Incredible readings in Church today, and relevant to the moment. The sin of David with Uriah (I must confess I think about this story all the time, since Jung pointed out to me that Uriah is a figure of Christ), Paul’s letter to the Galatians (always amazing), and the following from the Gospel, on the necessity of deeply realized and openly acknowledged sin to truly arrive at the experience of God:
36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.41“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[d] and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
The preacher at St. Ignatius in Manhattan gave a fine (but overly long, of course) sermon on the dangers of Phariseeism in the Church – deeply felt and ever-timely. This theme recurs so much in the Gospels it must be the main point: the prodigal son, because he has experienced sin and misery, knows God; the eldest son, the perfect one, the lawkeeper, knows only resentment. A woman guilty of “mortal sin” as a direct result of her sin has the love that others do not have. “Oh happy fault! O necessary sin, that merited so great a redeemer!”
So amazing. All we have to do as a Church is practice what we preach, and attempt to put into practice what is already in the lectionaries.
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