Flickr Photo by Kira Westland
Pass the Tissues
By Tim Margiotta, Fiat Ventures
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Regularly on a Saturday night with my wife and kids, I head over to a friend’s house and have dinner with them. Sometimes we will be the hosting family as well and have people over our house. It’s a really fun time for all and while sometimes we may prefer just to stay home and watch TV or do nothing, spending time with friends is always the better deal. But in all my years of dinners with friends, I’ve never quite witnessed a scene like the one in this week’s Gospel reading.
Jesus was invited over a Pharisee’s house for dinner (normal so far), but while they were eating, a woman with a not-so-holy reputation came in, made her way to Jesus and began to wash his feet with her tears and precious ointment. The Pharisee was horrified that Jesus would let such a sinful woman touch him.
First of all, I have never seen anyone wash the feet of someone else with their tears. I mean, pause for a second to think about that! You have to be sobbing your eyes out just to get enough water. Just the idea of using these tiny drops of remorse and sorrow to express one’s guilt and shame – what a humble act of hope! And combining that with the anointing of Jesus’ feet with expensive oil showed true belief and faith in who Jesus was and what He could do for her.
I may not have ever sobbed on the feet of Jesus but I sure have left some tearstains on a Church pew or two…heck, I have tear-baptized floors, carpets, pews, and books. Some of them have been shed out of sorrow for my sin – tears asking for forgiveness and love. Others have been shed in great gratitude for what the Lord has done and continues to do in my life! Regardless of what the situation is, at this point in my life I recognize beyond a doubt who Jesus is and the place he has in my life. And in the good times and the bad, he remains constant.
The invitation to us from Jesus in this Gospel is clear: “her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” We are being invited to recognize Christ in our lives and to respond with radical love – not comfortable love but radical love. Pope Benedict XVI once said, “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness”. Our “world” has given us no other option than to be bold and vocal in our beliefs. If we choose to be mild, accommodating and shallow in our beliefs – to “love little”, forgiveness and grace will then come to us in little portions. But when we really go for it and act in great love as the woman in the Gospel did, even when it’s uncomfortable, God’s grace will come to us, and will be overflowing. I’m talking about busted fire hydrant gushing water out into the street kind of overflowing. So do you want to settle for comfort, or do you want greatness? If you choose the latter, maybe Christians will be telling stories about YOU in 2,000 years!
