Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 17, 2020 - Thursday in the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 15:1-11 and Luke 7:36-50]"Do you see this woman: When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." The others at table said to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" But he said to the woan, "You faith has saved you, go in peace." [Luke]
This is truly one of the most beautiful scenes in the Gospel According to Luke. After the rather strong and blunt gospel passage from the Gospel According to Matthew last Sunday on the necessity of forgiving others as we have been forgiven. we are given today a powerful, beautiful and intimate example of what Jesus preaches.
In the culture of Jesus' time, women did not eat with men. Furthermore, the dinner is at the home of a Pharisee, a strict observer of the rules of ritual purity. The woman comes in with an expensive jar of ointment and begins to anoint Jesus' feet not only with the ointment but with her tears and wipes away the tears with her hair!! There may have been a collective "gasp!" in the group. The reaction of Simon the Pharisee probably represents the whole group. It's not just that the woman came into the dinner uninvited but she was considered a "sinner" (not necessarily a prostitute - she may have been involved in other activities considered unclean by Pharisees). She had apparently experienced forgiveness from Jesus and came in love and gratitude. Once more, in the presence of the proper diners, she bears witness to the power of love and forgiveness. Jesus notes the contrast between her behavior and that of Simon the Pharisee. Her faith in Jesus' power to forgive and her love and gratitude for that forgiveness continue 2000+ years later to challenge us to do the same. AMEN