When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus 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; 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 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.”     

We don’t know much about the lady who approached Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. We know that she felt that it was necessary to show him appreciation in some way. Perhaps she had been studying her life, trying to figure out why she was leading a life of sin, and that now in this moment of time, she wanted to do something to improve her behavior. We also know that the Pharisee who invited Jesus to eat with him forgot some social rituals, probably on purpose. Jesus understood both the woman who anointed him and the man who invited him. In his action of forgiving the woman, he taught the Pharisee how to behave in life.

The story of the Gospel is a life enactment of Rob Thomas' song "Someday." Like a teacher of the virtue of maturity, the person in the song begs us to figure out what's going on in our lives, to try to determine the doubts and reasons behind our actions. Once we have done that, he tells us that we need to make things better, to change our minds. And he does not want us to wait until some future to get it done: he tells us to do it now, to see how good we really have it, and to start all over again.

Both the story of Jesus and Rob Thomas' song present us with the way to grow into spiritual maturity. We must study the past, trying to figure out what we have been doing up to this point in time, trying to understand our selfishness, our desire to only have what we want, why we are so used to taking from others. Then we are called to change, to make things better than they have been, and to change now, not tomorrow or when we become older. And finally we must do the action--start again, begin our life with the intention that we will be better than before.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ set up this possibility of maturity in the way of life that he proposed. We have come to call it Christianity. Like the woman in Luke's Gospel, we can accept the challenge, or like the Pharisee, we can reject it. The decision is ours. No one can start over for us.                  

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, you challenge us to live a life of maturity. Your son has shown us exactly how to do it. Give us the grace to determine what must be done to be better than we are right now, and the courage to carry it out. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America