We Owe God More Than We Can Ever Pay! 

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

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

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

Sunday, June 12, 2016

King David was a man of contrasts. On one hand, he was devotedly committed to God. He was a great king who loved the Lord. But on the other hand, like every human person, he was not perfect. He was a great military conqueror, but he could not conquer himself. He conquered nations but could not conquer his emotions. He allowed the beauty of Bathsheba to conquer him. Just one night of lust over Bathsheba, the great King David was conquered and brought to his kneels. Bathsheba became pregnant! By this time, Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba was away fighting and defending King David and his kingdom. When King David heard that Bathsheba was pregnant, he recalled her husband, and tried to set him up with his own wife. After all his tricks failed, he sent Uriah back to the war with a letter to the General asking him to send Uriah to the fiercest front of the war, and that he should retreat after doing that. This resulted in the death of Uriah. King David killed Uriah in order to cover his wrongdoing. But God was watching! Nathan, God’s prophet at the time, was given the mission of confronting David. On learning about his wrongdoing, David fell to his kneels and declared: “I have sinned against the Lord.” 

The Gospel of Luke 7: 36-50, like the first reading (2 Samuel 12:7-10 & 13) is also about a sinner who sought for forgiveness. Jesus was a guest at the house of Simon, a Pharisee for dinner. In ancient Israel, it was a custom that when a Rabbi was at a special meal, all kinds of people would come in to listen to his rare words of wisdom. In this case, the Rabbi was Jesus Christ, the Lord of life. As soon as he 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 Jesus. Realizing how greatly she had sinned against God, herself, parents, siblings, and the community, she broke down in tears. She wept profusely that her ocean of tears were enough to wash the feet of Jesus: “Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment (An alabaster flask of ointment).” Her action stunned Simon who said: “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.”

Simon’s unspoken opinion was not only a judgment of condemnation on the sinful woman, but also a serious doubt on the character of Jesus. The unspoken thought of his mind highlights also his own self-righteousness. As far as he was concerned, he was sinless. The sinful one was the woman, and Jesus may be a fake prophet. He concluded that she wasn’t the right kind of person to be seen around Jesus. For him, she was a hopeless woman, incapable of repentance, incapable of changing her ways, and changing her lifestyle. He judged her cruelly and concluded she is finished in every sense of the word. He also wondered why Jesus, the so called prophet would not dissociate himself from her.

To teach Simon an important lesson, Jesus told him 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. 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 called Simon’s attention to his lack of proper hospitality. In those days, roads were dusty and rough, so, when a guest visits, his feet were usually washed with water and soothed with oil by a servant at the doorpost. It was a sign of warm welcome and hospitality. Simon did not assign any servant to wash the feet of Jesus but the sinful woman washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, soothed them with a costly ointment. Jesus also told Simon that when he entered his house, he did not give him a kiss of peace which was also a common practice in Israel. A kiss of peace is “happy to see you” greeting in action. He did not do it for Jesus, but the sinful woman did. Because she did these acts of love, remorse and contrition, Jesus offered her total forgiveness: “Your sins are forgiven.” Her ocean of tears brought her the Lord’s compassion and mercy. She went home forgiven and cleansed of all her sins. Whereas the self-righteous Simon remain the same.

 This gospel story reveals an amazing truth— that a person’s level of devotion to God usually corresponds to the level of forgiveness one thinks he or she has received. The more a person experiences forgiveness, the more his or her devotion. This gospel story shows why some people experience forgiveness and why others don’t. The woman in the Gospel story had a deep sense of sin. She was conscious of her many sins. She convicted herself a sinner. She went to the One who can forgive sins and her many sins were forgiven. The greatest sin is to be conscious of no sin. What opens the door of God’s mercy is having a sense of guilt and a sense of need for mercy. One thing that is capable of shutting off a person from God is self-sufficiency, but depending on God  will open the door for his mercy. After all, God is love.

In the parable of the debtors that Jesus narrated to Simon, where are we? Do we think we have been forgiven great deal of debt or forgiven a little? Some Christians think they have been forgiven a little. You hear them say: “I am not really such a sinner.” “I’ve never killed anyone.” “I’ve never stolen anything.” “I have never cheated on my tax or my spouse.” “I don’t take advantage of others.” “I don’t indulge in immoral behaviors.” “I am actually a good person. “I don’t drink too much or eat too much.” “I am not as bad as others.” But no matter what we may think of ourselves, we are all great debtors. When it comes to our relationship with God, there is no one who owes little. We are all great debtors in God’s books. We owe God more than we can ever pay. But we can be forgiven if we can humbly and honestly say with King David: “I have sinned against the Lord.” And also do what the woman in today’s Gospel did— come to Jesus, sit at his feet, weep for our sins and say to him “Be merciful unto me O Lord for I have sinned.”