PARDON & PEACE
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3
Today’s gospel passage from St Luke contains a story that is one of the world’s most touching and infinitely tender. It is the story of Jesus’ forgiveness of a “bad” woman. A Pharisee named Simon had invited Jesus to dinner. Why, we don’t know. Likely as not, it was simply because Simon had heard of Jesus, thought it might be interesting to have a celebrity in his house, and asked him to come, and Jesus accepted the invitation.
A sinful woman in the city heard of the dinner and invited herself. Her crashing the party was easy, in view of the custom that when a rabbi was at a meal as a guest, anyone was free to come and listen to him. What could she have looked like? Well, they say that an artist can look at a beautiful girl and see the woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the beautiful girl she used to be. A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is and force the viewer to see the beautiful girl she used to be, proving that the lovely young girl is still alive, imprisoned inside the old woman’s ruined body. In today’s gospel, Jesus demonstrates he was that kind of artist, a great one.
The woman was attracted to come either because she had had some contact with Jesus in his wanderings, or simply because she liked what she had heard of him. In writing of her, Luke is very delicate. He mentions neither her name nor what her sins were. Most people, however, suspect that this woman’s sins were of the sort that we are embarrassed to admit in confession, but love to read in the “tell all” autobiographies of media stars. She had going against her not only the prohibition against close female contact with men outside the home; she had the added handicap of being known as a sinner. So, although she had been brave enough to come, she stood behind Jesus at his feet as he reclined at table, where he couldn’t see her right away.
Like other Jewish woman, she wore around her neck an expensive vial of perfume. She intended to anoint his feet with it. As she stooped to do so, she was so overcome with emotion that she unexpectedly burst into tears. She hadn’t foreseen this outburst, and she spontaneously loosened her hair and wipe and kissed his feet repeatedly, and then anointed his feet.
Simon the Pharisee said under his breath, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” The fact is that Jesus did know what sort of woman this was — a woman who was both repentant and grateful—a woman whose need for forgiveness drove her to her knees and brought her to her senses. He knew and was pleased to receive her goodness. He accepted her. In response to Simon’s unspoken thoughts, Jesus presents a parable about two men who owed money, one a great deal and the other less. The creditor wrote off both debts. When Jesus asked Simon which of them will love the creditor more, one can almost feel the insolent coldness in Simon’s answer: “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven”.
Jesus then turned to Simon the Pharisee and somewhat rebuked him. He told him when he entered his house, he did not offer him a kiss of greeting. water for his feet, nor did he anoint his head. Jesus’ words about expected courtesy beautifully portrayed the Oriental etiquette of the time. When a guest entered a house, he could expect the host to show certain marks of respect. The host was to place his hands on his guest’s shoulder and wish him shalom, the most-prized gift of peace. Another duty of hospitality was to cleanse and comfort the guest’s feet with cool water after the dust of the dirt roads had penetrated his sandals. And the host could be expected to place a few drops of attar of roses on the guest’s head. But Simon offers none of the customary hospitality to Jesus.
The woman made up for it. She worships at the feet of Jesus. Her worship was simple, contrite, sincere . . . without words . . . but with tears and perfume instead. She understood that being present with Jesus calls for an extravagant response. She had been transformed, and she knew that the only appropriate response was to throw herself at the feet of the Lord. Jesus looked into her heart, and knew that she was truly repentant. And the friend of sinners then said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”.
We never even know her name . . . this woman with the unbound hair who made such a scene at Simon’s house. But she is our model and our guide. Her actions show us what our response should be to the incredible gift we have been given. The forgiveness she experienced is also offered to us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This involves a radical reorientation of our whole life and a conversion to God with our whole heart. We need to throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus, wash our sins with the tears of our responsibility, and beg forgiveness. We too must put away our pride and set aside our fear. And then. after our heartfelt, sincere, faith-filled, undistracted, contrite, humble, worship at the feet of our Lord, we too will be dismissed to “Go in peace.”
