Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Fr. Satish is on Vacation visiting his parents in India. This homily was written 3 years ago. The message is still as relevant).
Today’s readings have two very poignant stories to reflect upon. Who does not know the story of David’s lust for Bathsheba, his conceited strategy to possess her, the prophet Nathan’s prophecy to convict him of his crime and David’s repentance? It is a classical biblical story of sin and reconciliation. And then we have the famed story of the woman at the feet of Jesus. The setting for this story is very important. The setting is the house of a Pharisee who has his own sense of sin and righteousness. Jesus overturns his ideas of sin and reconciliation. We have, then, two biblical classics to reflect upon.
If we reflect on both these stories together this is what we can conclude: On the one hand, God expected David to live an upright, honest, faithful and holy life because of God’s love for him and because of David’s capacity for covenantal fidelity. David was one of God’s favorites. It is this love that David betrays by his sin. On the other hand, Christ forgave a “very sinful” woman. From Jesus words to the Pharisee we know that she was forgiven much because “she loved much.” The love and affection she expressed for Jesus brings out the best of God’s reconciling love. Even though she was a “very sinful” woman she is unconditionally forgiven and reconciled by Jesus.
In other words, sin is sin because it is a betrayal of love (David), and sin is forgiven because of same love (the woman).
Let me offer three practical implications:
1. Sin means to lose sight of Love. Sin has been described in many ways. The Old Testament Greek word to describe sin is hamartia, or missing the mark. It is like throwing a spear that completely misses the target. So for example, when God created Adam and Eve, God has a vision, a goal for them. But their conduct misses the mark. This is precisely what happened to David too. God chose, anointed him, loved him, guided him to be King of Israel. In his conduct with Bathsheba, David lost sight of all that. He completely missed that vision, the goal, the mark God set for him. This is not merely a transgression. This is not merely a violation. This is a betrayal of love.
Hear what Paul says in today’s gospel reading: “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” Here, then, is the vision that each one of us can live by: “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me….” To the extent that this vision is not a reality in our life, to the extent that we do not strive to accomplish this vision, to the extent that we fail to give ourself up for Christ in the same way that he gave himself up for us, and to the extent we do not love in the way that Christ loved us, to that extent we miss the mark. And that is sin. Sin is to lose sight of love.
2. The Power of Love. The more I read the gospel the more I am intrigued by Jesus. The reason is this: when I sit in the confessional today, I know how I should conduct myself –Jesus has laid a precedent for me. But Jesus did not have anyone to follow. He was creating standards as he went along. Most people treated sinful people like Simon the Pharisee did. But that is not the standard that Jesus followed. He created radically new patterns of behavior. And he did so with confidence and authority. My level of reverence for Jesus as a human person is yet to reach its climax. When Paul says, “Christ… who loved me and gave himself for me,” in the story of the woman at his feet we see the power of love manifested in the most concrete and tangible way. When I look at Jesus I know what love is like. When I look at Jesus I know what reconciling love is like. When I look at Jesus, I know what God is like. When I look at Jesus I know the power of love.
3. Divine Reversal. Perhaps because of the attention that the increasing accounts of rapes in India, I have become very sensitive to how women are treated. But I also realize that this is not just and Indian problem. Each day in the news in the United States as well, , there are regular stories of rape and violence against women. The way women are portrayed in the media, in the unequal wages they receive and in the way woman abuse is still rampant, I think Jesus has a message. In those primitive times when women were not treated right Jesus gave this vulnerable woman her dignity. Jesus could have treated her like the Pharisee did. But he does not. It is good to examine how we treat women in our own homes. What do we do with their opinion or their contribution to the family. Do we treat them with the dignity they have? Not just women, but when we see a black person or a white person, a Mexican or Asian, a poor person or a gay or lesbian or a Baptist or a Mormon, or someone who has screwed up do with treat them with the dignity that is their right? If we do not then what happened to Simon will happen to us. The “sinful woman” rather than Simon becomes the hero of today’s story. The sinful woman who should have been on the outs with God ends being in the inner circle and the self-righteous Pharisee, who was supposed to be in with God finds himself on the periphery – divine reversal. This is called divine reversal.
If we look honestly and sincerely at our own lives, we will realize that we all ‘miss the mark.’ There is one thing that unites all of us – we ALL sin. None of us is worthy of redemption because we are righteous enough. We are all saved because the love of God is greater than our sin. I am not saying that sin should not be treated as sin, but we must beware of how we treat the sinner or for that matter, any other person.
As we come to celebrate this Eucharist, let us celebrate it with love. Let us come like the woman who brought herself just as she was. Here is a God who heals us because of love and trusts us even more in love. Let our communion bring us into communion with our God and with one another, Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph