St. Luke recounts
a story of vivid and illuminating contrasts between two extremely different
people who respond to Jesus in distinctly different ways (Luke 7:36-50). First, there was a Pharisee named Simon who
invited Jesus to dinner. Then there was
a woman, whose name we never learn; all the gospel tells us is that she was “known
in the town to be a sinner,” a description that’s led many scripture scholars to conclude
that if she wasn’t a prostitute, she was certainly sexually promiscuous. The woman obviously wasn’t invited to the
dinner, but nothing—not even the whispered comments and disapproving stares of
the guests—would keep her from getting to Jesus; in fact, her desire to be in
the presence of Jesus was so strong it was as if nobody else was there. Down on her knees before Jesus, she began to
cry. She used those tears to wash His
feet and her hair to dry them. She then
kissed Jesus’ feet and massaged them with oil.
The woman did all this with such focused determination it was as if she
had rehearsed the scene in her mind many times before. In the presence of Christ she opened her
heart, repented of her sins, and performed exquisite acts of contrition and
love.
Simon saw it
all quite differently, though. Instead
of being moved by the woman’s actions, he arrogantly assumed she could never be
more than the sinner she had always been.
As far as he was concerned, she could never be forgiven, she could never
be free. But Simon not only judged the
woman, he also judged Jesus. He
denounced Jesus as a religious impostor because anyone truly of God would never
allow himself to be touched by such a notorious sinner. Thus, before the end of the evening, Simon
looked down both on the repentant woman and Jesus who forgave her. Both fell short in his eyes.
The problem
wasn’t with Jesus or the woman, but with Simon’s seeing. Pride had so twisted his vision that he
completely missed what was happening before his eyes. But that’s the way it goes when we’re so busy
judging that we never have time to love.
In this
current time of suffering, tribulation, and an abundance of sin, we should take
the time to ask our God for forgiveness, to love one another and to offer our
hand in taking evil and converting it to a good. Forgiveness can change a life.
Forgiveness will make a transformational
change in a life. Now is the time to take
this opportunity to forgive someone close to us (or even someone we barely
know, like certain politicians or other notable celebrities). If each of us today forgives one person, the
world can be transformed. How easy is
that?
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