24th Week in Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 7:36-50

A. Text/Context

• Just for clarification, the name Simon in this gospel is the name of the Pharisee. This is not the Simon Peter, the disciple of our Lord
• The gospel also shows us many norms and standards in culture that are broken
• For example invitations can only happen if they are of equal status in society
• So the invitation of the Pharisee to Jesus has violated cultural boundaries
• Then comes the woman. She bathed the feet of Jesus with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with a perfume
• The actions of touching are so physically intimate when the culture of the Jews would not even allow a man or a woman to look directly eye to eye with each other
• So Jesus continued with a parable of the debtor and the 2 creditors. One debtor owed 500 days of wages and the other 50 days of wages they did not pay and the debt was forgiven
• Of course the one who owes bigger compared to the one who owed a smaller amount is more grateful to the creditor
• The debtor who owed a bigger debt will love the creditor even more because he is a recipient of the charity and the generosity of the creditor
• The sinful woman who poured an expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus would not even think that she is wasting money because she is motivated with love
• Out of a greater love, no amount of money can pay for it and the woman poured all that expensive perfume as a sign that forgiveness is better than any other else. And because of that the woman is forgiven

B. Human Situation

• So how do we apply the message of the gospel in our own human situation?
• The person who makes a genuine repentance for his or her sins will also feel the touching and the burning forgiveness from God
• That would mean that if we are a real penitent we would make restitutions much greater than the sin that we have committed
• If we are a real penitent, restitutions will just come out naturally and voluntarily. Restitution is a payment for the sins you commit
• You will cross even the difficult boundaries just to show you are sorry
• Even if we are managers or CEOs we will not think about shame, humiliation, or embarrassment if we are really sorry. Nothing can stop us if we are motivated with love
• The same love and devotion that the sinful and penitent woman gave to Jesus in the gospel
• She doesn’t care anymore what other people will say because the joy of forgiveness is overwhelming. With a huge sin forgiven, you will be forever grateful
• The effect of that is an expression of a greater love than ever and the one who has given forgiveness is also the happiest person in the world
• Forgiveness, reconciliation will mend shattered hearts, it will restore broken relationships
• After that, love and charity will bloom once more. Perhaps sweeter and greater than before

C. Challenge

• So this is the challenge that the gospel brings us today
• There is no moment in our life that we will not be clouded with sin because sinfulness is part of our human weakness, because we are limited
• And therefore let us also allow the grace of God to enlighten our hearts to make us realize that what we did is wrong
• If one, or two, or three, or four or even ten people have already told you that what you did is wrong and still you believe that what you did is correct then something is wrong
• You have become very stubborn so as not to recognize your mistakes. Pride has already permeated in your heart and there will be no room for asking for forgiveness
• St. Paul said in the 1st reading that so you preached and so you believed
• We allow grace to work so that we may feel the forgiveness of God and there will be more room for a greater love to flourish