complete control of our lives and all we need to do is learn to listen carefully to what God is saying, and do what God tells us to do. I once heard a Major League baseball player say that the Lord told him the next pitch was going to be a hanging curveball, so he waited on that pitch and hit the game-winning homerun. I once knew a woman who arranged the furniture in her home according to the directions Jesus gave her. I’ve known many women and men who say they won’t get married until God brings them the right person.

And of course, on the tragic side of things, we’ve all heard of people who went out and killed others, beat their spouses, went to war, committed genocide because of what “the Lord” told them to do.

The old comedic line, “The devil made me do it!” can be pretty funny. But when people say, “The Lord made me do it!” I think of people like Joe – and people like the many, many people I have met through the years who just sit around doing nothing of any value with their lives because the Lord hasn’t spoken or opened the right door yet.

I think my father would say, “Why don’t you try turning some knobs yourself and sooner or later you’ll find the door God wants you to go through.”

So here is this woman in Luke’s story. She is a “sinful” woman although it is left to our imagination to figure out in what way. And this woman hears Jesus is at the home of a neighbor – a Pharisee named Simon. She crashes the party at Simon’s house and collapses at Jesus’ feet. Her tears wet his feet, and with her long hair she wipes them dry, and then she anoints his feet with expensive perfume.

Simon is outraged by this intrusion, and by Jesus’ response! He is upset that Jesus would let himself be touched by a woman who is not his wife, let alone by THIS woman who is known to be a “sinner”. But Jesus tells Simon a little parable that poses an interesting question: Who do you think would love their banker more – the one forgiven a multi-million dollar loan they defaulted on, or the one forgiven a debt of a dollar?

“Why, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled!” Simon says. And Jesus nods in agreement. Then, he says:

“Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet. But she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much.”

Then Jesus, turning to the woman, said, “Your faith has saved you – go in peace.”

What an amazing story! What a strange story! A “sinful” woman is given a new start. Her mistakes are forgiven. She is made well of soul!

And it’s all because of faith!

“Your faith has made you well!” Jesus declares.

A number of years ago, I remember hearing about a group of Christians in Florida who were so alarmed about an approaching hurricane that they got together at church and prayed up a storm – so to speak. They believed that God could move that storm a few degrees to the east and make it miss their community. God is, after all, the maker of heaven and earth! God can do anything! So they prayed, and the storm moved away and up the coast! Of course, North Carolina got wiped out, but at least they were saved – by FAITH!

“Your faith has made you well!” Jesus said to the woman.

But what was her faith? Certainly nothing like the faith exhibited by those hurricane fighters!

Luke does not tell us whether she was religious or not. Was she a Jew, a Gentile, a Samaritan, a Presbyterian…? We’re not told. There is nothing in the story to indicate that she believed anything about God, or even about Jesus other than the fact that he was a good man who helped hurting people. There is no Apostles’ Creed on her lips – “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. The third day he rose from the dead…”

None of that is found in this woman. In fact, we are told only one thing about the faith that saved her. Jesus said of the woman, “Her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much.”

You see, this story is not about the power of God to do for us. It is not about our relinquishing our lives and our wills in order to become God’s little puppets, turning left and turning right until we run out of gas in Maine.

It is instead a story about what we human beings can do with our own lives! It is about the decisions we make – the actions we take – the way we choose to live the lives we have!

Jesus did not say, “”OUR Christian Faith has made you well!”

He said, “YOUR faith has made you well!”

Faith, you see, is not a gift imposed upon us from above, but rather a skill that is developed and flows from within. Faith is about making faithful decisions, and going out and living faithful lives.

And Jesus told us exactly what this woman’s faith consisted of. In the face of her life as it was, she chose to go and love. Simon did not wash Jesus’ feet. But she did. Simon did not greet Jesus with a kiss. But she did. Simon did not anoint Jesus with oil. But she did with perfume.

She, Jesus said, loved much!

We are still in the season of Pentecost, reflecting upon the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave to be with us in his absence. And one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to help us learn and develop the human skill of faith. Faith is not something that comes to us from the outside. It is something that expresses itself from the inside. Faith is about taking responsibility for our own lives, and making decisions as faithfully as we can, and living as fully and faithfully as we are capable.

God’s dream for you and me is not to turn us into little religious puppets, but to transform us into people within whom the power of God is at work through faith.

One of my favorite stories is the Old Testament tale about David when he was still quite young. The Philistines – who had a reputation for being big people (you do remember Goliath, don’t you?) – were gathered to do battle with King Saul and the Hebrew army. Saul and his top military commanders were up on a hill, trying to discern God’s will. They prayed and consulted the ephod, which was a kind of mystical breastplate that helped them get directions from the Lord – almost like a Ouija Board. Like my father’s friend Joe, they listened carefully, waiting for God to tell them or show them what to do.

Meanwhile, David and his armor bearer climbed atop a nearby hill. Lo and behold, in the valley below, there was the Philistine army! David said, “My gosh! There’s the Philistines! Let’s go get ‘em!”

The armor bearer said, “But how do we know that is the will of the Lord?”

“Well,” David answered, “I suppose if we get killed, we’ll know it wasn’t God’s will. But if we have success, we’ll know it was. So….CHARGE!”

That’s faith.

Faith is not living your life by dictation, but rather by making decisions. Faith is not about waiting for God to live His life through you, but you living your life as best you can as the Holy Spirit works within, inspiring your mind, energizing your spirit, and strengthening your body to live as a child of God.

God gave you a brain. Use it! God gave you a will. Use it! God gave you a body. Use it! Use the gifts God has given you to love, to serve, and to build a better world. Faith is an action sport, and it requires the willingness to take the risk of making decisions you believe represent God’s way even when God has not yet revealed it to you! And if it turns out to be wrong, to admit it, and be willing to turn around and go in another direction.

One of the great joys of being a Christian is discovering that God doesn’t have your life all mapped out. There are choices and decisions God leaves to you. That’s what faith is for!

This woman of the city risked loving Jesus despite the social conventions of the day, despite the religious regulations of the time, and despite her own sense of sinfulness. She does not go to Jesus because she needs him, but because he needs HER to anoint him for burial.

And in the decision she made and the action she took, she was made well.

YOUR faith has saved you, Jesus said.

I don’t know if Joe ever heard the story of the fellow from the city who drove down to Maine. He pulled off the interstate and came down to the intersection. There was a sign there with an arrow to the left that said, “Bangor, 25-miles.” Right next to it was a sign pointing to the right that said, “Bangor, 25-miles.” Not knowing what to do, the city slicker spotted an old Maine farmer working in the field behind the signs. He pulled his car over, zipped down the window and said, I’m going to Bangor. Does it matter which way I go?”

The old Maine farmer took off his hat, scratched his beard, spit on the ground and then simply said, “Not to me it don’t!”

Sometimes, you just have to make the best decision you can, and go for it!

Sometimes, you just have to trust that God is at work in YOU!