Today’s Gospel tells us of an encounter that Jesus had with two people at a dinner invitation. First was the uninvited woman who manages somehow to get into the house and secondly the host. The woman is identified as a sinful woman. So, her sins must have been of a public nature in the neighborhood. Simon, the host, is identified by name and as a Pharisee. So, he must have been seen as a very saintly and holy man in the local community.
The uninvited woman is an icon of the conversion process in all of us. She had reached a point in the life where she became aware of her sins, and she was truly repentant. Her repentance moved her to action. And what action it was! This is not merely an internal, private, spiritual repentance but rather a public action that involved somehow getting into the pharisee’s home and the expense of purchasing the perfume oil. She reorders her life and invests her time, energy, ingenuity, and fortune to publicly show her repentance and new life.
On the other hand, we have Simon, the Pharisee, who can only see a sinner, an uninvited woman and a public sinner who has forced her way into his house and dinner with Jesus. He sees this as an embarrassment and an interruption of his dinner with Jesus.
The woman’s actions are based on her experience of love and forgiveness. The Pharisee’s actions are based on laws, rules, and judgements. The pharisee is so caught up in minimalistic legal requirements that he did not even extend common courtesies and greetings to Jesus when he arrived at the door. For Simon it was probably more important for him to be able to brag afterwards in town that he had the “new prophet and healer” in his house than really encounter a new life with Jesus.
Jesus judged based on love and mercy whereas the Pharisee judged based on cold, harsh laws. It is important for us as Christians to be open to God’s love and mercy in our own lives and to share that mercy with other. It is also important of us as Christians to make bold, public changes in our lives that show our repentance and our openness to share God’s love with others.
Her many sins have been forgiven;
hence, she has shown great love
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