Compassion, Pride and Remorse Meet

Compassion, Pride and Remorse Meet

Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Father Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

In the house of Simon, the Pharisee, compassion, pride and remorse meet. Jesus stands for compassion, Simon, the host, stands for pride, the sinful woman stands for remorse and conversion.

Today’s gospel taken from the gospel of Luke is a story about the compassion of Jesus, the remorseful conversion of a sinful woman and the inhospitality of Simon. St. Luke tells us that Jesus was a guest at the house of Simon, a Pharisee, at the instance of Simon himself. It was a dinner party. In Israel, it was the custom that when a Rabbi was at a special meal, all kinds of people came in to listen to the words of wisdom that came from his lips. And people were quite free to do so. In this case, the Rabbi was no other person but Jesus Christ, the Lord of life. As soon as Jesus settled down to eat, something noteworthy happened. A woman commonly known in town as a bad and notorious woman came in, and sat at the foot of the Jesus. This woman had a sense of sin. Realizing how greatly she had sinned against herself, against her parents and siblings, against her community, against humanity, against God and against Jesus, she broke down in tears. She cried deeply with intensity, to the extent that her tears were enough to wash the feet of Jesus. He was weeping, and washing the feet of Jesus with her tears. “Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment (An alabaster flask of ointment).” Both the host Simon and the people who witnessed this event were stunned. They were stunned for four reasons:

They were stunned that she would be there in the house of a wealthy man Simon and before Jesus someone popularly acclaimed to be a holy man and a prophet. The people were stunned because she was not the right kind of woman to be sighted in such a place. They were stunned because they know her to be a very sinful woman, a prostitute for that matter. They were stunned because Jesus couldn’t even send her away; the Lord refused to dissociate himself from her. He refused to discriminate against her. Jesus refused to ask Simon to send the woman away. The Lord was not furious that a prostitute was interfering with her dinner meal.

They were also stunned at her behavior- weeping profusely, washing the feet of Jesus with her tears, and wiping them with her long and beautiful hair. Can you picture the scene in your mind? Can you picture a woman sitting at the feet of Jesus, weeping, washing Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair? If she had been the right kind of woman, it would have been one thing. But she was that kind of woman- a common sinner, probably a prostitute. She wasn’t a religious person; she was not the kind of person that should be seen sitting very close to a person like Jesus, a Rabbi. In eyes of the people, she shouldn’t be seen where she was seen. The so called religious people tagged her a sinner. Everyone called her a sinner; consequently, she was not supposed to be around the “righteous” people. Whether she was sinful and unacceptable was not her concern. From the edge of the crowd, she was listening with rapt attention to the words of wisdom that came out from the mouth of Jesus; and in Jesus she had a glimpse, a quick peep of him as the hand that could lift her from the miry clay of sinfulness. Convinced that Jesus is the One to lift her up, convinced that Jesus is the One to restore her dignity, convinced that Jesus is the One to offer her total forgiveness and restoration from all she had lost due to her wayward lifestyle, she went and sat at his feet. As she wept for her worthlessness, she let her tears fell on Jesus’ feet. With her unbound hair, she wiped his feet and also kissed the feet of Jesus severally.

As this sinful woman was demonstrating a profound act of remorse and repentance, Simon and the people around were scandalized that Jesus allowed such a woman to keep touching him. Simon himself had thought in his mind “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.” To make him and others see their error, Jesus told them a parable. There was a banker who loaned money to two of his customers. To one, he loaned $50, 000 and the other $5, 000. When it was time to pay back, they were unable to do so. The banker, out of his magnanimity forgave both loans. “Don’t bother to pay me back again. I have written off the debt” the banker may have said to the two debtors. Then Jesus asked Simon “Which of them will love the banker more?” Simon answered “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” “You have answered rightly” responded Jesus. Then Jesus reminded Simon of his failure to provide him with water to wash his feet, a practice so common in Israel then. Because the roads were dusty and rough, when a guest visits, his feet were usually washed and soothed by a servant who stands on the doorpost. This was a sign of warm welcome. What Simon failed to do to Jesus is being done by the sinful woman. Jesus also reminded Simon that when he entered his house, he Simon did not give him a kiss of peace which was also a common practice in Israel that showed hospitality; again what he failed to do is being done by the sinful woman. Simon also did not anoint the feet of Jesus, but the sinful woman anointed his feet with a costly ointment. Because she has done all those, Jesus offered her total forgiveness “Your sins are forgiven.” The woman’s many sins were totally forgiven by Jesus.

This gospel story reveals an amazing truth. The level of a person’s devotion to God usually corresponds to the level of forgiveness one has received. The greater one experiences forgiveness, the greater his or her devotion. This gospel story shows why some people experience forgiveness and why others don’t. This woman had a sense of sin. She was conscious of her many sins. She convicted herself a sinner. She went to the One who can forgive sins; her many sins were forgiven. The greatest of sins is to be conscious of no sin; it is having a sense of need that will open the door to the forgiveness of God. One thing that shuts a person off from God is self-sufficiency. The strange thing is that the better a person is the more one feels sinful. St. Paul could speak of sinners "of whom I am foremost." It is true to say that the greatest of sins is to be conscious of no sin; but a sense of need will open the door to the forgiveness of God, because God is love.

In the parable of the debtors that Jesus narrated to Simon, where are you? Are you the one that was forgiven a great debt or the one that was forgiven little? Some people including Christians think they have been forgiven little. You hear them say “I am not really such a sinner. I never killed anyone. I never stole anything. I have never cheated on my tax or my spouse. I don’t take advantage of others. I don’t commit fornication. I don’t drink too much or eat too much. I am not as sinful others.”

No matter what you may think of yourself, we are all great debtors. In the parable of the debtors, one owed little. When it comes to our relationship with God, there is no one who owes little. We all are great debtors in God’s books. We owe God more than we can ever pay. We can only be forgiven if we like the sinful woman will go to the feet of Jesus and ask for mercy.