Daily Lesson for May 20, 2019

Daily Lesson for May 20, 2019

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’ 40Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ 41‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’43Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’44Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.45You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.47Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ 48Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’

So oftentimes our antipathy and resentments towards others have much more to do with us than it does them. Harsh anger and condemnation towards others are telltale signs of the presence of our own unresolved issues and hidden demons. As the old saying goes, when we point our finger at others, all the other fingers come pointing back at us. 

The Pharisee in today’s story is a moral crusader. He sees sin all around him. He sees the woman as a grave and repugnant sinner. And he saw Jesus the same. But, of course, the real problem was his own self. It was the log in his own eye that blinded him to the beauty and compassionate tenderness taking place in his own home. He called it inappropriate.  He didn’t know forgiveness when he saw it. How sad. 

“The one who is forgiven little loves little,” Jesus said. And by inference we can conclude that those who are forgiven much also love much. When we have most deeply received God’s good news about ourselves, the compassion and forgiveness of divine love, and the peace it affords then we are set free to love.  God is love. And love is a gift of God. And it comes through the alabaster jar of grace and mercy.