Homily for the Week of June 16, 2013

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2013 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11 Galatians 2:16, 19-21 Luke 7:36—8:3 or 7:36-50 From time to time we hear persons who complain that we don’t hear enough about the reality of sin. We are often reluctant to acknowledge something that is so obvious despite the seriousness of the matter. Anyone with cancer or another serious illness is foolish to refuse medical attention, yet we find ways to avoid seeing the cancers in our own souls. What do you do when you know you have hurt someone deeply or when you become aware that your patterns of life choices cause great harm to others? Sometimes you can kiss and make up with the person. But at other times it is not possible to repair the damage to the ones directly affected. Even when the person you hurt forgives you, you still search how to express the love and joy that come from being freed from guilt. Forgiveness seems so uncommon. But it always was. Today our first reading and our Gospel talk about sin and forgiveness. Our first reading on this Father’s Day tells us how a father’s sin led to the suffering of his own family and the family of others. It is about a man by name of David who became a great king, but he was not perfect. God had picked David to be king of Israel. But David wanted the Bathseba the wife of Uriah, so he arranges to have Uriah killed in battle in order to have her. David confessed his sin, and God forgave him. We know a great deal about David’s sins. In our Gospel today we have a small slice of the life of a sinful woman who spots Jesus. Jesus and his friends had been invited to Simon’s house for dinner. As was the custom for dinner she finds the guests reclining on cushions around the table, reaching into the center to take the food. She spots Jesus. We do not know her name or where she came from or any other details of her life. We do not know what kinds of sins she had committed, nor how she met Jesus. We do not know when or where it was that Jesus had met her before She was unescorted. She had let her hair down in public. Because no “proper” woman of Jesus’ day did these things, they suggest sinfulness in the area of sexuality. But we must remember that we don’t know her sin. What is clear is that her sins and reputation were public knowledge. Simon who had invited Jesus was somewhat concerned about what Jesus and the woman were doing. Simon was identified as a “lover of the Law,” Simon would follow it carefully, but he had not in terms of hospitality. The Jewish custom of hospitality dictated that honored guests like Jesus should have their feet washed. Another considerate act, anointing someone’s head with perfumed ointment, took care of unpleasant smells. Simon failed to offer the customary courtesies. The Pharisee, “the lover of the Law,” was not such a good practitioner of the faith. Simon may have invited Jesus into his home, not to learn of him or from him, but to judge him and condemn him. But the sinful woman, wordless and helpless, came to Jesus in order to kiss and anoint his feet. Simon harbors judgmental thoughts. He is certain in his knowledge that the woman is a sinner, and he is unaware of the forgiveness she has experienced. He is just as certain in his judgement of Jesus. Jesus cannot be who he says he is. Jesus offers Simon a little story about two persons who owe money to demonstrate what exactly is going on here. Jesus forgives her and sends her away. He sends her back to living without regret or shame. Jesus offered forgiveness without even being asked for it! How are we to deal with this kind forgiveness? Something stirred this woman to seek out Jesus. In doing only this she came to experience a sense of forgiveness. When she found Jesus, she didn’t have to ask for forgiveness. She already had gratitude to express, something entirely different from having to beg for forgiveness. Simon and his friends were not pleased. They would have rather like to see the woman on hr knees begging for forgiveness. They just did not understand the true feeling of forgiveness. Instead, they got a lesson in how to love and how to show respect for human dignity. Almost everything around us challenges our notions of God’s mercy. We set up standards for others that are designed to make them failures. We destroy our heroes. We prefer to condemn them for their sins rather than admire their achievements. We won’t give others new chances in life. We judge and either don’t give others a chance to change or don’t allow ourselves to see that we were wrong. Yet, God forgives before we ask — and even when we don’t ask. In our first Bible reading God forgaves an adulterous and murderous king David. This week ask Jesus to stop judging, and to expand your capacity to forgive.