11th Sunday of the Year, Cycle C–2016
FIRST READING 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13
Nathan said to David: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your lord’s house and your lord’s wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more. Why have you spurned the Lord and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.’ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan answered David: “The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die.”
SECOND READING Galatians 2:16, 19-21
Brothers and sisters: We who know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
GOSPEL Luke 7:36—8:3
A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, 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 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 because 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.” Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
My sisters and brothers in the Lord,
It is clear that Jesus loves us and forgives our sins and invites us to walk with him. What happens if we sin again? If we repent, we are always forgiven. So the real challenge is not to win God’s forgiveness, but to love God with all our being so that we honestly want to repent when we do fail and fall into sin.
The first reading today, from the Second Book of Samuel, tells us God’s response when David, who was deeply love by God, gets caught up in his own desires and ignores God and has Uriah killed so that he can have the wife of Uriah for his own. David has already had a relationship with the wife of Uriah and she is pregnant with his child. David is hardly the first human being to have killed someone because he wanted something! It is pretty brutal, for sure, but there are other ways of killing the people we want out of the way.
The most important point of the first reading, however, is that David does repent and God forgives him.
The second reading, from the Letter to the Galatians, tells us that we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet often we act towards others as if only their actions count. We so often judge others by their actions instead of seeking to touch the faith within them. Actions are important and Saint James reminds us that faith without actions is not true faith. But so often our actions are only a very weak reflection of our faith—and that is also true in others.
The Gospel today, from Saint Luke, is also clear about actions when the sinful woman begins to weep and to wash the feet of Jesus with her tears. In this woman, her heart is reflected in her actions and Jesus sees her heart and understands her love accepts her. The one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.
So we come with this question today, directed to our hearts: How much has been forgiven me? It is a wonderful question for us to ponder this week.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip