The Toolbox

One day, a Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to his home for dinner. Simon was a religious leader — respected, educated, careful about every point of the law. He wanted to observe Jesus up close.

While they were eating, a woman slipped in from the street. In that culture, guests reclined on low couches with their feet stretched behind them, and townspeople could walk through to observe — so her being there was not unusual. But she was. The whole city knew her by reputation. She was a sinful woman.

She stood behind Jesus and began to weep. Her tears fell onto his feet. She knelt down, wiped them with her own hair, then kissed his feet over and over. She had brought an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, and she poured it out over his feet.

Simon watched all of this and thought to himself: "If this man were truly a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. He would never let her near him."

Jesus turned to Simon. "I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, teacher," Simon replied.

"Two men owed money to the same moneylender. One owed five hundred denarii. The other owed fifty. Neither could pay him back, so he cancelled both debts. Which of them will love him more?"

Simon answered carefully. "I suppose the one who had the larger debt cancelled."

"You are right," Jesus said. Then he looked toward the woman and said to Simon: "Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet — but she has wet them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no greeting — but she has not stopped kissing my feet since I arrived. You put no oil on my head — but she has poured perfume on my feet."

Then Jesus said quietly: "Her many sins have been forgiven — and her great love shows it. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

He turned to the woman and said simply: "Your sins are forgiven."

The other guests began murmuring to each other: "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

Jesus said to her: "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

Jesus told this story to people who were proud of their own righteousness and who looked down on everyone else.

Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee — a man who had dedicated his life to knowing and keeping the law of God. He knew scripture deeply, he was disciplined, and he was admired for it. The other was a tax collector. In that time and place, tax collectors were despised. They worked for the Roman occupiers, and many of them skimmed money from their own people. No one of good standing would share a meal with them.

The Pharisee stood up and began to pray about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like that tax collector over there. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of everything I earn."

He was not lying. Everything he said was probably true.

The tax collector stood far off at the back. He could not even bring himself to look up toward heaven. He beat his chest — a gesture of deep grief and shame — and said quietly: "God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner."

Jesus looked at his listeners and said: "I tell you, this man — the tax collector — went home right with God. The other one did not."

Then he said: "Everyone who lifts himself up will be brought low, and everyone who humbles himself will be lifted up."

Paul arrived in Athens ahead of his friends and was waiting for them. As he walked through the city, he was troubled by what he saw — the city was full of idols, shrines to every god imaginable. So he started talking. He spoke in the synagogue and in the marketplace with whoever would engage him.

Some Greek philosophers — Epicureans and Stoics — brought him to the Areopagus, the open-air place where Athens debated ideas publicly. They called him a "babbler," someone picking up scraps of foreign thinking. But they were curious: what was this new teaching?

Paul stood before them and said:

"People of Athens, I can see that in every way you are very religious. As I walked through your city and looked at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What you worship without knowing — that is what I am telling you about.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in temples built by human hands, and he is not served by human hands as though he needs anything — because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.

"From one man he made all the nations of the earth to live across the whole world. He set the times and the places where people would live — and the reason he did this was so that people would seek him, and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said: 'We are his offspring.'

"Since we are God's offspring, we should not imagine that the divine is like gold or silver or stone — something shaped by human hands and human ideas.

"In the past, God was patient with this kind of ignorance. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Because he has set a day when he will judge the whole world with justice — through a man he has appointed. And he has given proof of this to everyone: he raised that man from the dead."

Peter came to Jesus and asked: "Lord, how many times should I forgive someone who wrongs me? Up to seven times?"

Jesus said: "Not seven times — but seventy-seven times."

Then he told this story.

A king decided it was time to settle accounts with the men who served him. One man was brought before him who owed an enormous sum — ten thousand talents. It was more money than a laborer could earn in several lifetimes. There was simply no way to pay it back.

The king ordered the man to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned, as partial repayment.

The man fell on his knees before the king. "Have patience with me," he begged. "I will pay back everything."

The king looked at him. He was moved with pity. And he did something extraordinary — he cancelled the entire debt and let the man go free.

That same man walked out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii — a few weeks' wages. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded: "Pay back what you owe me."

His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged with the exact same words: "Have patience with me. I will pay you back."

The man refused. He had him thrown into prison until the debt could be paid.

The other servants saw what happened and were sick with grief. They reported the whole thing to the king.

The king summoned the man. "You wicked servant," he said. "I cancelled all of that debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?"

In anger, the king handed him over to be punished until he repaid everything he owed.

Then Jesus said to his listeners: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

After Jesus was arrested, he was brought before the religious leaders, then to Pilate the Roman governor, then to Herod, then back to Pilate again. Three times Pilate said he found no reason to execute him. But the crowd kept demanding it, and Pilate finally gave them what they wanted.

They led Jesus out to be crucified alongside two criminals.

When they reached the place called the Skull, they crucified all three of them — Jesus in the middle, one criminal on his right, one on his left.

As he was dying, Jesus said: "Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing."

The soldiers cast lots for his clothing. The religious rulers stood watching and sneering. "He saved others — let him save himself if he is the Messiah, the Chosen One."

One of the criminals hanging beside him joined in the mockery: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you even fear God? You're under the same sentence. And we deserve it — we're getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

Then he turned and said: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Jesus answered him: "Truly I tell you — today you will be with me in paradise."

This man had nothing left. No time to be baptized. No time to learn theology. No record of good works. He only had a dying moment and a simple plea — and it was enough.

Three days after Jesus was crucified and buried, very early on the first day of the week, a group of women came to the tomb. They had prepared spices to anoint his body.

When they arrived, the stone that had been rolled across the entrance was pushed aside. They went in — but the body of Jesus was not there.

While they stood there, confused and frightened, two men in dazzling clothes suddenly appeared beside them. The women bowed their faces to the ground.

The men said: "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen! Remember what he told you, back in Galilee — that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again."

The women remembered. They left the tomb and ran to tell the eleven disciples and everyone else. But when the disciples heard it, it seemed like nonsense. They did not believe the women.

Peter got up and ran to the tomb anyway. He bent down and looked inside. He saw the burial cloths lying there, with nothing in them. He went home full of wonder, not knowing what to make of it.

That same day, two of Jesus' followers were walking from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles away. They were going over everything that had happened. As they walked, a stranger came alongside them. It was Jesus — but they did not recognize him.

"What are you discussing?" he asked.

They stopped, their faces heavy with grief. One of them, Cleopas, answered: "Are you the only person in Jerusalem who doesn't know what has happened here these past few days?"

"What things?" the stranger asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they said. "He was a prophet — powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over and had him crucified. We had hoped he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And now it is the third day. Some of the women went to the tomb this morning — they found it empty and said they had seen a vision of angels who told them he was alive."

The stranger began speaking, explaining from the scriptures everything written about the Messiah — that he had to suffer before entering his glory.

When they reached Emmaus, he continued on as if to keep walking. But they urged him: "Stay with us. It's getting late." So he came in with them.

When they sat down to eat, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and handed it to them. In that moment, their eyes were opened. They recognized him.

And he vanished from their sight.

They looked at each other. "Didn't our hearts burn within us while he was talking to us on the road?"

They got up immediately, walked back seven miles to Jerusalem in the dark, and found the eleven disciples gathered together. Before they could say anything, the disciples said: "It's true. The Lord has risen!"

A man had two sons. One day the younger son came to his father and said: "Father, give me my share of the estate now."

In that culture, this was a profound insult — as if to say: you are already dead to me. I want what I will eventually get from you, and I want it today. But the father divided his property between both sons and gave it to him.

A few days later, the younger son packed everything and left for a distant country. He had money and freedom, and he used both without any thought for tomorrow. He wasted everything on reckless living. And when the money was gone, a severe famine hit the region. He had nothing.

He found work with a local man who sent him out to the fields to feed pigs. He was so hungry that he looked at the pods he was throwing to the pigs and thought about eating them himself. No one gave him anything.

Finally, he came to his senses.

"How many of my father's hired servants have more food than they can eat, and here I am starving to death? I will get up and go back to my father. I will say to him: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'"

So he got up and made the long walk home.

While he was still a long way off, his father saw him. And he did not wait. He ran.

He threw his arms around his son and kissed him.

The son began his rehearsed speech: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son—"

His father turned and called to the servants: "Bring the best robe — quickly — and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's celebrate! Because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found."

And the celebration began.

The older son was out in the field. As he came back toward the house, he heard the music and dancing. He called a servant over and asked what was going on. "Your brother has come home," the servant said. "Your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound."

The older son was furious. He refused to go inside.

His father came out and pleaded with him.

"Look," the older son said. "All these years I have worked for you and never once disobeyed you. You never even gave me a small goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours comes back — the one who wasted your money on shameful living — you kill the fattened calf for him."

The father answered him gently: "Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because your brother was dead and is alive again. He was lost — and now he is found."