“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.”
Simon the Pharisee felt that if Jesus knew that this woman was a sinner he should feel implicated in her sinfulness. Simon didn't have to be a prophet to know about her sinful past. To Simon's way of thinking Jesus himself would be at risk if a woman who had likely been a prostitute performed such intimate acts of love for Jesus as bathing his feet with tears and wiping them with her hair. The acts themselves could definitely be seen as risky. What if she really was still a sinner and these actions still stemmed from impurity? What Simon didn't realize was that the woman herself had changed, and her actions were actually evidence of this. Simon, it seemed, didn't believe one like her could change. He said "what sort of woman this is" when in fact he only saw what sort of woman she had been.
Perhaps Simon was willing to believe that the woman had changed somewhat but that such actions were too dangerous from one who had so recently made her first steps in the direction of righteousness. Simon might even have been correct if Jesus was just a normal man. In such a case, the risk of contamination may have existed to the extent that her conversion was not complete. But just as the uncleanness of lepers did not contaminate Jesus, neither did that of sinners. He was not a normal man. He would always welcome those who sincerely desired his healing and forgiveness.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (See Jeremiah 29:13).
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;
hence, she has shown great love.
Jesus knew that the motives that drew this woman to drastic demonstrations of her love were pure, that she was so overwhelmed by forgiveness that she could do no less. She was all too aware of what her life had been until meeting Jesus. There were too many others like Simon who insisted that she was and always would be 'this' sort of woman. It was a life which, until meeting Jesus, she herself had been unable to escape. It was only Jesus who was able to offer her forgiveness, to truly believe that she could change. Only he saw to the deepest core of her identity and potential. It was this being known, loved, and forgiven that couldn't help but overflow into love on her part.
Simon did not realize the extent of his own debt. He saw himself as better than or at least on par with Jesus. He was not impressed by him, much less by the people who were impressed with him, the crowd he kept. It all seemed to say that Jesus wasn't pure, surrounded as he was by tax collectors and sinners. But Simon couldn't recognize the relative advantage of tax collectors and sinners who came to Jesus over Pharisees who insisted on self-sufficiency. He did not realize his own need. Nor was he was not sufficiently thankful for the gifts he had already received. And so his own ability to love was limited and weak as a result.
you did not give me water for my feet
...
You did not give me a kiss
Do we rejoice that Jesus is a friend of sinners? Or would we prefer rather that he keeps things comfortable? Would we rather he only surround himself with people like us or do we delight to see him surrounded by the broken, the addicts, those for whom the world no longer holds out hope? We should pause here because we can't imagine that we delight in that vision and yet not welcome such people and help them find forgiveness and respond to him with love when we encounter them in our own lives. If we are the body of Christ we too must be friends of sinners. It might be awkward at times. It might put our own reputations at risk. But to welcome those who sincerely seek, to believe in those whose hearts are open to change, is now our task as well.
We can become leaders like Jesus who can interact with sinners without ourselves becoming sinful. We can demonstrate right "speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity" just as Paul commanded Timothy. Timothy himself had a congregation that had its issues, that was imperfect, and so had to model virtue for them. But for him to do so, and "by doing so" to "save both [himself] and those who listen", he needed two things in particular:
attend to the reading, exhortation, and teaching
First, he needed to be grounded in the truth of Sacred Scripture, able to apply and proclaim it for his listeners.
Do not neglect the gift you have,
which was conferred on you through the prophetic word
with the imposition of hands by the presbyterate.
Second, he needed to cultivate the gift of the Holy Spirit received in Confirmation and Holy Orders. It is a real risk that we, having received that gift once in the past, neglect it. If we do neglect it we will find ourselves less and less in touch with the power we need to be the presence of Christ in the world. We need, as Paul later recommended, to fan the gift into flames. We need to find ways to allow ourselves to be stirred with holy zeal. We can learn from the sinful woman how to deeply recognize how great a gift we have been given, and so become able to love better ourselves.
He has sent deliverance to his people;
he has ratified his covenant forever;
holy and awesome is his name.
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