ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C
Commentary by Fr. Fernando Armellini
A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. Now, there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at the table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages, and the other owed fifty. Since they could not repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then he turned to the woman and asked Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she 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 the table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
A good Sunday to all.
The Gospel passage we just heard presents us with an episode that only Luke brings us. It is about the sinner in the Pharisee's house. One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat. Probably, it must have been the Sabbath when it was customary to ask relatives, especially those who could afford it, to invite the one who had commented on the biblical passage for lunch.
While for us, the banquet is a profane moment, for the Israelites, the banquet was a religious gesture. When one was at the table, especially on a Sabbath day, one had to comment on the word of God that had been heard in the synagogue. Therefore, it must have been a Sabbath when Jesus was invited by a pharisee for lunch.
The gospel text says there was a surprise during this meal because a woman, a town sinner, showed up. Which town is it? Probably Nain because the episode is situated after the passage we commented on last Sunday of the reanimation of the widow's son. So, it would be in this town where this woman—of whom we do not know the name, only her profession—was a sinner.
Knowing that Jesus was in this Pharisee's house, tradition tells that this woman is Mary Magdalene. Where does this identification of the sinner with the Magdalene come from... which has nothing to do with her? It is born from the fact that immediately afterward (Lk 8:1-3), a group of women accompanying Jesus is mentioned... together with the disciples, and among this group, Mary of Magdala is mentioned from whom Jesus had expelled seven demons; it is the last part of today's Gospel. But to cast out seven demons means that she was healed of a severe disease. It is in no way about Mary Magdalene's sins.
This is a misidentification, but poor Magdalene will have to carry on until who knows when the wrong name with which she is identified. The Magdalene has nothing to do with the sinner; Magdalene was an excellent person (not that the sinner was not a perfect person, as we will see shortly).
This woman arrives there knowing that Jesus is in the Pharisee's house. What does she come to do? Traditionally, she went to ask the Lord for forgiveness, like when one goes to confession and then receives absolution. This interpretation does not make any sense because this woman has no idea that Jesus can forgive sins and that he is the Son of God.
This is out of all logic. We will see what this woman went to do and what messages Jesus drew from this woman's gesture with him. We will see it, but I anticipate it immediately: She came to show her love because she had been forgiven. After all, she has felt forgiven.
What does it mean to be forgiven? We must clarify the concept of forgiveness in the Bible, in the New Testament. The idea of forgiveness is the following: when we sin, we transgress the orders God has given, and we deserve the punishment because we were disobedient. But this image of forgiveness is of the one who, knowing that he has deserved punishment, asks God for forgiveness in such a way that God is no longer angry and will not punish us and forgive us.
This conception of forgiveness presupposes a God who becomes angry against those who do not obey his authority. From this conception of forgiveness, God comes out very badly. The person who does something wrong does nothing to God; the one who does evil, who does not listen to the indications of life that God gives him, does not do evil to God; he does evil to himself; he thinks he is doing something good, but he destroys his life.
It is precisely what the book of Genesis narrates when it presents sin, the origin of all sin, that is, the distrust in God and deciding for oneself what is right and wrong. It always ends in death, not in biological death, but in dying as a person, in destroying human life itself. If a person does evil by not following the indications of love that God gives him, it is not that afterward God will add another evil to the one that one has done. God cannot punish man's sin.
The sinful woman who enters that house cannot be punished because evil has been done through her fault or the fault of others. Much wrong has been done. If she wants to be forgiven, it is not that she goes to Jesus and says, 'Do not punish me because I transgressed God's orders,' NO. This is not God's forgiveness. God's forgiveness is to do everything possible to bring the man or woman who has gone wrong back to the righteous path. He must find a way for these people to change their orientation and rebuke the path that leads them to the right path to joy, happiness, and a whole life. This is God's forgiveness. Not a punishment that adds to the evil we have done.
Let's cancel this image of forgiveness. God emerges badly from this image of a God who gets angry because someone has transgressed his commands. It is not like that. When a person sins and does not follow God's indications, which are indications of life, he does evil to himself. God's forgiveness means that he tries to bring him back to the right path in every possible way.
Then, we also understand that God's forgiveness comes before repentance. Repentance comes when the person has realized that God has made him know that he was walking out of the way, and then he confesses his mistake; that is, he acknowledges being on the wrong path and thanks God for having made him understand that he must change his orientation. Then, God's forgiveness comes first; all his effort is to bring back the man or woman who made a mistake to the proper path.
Repentance comes afterward, the realization of having been helped by God to retake the righteous path. No one does evil to harm himself; he does it out of ignorance. He seeks happiness and joy and, out of his or someone else's guilt, finds himself on the wrong path, which may lead to pleasure but not the fulfillment of one's life.
And what does God desire most of all? That the person returns to the path of joy. Now we ask ourselves: How is one forgiven? How does one enter the righteous path? First, with the light of his Word. That word that we read in the Gospel is the one that is communicated to us through the believers or when we meet his angels. Angels are not those with wings... angels are all mediators of God's forgiveness.
On Easter day, in the Gospel of John, it is said that the Risen One communicating his Spirit gives authority to all the disciples to forgive sins. In this sense, every disciple who has received the Spirit of Christ is mandated to forgive, that is, to guide the brothers and sisters to the right path for those who are erring.
The sacrament of penance is the celebration of this forgiveness; therefore, it is the sacrament of joy in that we are going to celebrate because we have been forgiven, we have been brought back to the right path, we have understood, we recognize the mistake we have made, and we celebrate because now we start again with a new way of life.
I think I have sufficiently explained the meaning of forgiveness. Let us not be mistaken in thinking that it is a request to reduce the punishments because God comes out badly. We must erase this image that we have. Let's go back now to the woman. She has not come to ask for forgiveness and absolution as when one goes to the confessional. She has already felt forgiven; she has understood and went to Jesus. We don't know how but can imagine what could have happened.
This woman is now happy because she has understood that the way she was following did not bring her joy, and it was Jesus who made her understand this, so she has been forgiven by Jesus, and now she will celebrate it. So, let us observe the context, which is that of the banquet. Only pure and righteous men are present at the Pharisees' banquet, leading a life according to the Torah and the law.
We know that among us, those who come to a banquet are people who share the same values and convictions, and to a banquet, we do not invite people who can create conflicts because the worst discussions arise in a banquet that gathers precisely for joy. The atmosphere at a banquet should, therefore, be a relaxed, festive atmosphere, and an atmosphere of friendship so the guests are always selected; above all, in the house of a Pharisee, the guests were very well selected; only the pure and the righteous enter.
And an intruder arrives. Indeed, she should not enter that banquet. We know that the banquets in those days were always held with the door open or at least ajar so that those who passed by could always take a look and maybe exchange a few words, wish someone, admire the food that had been prepared, make a few comments, but an intruder was not to enter.
We wonder now what this woman has come to do. She doesn't say a word; her gestures speak, and we must contemplate them because Jesus invites us precisely to contemplate them. It is the parts of her body that speak: Her eyes that shed tears speak; her hands that anoint many times over the feet of Jesus; and on those feet, he will insist so much; seven times he refers to those feet, and thus we shall have to contemplate the hands of that woman that stop to anoint those feet. The woman's lips kiss those feet... she kept kissing those feet; her loose hair dries those feet; it is the body of that woman that speaks; four actions involve physical contact with Jesus, and Jesus accepts these gestures of the woman very naturally.
Also, on Easter day, the women will embrace the feet of Jesus. The feet symbolize the way; these feet have come from afar; the bridegroom has gone to meet the bride whom he madly loves, and when this husband's love is understood, it is precisely these feet that the wife embraces and kisses.
Let us see what happens in the house of this Pharisee. The woman enters and places herself at the feet of Jesus. The position indicates that Jesus is reclining; therefore, the woman can only be at his feet. What is her gesture? What do her gestures speak of? First, the gesture speaks of an embrace, of kisses to those feet, and her position is that of one who kneels before Jesus; it is the disposition of one willing to serve. Let us remember that Jesus will also assume this position of washing the feet, of caressing the feet; this is the position of service.
Then she begins to weep and bathes those feet with her tears. What do those tears mean? They have been interpreted as repentance and to ask Jesus for forgiveness. It does not make sense. She is not asking Jesus for forgiveness; she has already been forgiven. Jesus made her understand which way to go, and now she is happy. Those tears are not tears of pain; they are tears of joy of one who has finally discovered the value of her life.
The hair: The hair is loose, and she dries those feet that she wet with tears. This is a gesture that helps us to understand the other gestures and the tears. They are gestures of love; they are gestures of the wife, the woman who lets down her hair; she does it only in front of the husband she loves, the person she loves; only then does the woman let down her hair. Hair is very important in our culture and society, and in Semitic culture, hair is also very important. As we know, today in the Muslim world, women must cover their hair because hair is very important.
At the time of Jesus, men and women cared excellently for their hair. Josephus Flavius says that certain young men of the upper classes of Jerusalem used to sprinkle their hair with gold to increase their splendor. Baldness was already, then, a disgrace. Women's hair is an important part of their courtship and seduction.
Paul says in the letter to the Corinthians that women should cover their hair when the community gathers. If a woman does not want to cover her hair, she cuts it because this aspect of seduction is present in the woman who lets her hair down. Also, in the letter to Timothy, it is said that the woman should not go with braids and ornaments, but they should be adorned with good works, for these give beauty to the woman.
What does this gesture of the sinner mean who lets down her hair? It is the unmistakable sign of love; she recognizes in Jesus, the person with whom she has felt immensely loved, who deserves all her affection.
Then the kiss: the kiss is precisely the sign of gratuitousness, of love that asks nothing in return. The kiss is the sign of the one who gives everything of herself because she trusts totally in the other. Then she comes with a perfume that she pours on the feet; a perfume to be used at feasts is a sign of joy and only of joy, not of repentance. Then the caresses on the feet, prolonged caresses, it was not just a gesture, a slight caress, because immediately after that, Jesus will allude and say, 'Since I came into your house, this woman has not stopped kissing me and caressing my feet.’
This is a beautiful scene; the perfume of spikenard is the sign of the gratuitous love that fills the whole house with perfume, and it is also beautiful that Jesus rejoices and accepts all these gestures of love that scandalize the Pharisee, who does not understand how Jesus can accept to be kissed, caressed by a woman who is known as a sinner. We can now understand why this woman entered the Pharisee's house.
By the way, she must have already known Jesus because she went to look for him in Simon's house. She must have heard him speak. In his words, she must have understood the love for all those who had made mistakes like her. She understood that Jesus had not come to condemn people but to bring them back to the right path.
Jesus was the one who loved, and that was all; he did not punish anyone; he did not threaten. He only gave joy. This must have opened her heart because she had always been considered someone to be thrown away into the garbage can; instead, from the words she had heard from Jesus, she had been made to understand that she was a woman worthy of being loved, with great values. Indeed, some aspects needed to be corrected, but she was a kind woman with great values, and when she understood this, she felt loved. Jesus had brought her joy and faith in life; she had not felt despised, condemned, or marginalized.
When other men looked at her, it was only to desire and possess her. Jesus did not. Jesus had the pure look of someone who loved and wanted the other person to be happy; this is true love. This woman's cry is a cry of joy for a recovered life, the intimate joy of someone who feels, at last, loved and understood.
Now, the Pharisee enters the scene. In this situation, he began to say to himself: if this man were a prophet, he would know with whom he is dealing; he allows himself to be kissed by a sinful woman, and he allows himself to be caressed by a sinful woman. A man should never let himself be kissed or caressed by a woman who is not his wife, and never in public. What is going on in his house?
The Pharisee is so scandalized that he has no words; he is blocked, and Jesus intuits what the Pharisee is thinking, what is going through his mind. Jesus was very strict in the control of the heart; we remember what he said: 'Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery.' So, adultery has to be blocked, not in action, because it is already late; you must stop it first in your heart. ‘If your eye scandalizes you, take it out.' Jesus is very strict; block the adultery at the beginning, right at the root, because if you let these feelings evolve, then you can't control them anymore.
This Jesus, who was so strict with the heart, is free in the external manifestations because he has a pure heart; he is happy to be embraced and kissed even by a sinner. This is beautiful in the person of Jesus. The Pharisee must have been very scandalized, and one of the things that he must have thought was what my fellow Pharisees would say when they found out what had happened here in my house, and I have permitted this to happen before my eyes. But he's paralyzed; he can't even speak.
It is amazing how God sees those who make mistakes in life compared to the righteous of this world. They are opposite conceptions. The conception, the image of God that reveals the unconditional love, that love that can change the hearts of those who have erred, this love is scandalous to the righteous, to the Pharisees.
I would say that Simon is a good person; he wants to excuse Jesus. 'I thought that Jesus was a prophet, but if Jesus behaves like that, he is not a prophet; he is just a good person because if he were a prophet, he would know who he is dealing with, and he would behave like a prophet; that is, he will drive her away.' That is why he tries to justify Jesus, and Jesus calls him by his name, 'Simon.'
When in the Gospels, a person is called by name, for example, Martha, Zacchaeus, Simon, or Judas, it is a vocation that Jesus gives to those he loves so that they may go the righteous way. "Simon, I have something to tell you." Therefore, this name is a sign of tenderness.
Jesus does not want to attack Simon; he does not want to offend him. Jesus does not wish to blame the lack of attention—no. Simon is a Pharisee; he behaved correctly, was kind, prepared a good meal, and remained observant. This will be the difference that Jesus wants to point out. If you act like a Pharisee, you reason like a Pharisee, you are incapable of loving gratuitously; you only do what is established; you follow the rules perfectly, but you are incapable of loving gratuitously.
To help him understand his position, Jesus tells a parable which is the parable of the two debtors: the one who has been forgiven the most is the one who has become aware that he is forgiven so much that he begins to love freely, and, on the other hand, the one who has been forgiven little or nothing because he has always remained inside of the norms, is incapable of loving gratuitously because he is convinced that love must be earned, but love that is paid for is prostitution, and therefore, God does not pay us if we love him; he loves us gratuitously, he gives us his love freely.
This the Pharisee does not understand; 'all must be merited'; who reasons in this way as Simon is incapable of love and Jesus, in fact, now reviews what happened. What does Jesus want to show? By presenting what the woman did, he showed what was missing in Simon's behavior. Jesus wants to emphasize the gratuitousness of the gestures of this woman who, having been led to the way of life and having felt loved, became capable of loving gratuitously. The gestures made by this woman are all signs of gratuitousness.
Now, we could examine our conscience to see if there is a Pharisee in our hearts. What are the characteristics of those who think like Simon and do not enter into the logic of God's free love? The first thing the Pharisee does is to feel within the norms and, therefore, righteous and unassailable even by God and deserving of rewards.
This is very wrong because we cannot merit anything from God; we can only receive and thank, and when we behave well, we should thank God for making us understand the right way to be happy. On the other hand, the Pharisees judge others who do evil and condemn them. Let us try to think if there is not a Pharisee also inside each of us; even if we are generous, there is always a Pharisee inside us that leads us to judge and condemn others as if they were guilty. They are not; they are acting out of ignorance because they have not understood what we have understood. After all, God has made us understand, but if we do not realize that God has made us know it, we do not feel forgiven in the sense that we do not feel freely guided in the right way.
We think it's all our own doing. This turns us into Pharisees, and when we are Pharisees, we start to judge, condemn, and marginalize, and we do not want to have anything to do with those who do evil. We also begin to demand perfection, and when we demand perfection from others, we also demand perfection from ourselves, and 'woe' happens because we cannot be perfect, and then we also get angry with ourselves; we are unhappy people, we do not accept our limitations with serenity, and we do not realize; we do not rejoice that God loves us as we are. It is not that He loves us if we are perfect; he loves us madly as we are, as he loved that woman madly, and that woman, unlike us Pharisees, so many times felt understood and loved. And that is why her life changed.
This message emerges from this episode, which only Luke tells us. God's love is unconditional and free, and if we understand this, we must communicate this unconditional love of God to all our brothers and sisters so that they can be as happy as this woman was and so our brothers, like this woman, understand gratuitous love.
I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.
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