HOMILIES

Dear Audience,
For better understanding of the spiritual message behind this homily I kindly remind you to first read and contemplate the biblical texts before reading or listening to my preaching - a human reflection on the Word of God!

Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Jun 12, 2016

1377

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First Reading

A reading from the Second Book of Samuel (12:7-10, 13)

Nathan said to David: "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: "I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your lord's house and your lord's wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more. Why have you spurned the Lord and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife."" Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan answered David: "The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die."

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms of David (32:1-2, 5, 7, 11)

(R) Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

Blessed is the one whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile. (R)

I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, "I confess my faults to the Lord," and you took away the guilt of my sin. (R)

You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round. (R)

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you just; exult, all you upright of heart. (R)

Second Reading

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians (2:16, 19-20)

Brothers and sisters: We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. We have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God.

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. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (7:35-50)

A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at 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 who 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 were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?" Simon said in reply, "The one I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven." He said to him, "You have judged rightly."

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "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 because 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 woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

(P) The Gospel of the Lord.
(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

One day a priest met one of his church members who had not been to church for a long time and asked, "Why don't you come to church more often?" The man replied, "No Father. I do not want to come to church anymore because it is full of hypocrites." The priest chuckled to himself and said, "Well, do not let that stop you. We can always make room for one more."

This is the sort of response I get from lapsed Catholics (baptized Catholics but non-practicing), agnostics (people who neither believe nor disbelieve in God and therefore refrain from commitment to any particular religious beliefs) and atheists (people who deny the existence of God altogether) when I ask them about their belief in God or practice of their faith in Jesus Christ. There are many other reasons why people don't believe in God or don't want to go to church anymore. As for me, they are not bad people. They seem to be all good people. At least that's the way I see them, and today's gospel account can enlighten us in this regard.

The story revolves around three people - a Pharisee named Simon, an unnamed woman and Jesus. It is the story of Jesus using the transformed life of a sinful woman as a testimony to seek a lost man, who was a Pharisee.

Who were the Pharisees? In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were members of the chief Jewish sect who isolated themselves from foreign influences on their life and observed Jewish laws, rituals and customs very strictly. Hence they regarded themselves guardians of the true religion and the Law of Moses. They were confident of their own righteousness, so much so that they looked down on everyone else as sinners, and treated them as outcasts or untouchables. Particularly they considered tax collectors and prostitutes as the worst kinds of sinners. And when the Pharisees saw Jesus, not only associating with such sinners, but also eating with these people, they were outraged.

They accused Jesus of being a friend of sinners. And Jesus was, but Jesus was not just a friend of the "outcast" sinners, but also a friend of the "religious" sinners like the Pharisees. Jesus was for all people. He was committed to preach the Law of God and His gospel to all sinners, whether they were righteous or unrighteous, religious or irreligious, holy or unholy, great or small sinners. That's why when the Pharisee invited Jesus to his home for dinner, He, as always, graciously accepted it. However, Jesus had a much higher purpose than just getting a free meal. Jesus had to keep His focus and embrace that purpose with a single mind. Bringing back all repentant sinners into His fold was even more deeply satisfying than the food he consumed.

He had to seek and save that which was lost. Jesus knew the heart of this Pharisee and also He knew the evil intentions of the Pharisees who wanted to get some incriminating evidence against him in something that Jesus had said or done. But the Pharisees did not know that Jesus was going to expose the inconsistency, arrogance, hypocrisy, corruption and evil in them.

As Jesus and others were seated at table something shocking took place. It was perhaps not shocking if a neighbor of the Pharisee or a poor or a sick person or even a stranger had come in to see Jesus. It was shocking because a woman who was a sinner came in and stood at the feet of Jesus. The text mentions neither her name nor her sin. But Simon's thoughts about the woman and Jesus' response to Simon lead us to assume that possibly she was an outcast or unacceptable sinner and perhaps a prostitute.

Her work and character were such that she did not even deserve a name or an identity. It is written that she had learned about the presence of Jesus in the house of the Pharisee. In other words, having heard how compassionate and kind Jesus was to all sinners, forgiving them their sins and granting them peace and salvation, she wanted to take the opportunity of seeing Him for herself. That's why, as she stood there, overwhelmed with emotion, she began weeping and wet Jesus' feet with her tears. And so completely swept away with emotion that she wiped His feet with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with the perfume she had brought.

This might have been a very difficult situation for Jesus. First of all this was a very serious breach of propriety. Jesus had broken the Rabbinic laws of his day by talking to a woman. He had allowed a sinful woman to touch His feet, wash them with her tears, wipe them with her hair and kiss and anoint them.

The Pharisee who had invited Jesus was unhappy and embarrassed by the scene. I think he was quite justified in reacting the way he did as it went against his religious practices and principles which were very clear and straightforward. For him the people were simply divided into good and bad; people who obeyed God's law and people who disobeyed God; righteous and sinners. So he perhaps thought that God would be only pleased with people like him; and that God would love only the obedient and good people and grant them peace and salvation but not sinners. He did not think he was a sinner and in need of redemption. Being good he stayed away from sinners as well. But here was Jesus allowing a sinful woman to defile or touch Him. So he said to himself, "If this man was a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner."

Well, Jesus knew the man's thoughts, and so responded with a story about a money lender who forgave the debts of two people, one who owed five hundred days' wages and the other owed fifty, and asked him, "Which of them will love the lender more?" In other words, "Who was going to have the greater love for the money lender" or "the greater love for the forgiver"? Oh, that's simple. Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged correctly." Yes. Whoever is forgiven the most will show the most love. So Jesus reminded Simon that the woman had been forgiven much and so in return she showed Jesus much love.

What can we learn from the story?

Today's gospel story is a powerful reminder that all mankind are lost sinners, and God loves all sinners and that He sent His Son Jesus to seek and save all the lost, Luke (19:10). All persons may be saved as long as they admit that they are lost sinners. The Bible warns us that self-righteousness is the worst of all sins, and the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin of the self-righteous who think they do not need it. Let us not think that we do not need forgiveness or we have no sin to be forgiven. Instead let us humbly and sincerely confess our sin, regardless of whether the sin is big or small, and seek forgiveness from God. It's not about how many times we sin, but how many times we turn to God in repentance.
Jesus reached out to the self-righteous Pharisee by using the very person that the Pharisee despised the most, the sinful woman, whose transformation was very visible and sincere. Jesus used this as evidence of His power to forgive and transform even the Pharisee. God just wants to use each one of us, regardless of how unworthy we feel, to bring all the lost sinners to His fold.

The woman loved Jesus. She was devoted to Him. She didn't care what anyone else thought. Just like the woman, let us, even if we deem ourselves unworthy, forget about criticisms, false allegations, insults, ridicule, scorn, contempt and all kinds of humiliations and keep praying, keep believing, keep trusting and most of all, keep the faith and go to church on a regular basis so that one day others such as non-practicing Catholics and non-believers may see the glory of God, be transformed and come to believe in Him.

Finally, I would like to pose a few questions for us to ponder during this week. What "do you" think of Jesus? What you think of Jesus is very important especially from the beginning when you first decided to become a Christian or a Catholic Christian. Jesus came so that each one of us could come to know and understand God in a personal way and develop a personal relationship with Him. If you have known, understood and developed a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then how do you feel about Jesus? Do you, like the sinful woman, experience the compassion and forgiveness of Jesus Christ each time you shed tears in true repentance and receive communion as a sign of the gracious forgiveness of your sins?

(P) Amen.

God Bless You!

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