By Martin Jumbam
The Universal Church celebrates June 12, 2016 as the eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year C. In the entrance antiphon we pray “Lord, hear my voice when I call to you. You are my help; do not cast me off, do not desert me, my Saviour God. Amen.”
Two powerful readings, the first reading and the Gospel, present the theme of God’s forgiveness. In the first reading, King David, who lived over a thousand years before Christ, was considered a model king and a man utterly devoted to the worship of God. We are, however, told that he greatly sinned against God by committing adultery with a foreign mercenary’s wife and then made sure that the man was killed in battle. Yet when the prophet Nathan challenges him he immediately confesses his guilt with a sincerity that wins God’s immediate forgiveness. In the Gospel, Christ continues to offer men and women of this world forgiveness and peace. He shows his host, Simon, the Pharisee, that we are all sinners in dire need of forgiveness. The woman, whom everyone condemns as a sinner, shows great love for Jesus and thus receives forgiveness for her sins; an act of generosity which the Pharisee, in his self-righteousness, fails to understand.. In his concern for us, Christ never abandons us, even though we are sinners. In the second reading, Saint Paul tells his converts of Galatia that good works alone may not necessarily lead us to salvation. They must be accompanied by faith in the crucified Christ.
In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to learn to forgive others’ their trespasses as Christ forgives us ours.
First Reading: 2 Samuel 12:7-10. 13.
Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord the God of Israel says this, “I anointed you king over Israel; I delivered you from the hands of Saul; I gave your master’s house to you, his wives into your arms; I gave you the House of Israel and of Judah; and if this were not enough, I would add as much again for you. Why have you shown contempt for the Lord, doing what displeases him? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, taken his wife for your own, and killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. So now the sword will never be far from your House, since you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Then Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die.’
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
The two books of Samuel, First and Second Samuel, appear in the Hebrew Bible immediately after Joshua and Judges, and before the two books of Kings. These six books are usually referred to as “Earlier Prophets” as distinct from the “Later Prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel), and the twelve Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi).
The books of Samuel present the hereditary monarchy from David onwards as a system of government that God desired for his people. They portray David as a model king, who, despite his personal limitations and sins, always enjoyed the Lord’s favour. The history contained in the books of Samuel covers a very important period in the life of Israel, extending from the birth of Samuel, the last of the judges, to the end of David’s life – a period in which the twelve tribes changed from a system of having sporadic leadership to an organized state with a single, hereditary monarchy, which was the standard pattern among the neighbouring peoples.1
The passage of our meditation introduces us to King David, who lived over a thousand years before Christ. He became a model king and a man utterly devoted to the worship of God. However, we are told that he seriously sinned against God by committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, a foreign mercenary in his army, and, desperate to cover his sin, David then made sure that Uriah was killed in battle.
Shortly before the passage of our meditation, the prophet Nathan confronts David with his crime of adultery and murder in what many view as one of the most beautiful parables in the Old Testament. He tells him a story of a rich man and a poor man who lived in a city. The rich man has everything one can think of (many flocks and herds of cattle); the poor man has one sheep that gives him the dairy products for his him and his family. However, the heartless rich man then seizes the poor man’s lamb, which he slaughters to feed a guest. When David hears this, he is furious and says, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die” (v.5). It is then that the prophet tells him, David, that he is the guilty man. As king, he has everything he needs and wants, including women, yet he takes the wife of a foreigner and, to cover up his crime, has the poor man killed.
David’s repentance is exemplary. He weeps for his sin and fasts, which shows that in spite of his weaknesses and sins, he still trusts in God’s mercy and forgiveness. David is a model of penance because he openly acknowledges his sin and receives God’s forgiveness. His plea for forgiveness finds expression in Psalm 51, which so beautifully records the supplication of a sinful king, which we should make ours as well. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Ps 51:1-2). Amen.
Second Reading: Galatians 2: 16. 19-21.
We acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ. We had to become believers in Christ Jesus no less than you had, and now we hold that faith in Christ rather than fidelity to the Law is what justifies us, and that no one can be justified by keeping the Law. In other words, through the Law I am dead to the Law, so that now I can live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake. I cannot bring myself to give up God’s gift: if the Law can justify us, there is no point in the death of Christ.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
Last Sunday, we said that Galatia was an inland region of Asia Minor, occupying the central part of what is today modern Turkey. It was a Roman province whose inhabitants, shepherds for the most part, were evangelized by Saint Paul mainly during his second missionary journey between 49 and 52 AD (Gal 4:13; Acts 1: 1-8). They welcomed Saint Paul with open arms, receiving him as “an angel of God”, as if he were our Lord himself (Gal 4:14). Saint Paul was, however, very concerned by the aggressive activities of his enemies, who were bent on imposing the Law of Moses, especially that on circumcision, on new converts to Christianity.
He therefore wrote this letter that is considered the first of the so-called “great” epistles of Saint Paul. It provides the best commentary to the decisions of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15: 23-29). At that gathering the Apostles, with the help of the Elders of presbyters of the local Church of Jerusalem, and, as they themselves put it, in union with the Holy Spirit, decided that Christians of Gentile origin were under no obligation to conform to Jewish traditions, particularly the practice of circumcision.
Despite the decision of the Council of Jerusalem, some staunch-hearted Jewish converts to Christianity, followers of Saint James, continued to give more importance to the ancient rites of Israel over the freedom won by Christ. They aggressively invaded territory already converted by Paul, not only in Galatia but also in Corinth, Philippi, Colosae, Ephesus and Crete.
In the passage of our meditation, Saint Paul talks about his famous clash with Saint Peter over what he sees as Peter’s double dealing. When the Jews are not around, Peter socializes with the Gentiles, but when the Jews are present Peter keeps his distance from them. Paul’s correction of Peter is in no way an indication that he questions Peter’s authority as the Supreme Pontiff of the Church. On the contrary, he shows Peter the respect due him as the head of the Apostles and of the Church, but reminds him, and us, that faith in the crucified Lord is the only way a man can be saved, whether he is Jew or Gentile.
He tells us that the Old Testament law was never able to give a man security before God. It is only belief in Jesus that can lead us to salvation. Through the sacrament of Baptism we have been united with Christ, dying with him to sin, so as to rise again to new life. That is why Saint Paul can exclaim: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (v.20).
He says that good works alone are not enough to gain us a place in heaven. We must believe in the God of Jesus Christ, who loves us and died for us on the Cross. Let us therefore, as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI recommends in his Apostolic Letter, Porta Fidei, “keep our gaze fixed upon Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith: in him, all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfillment” (No 13). Amen.
Gospel: Luke 7: 36-8:3.
One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a name in town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses 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 this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.’ Then Jesus took him up and said, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Speak Master’ was the reply. ‘There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred dinarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he pardoned them both. Which of them will love him more?’ ‘The one who was pardoned more, I suppose’ answered Simon. Jesus said, ‘You are right.’ Then he turned to the woman. ‘Simon,’ he said ‘you see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I cam in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason, I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man, that he even forgives sins?’ But he said to the woman ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’ Now after this he made his way through towns and villages, preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you Lord, Jesus Christ.
Comment
Both the first reading and the Gospel message show us the importance of forgiveness. We are all sinners, who stand in dire need of forgiveness. In the Old Testament reading, Nathan confronts David with the enormity of his sin and David runs back to God in repentance and his sins are blotted out. In the Gospel, Jesus forgives the many sins of a fallen woman, much to the dismay of a self-righteous man, Simon, the Pharisee.
Simon invites Jesus but neglects three customary marks of hospitality that Jews show invited guests: they welcome them with a kiss of peace, anoint their head with oil and have their feet washed at the door as an act of service. Thus welcomed, the guest would then take his place at table.
Simon, the host, does none of these acts of hospitality to our Lord. It is therefore certain that he has invited our Lord, not out of love for him, but because he, like his fellow Scribes and Pharisees, is keen to size him up and try to catch him doing something wrong, which he can later use against him.
The scene in Simon’s house is interrupted by an unwelcome guest: a woman of the city, by every indication, a prostitute. When she learns that Christ is a guest at Simon’s house, she rushes in, goes down on her knees and seeks forgiveness for what Christ himself calls her many sins. Unlike Simon, the host, who fails to show any sign of hospitality to our Lord, this woman of low repute lavishes on Christ the fullness of her care. Her tears wash his feet, which she dries with her hair, covers his feet with kisses and anoints them with oil.
Simon is shocked because as a Pharisee, which means, “a separated one”, he has no contact with the people he considers sinners, such as this woman. He cannot understand how Jesus can let a lady of the night touch him. That is why he believes that Jesus cannot be a prophet. Our Lord, who reads our minds, confronts Simon with a real question: “Simon, do you see this woman?” Jesus’ question is an interesting one because Simon does not see the woman. He sees a prostitute, a sinner, a fallen woman who should be banished from decent society. Many of us are like Simon. We only see people as we think they are, not as they really are. We go for externals, while Christ reads the heart and that is why he can see the sincerity of this woman’s yearning for forgiveness. When sin is recognized and repented in love, Christ always forgives the sinner. That is what happens to the sinful woman. But Simon, the self-righteous man, is hindered by pride and self-sufficiency from receiving similar graces from our Lord.
This Gospel challenges us to consider is how we see others. Do we see them as Simon does, wrapping them up in their shortcomings? Or do we see them as our Lord sees this woman, recognizing their iniquities and forgiving them as we expect them to forgive us our own limitations?
As Father Antony Kolencherry says, “Simon the Pharisee is a warning to us. We learn that it is not enough to be physically close to Jesus; it is not enough to do at times charitable work or take some time to pray. Unless we encounter Jesus in love, we may go empty-handed like Simon who inspite of his closeness to Jesus received no blessing. At the same time, the woman, the sinner, teaches us that he who is humble, who acknowledges his own frailty and insufficiency, will benefit most from God’s grace2.”
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- The Navarre Bible: Joshua-Kings, 2000, p. 209
- Antony Kolencherry:Living the Word: Commentaries and Reflections on Sunday and Feast Day Readings, Years A,B,C.,Bangalore, 2003, p. 474.
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