Bible
Study: 2nd Samuel 12, 7 to 10 and verse
13. Galatians 2, 16 to 21
and Luke 7,
36 to 8 verse 3.
If you recall, our readings
last Sunday brought out an aspect of God as a compassionate saviour who is able
to feel our pain and come to our aid in moments of grief sometimes even without
us saying a word. In the raising their only sons back to life, both the woman
of Zeraphath and the widow of Nain came to the realization that that God has a heart
capable of feeling our human emotions. Today’s readings are in the same
direction but they go further to show us that not only is God compassionate
towards us, he is a merciful God who forgives our sins and continues to love us
despite our sinfulness.
In our opening prayer today,
we prayed: “O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our
pleas, and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always
the help of your grace that in following your commands, we may please you by
our resolve and by our deeds.”
At the heart of this prayer
is an acknowledgment of our mortal frailty, a characteristic of every human
being that makes it difficult for us to rely on our own strength and power when
it comes to keeping the commandments of God. It is something that distinguishes
us clearly from God. St. Paul would say: “I
know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what
is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I
do not want is what I do.” Romans 7, 18 to 19.
It was
out of his mortal frailty that David got up one evening to take a walk across
the roof of his palace and sighted a beautiful lady taking a shower and desired
her flesh even though he knew she was the wife of one of his best and trusted
soldier, Uriah. It was out of her mortal frailty that the lady in the Gospel
passage got herself a reputation in the city as a sinner.
Once
we come to terms with our mortal frailty, we are able to understand why people
act the way they do even when they know what is right and wrong. And
furthermore, we are able to see how much we depend on God for whatever good
deeds that are able to achieve. Hence, we prayed, “grant us the help of your
grace that in following your commands, we may please you…”
It
takes the grace of God even to keep a single commandment of God. As St. Paul
goes further to explain in our second reading, it is not by our power or by the
law that we are justified before God but by Grace. He says: “it is no longer I who
live but Christ who lives in me… (therefore,) I do not nullify the grace of God;
of if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose.” This
should make us very humble and never boast about our goodness as the book of
Proverbs 16 verse 18 would say: “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty
spirit before a fall.”
Apart
from becoming humble, an acknowledgement of our dependency on God should make
us very sympathetic towards others especially those we consider to be sinners. Sympathizing
with sinners is not the same thing as falling in love with the sin, it is
respecting their dignity as fellow human beings. Before ever condemning a
person, ask yourself whether or not you would do better if given the same
circumstances. Being sympathetic is relating with the sinner from the angle of
his or potentials rather than his or her former life; it is bearing in mind
that despite their past, God can use anybody as he used St. Paul or St.
Augustine.
Come
to think of it, our Gospel passage acknowledges that some of the women who ministered
to Jesus’ personal needs were formerly demon-possessed. It even specifically mentions
Mary Magdalene saying she was delivered of seven demons. Sympathy towards
sinners is knowing that a person’s actions does not define him or her and no
matter how grievous the sin may be, it does not remove the image of God in that
person.
This
sympathy was completely lacking amongst the Pharisees who felt scandalized at
Jesus for allowing the woman with a bad reputation to touch him. This woman wasn’t
just touching Jesus, she was publicly caressing his feet, wetting them with her
tears, wiping them with her long hair, kissing them with her lips anointing
them with her ointment.
It was
just too much a sight for the Pharisees at table with Jesus. And they began to
even doubt whether Jesus was really a man of God saying to themselves: “If this
man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who
is touching him for she is a sinner.” Just as most of us would think even this
very day, the woman was too bad for Jesus, she wasn’t qualified to come near a
holy man like Jesus.
They
were expecting that to prove his holiness to them as a man of God, Jesus would
just kick her away and send her flying like a football or that Jesus would speak
harshly to her and lambast her for her sinful reputation. To their greatest
surprise, Jesus seemed to be enjoying the show.
By
his action, Jesus shows us how God is so different from us. While God crucifies
the sin and loves the sinner, we human beings tend to crucify the sinner and
love the sin. We are so quick to condemn people and write them off but secretly
we indulge in the same sins we publicly condemn. We value our reputation before
others more than our reputation before God. We want others to see us as saints,
to believe that we are sinless and spotless, that we do not associate with
dirty people but when the lights are turned down, our true nature emerges.
No
wonder Jesus would later on say: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look
beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds
of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you
are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23, 27 to 28. Dear friends, it
is not about what people think but what is right before God. Do not try to earn
a reputation from people, aim at a clean conscience instead.
Again
from Jesus’ attitude to his woman, we see the greatness of God’s mercy and how
we become qualified to receive his mercy. Jesus said to Pharisee who had
invited him: “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water
for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her
hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped
kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my
feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been
forgiven; hence she has shown great love.” Luke 7, 44 to 47. The key to
receiving God’s forgiveness and pardon is CONTRITION. That is, our
acknowledgement that we are sinners, our ability to bring ourselves down, express
our sorrow and admit our fault.
By
shedding tears and wiping them with her hair, the woman expressed her
contrition over her past sins and for this, she received forgiveness of all her
many sins. In the same way, in our first reading, David expressed his contrition
before the prophet Nathan, when he said; “I have sinned against the Lord.” By this
very act of contrition, by being able to admit he was at fault, David received
forgiveness. Nathan said to David, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall
not die.”
Whenever
we go for confession, we are doing the same thing that the woman in the today’s
Gospel did. This is the reason why going for confession is not easy. Just as
this woman received forgiveness for her act of publicly humiliating herself
before Jesus, the sacrament of confession ensures our forgiveness from God because
it brings us down to our feet, makes us shed tears for our past sins, humiliates
us before the priest and from the words of absolution, we are again reminded of
our true identity as God’s children made in his image and likeness, freed from sin
by Christ’s death and resurrection and capable of being used by God mightily.
Some
people wonder why they have to go to confession when they can pray to God for
forgiveness in the comfort of their rooms. Have you also wondered why this
woman had to leave the comfort of her room to come to Jesus in a public place? Do
you think Jesus would have absolved her from her room? Never despise the
sacrament of confession, it is God’s gift to us and a key to access his mercy.
To sum
up, here are few points to remember:
- Left to our mortal frailty as
humans, we can do nothing.
- We are entirely dependent on the
Grace of God for goodness.
- Our dependency on God’s grace should
keep us humble always and make us sympathetic towards others especially
those we consider to be sinners.
- In relating with sinners, we should
be like Jesus (love the sinner and crucify the sin), and not like the
Pharisees (crucify the sinner and love the sin), whom Jesus referred to as
hypocrites.
- The key receiving God’s mercy is contrition.
Sorrow for our sins means that we are willing to confess them before the
priest just as the woman was willing to go before Jesus.
Let us Pray:
O God, strength of those who
hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, since without you mortal frailty can do
nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your
commands, we may please you by our resolve and by our deeds. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.
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