June
12, 2016
11th
Sunday in OT
2
Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3
Whenever you
hear the word “sinner” who do you remember? Perhaps some will remember a
husband or a wife guilty of adultery. Some will remember criminals detained in
prison. Some will remember corrupt and greedy politicians. Yes, they are all
sinners. But let us not be quick to exclude ourselves from the list. When you
hear the word sinner, and the first person that comes to your mind are other
people, be very careful not to fall into self-righteousness. Remember first yourself. Because before God, we are all sinners. But how does God deal with us sinners? Can
God easily forgive the sins we commit again and again? Or is He like Simon the
Pharisee in the gospel who drives away sinners?
Let
us reflect on the message of today’s readings in three points:
ALL
SINNERS ARE WELCOME IN THE HEART OF JESUS. In today’s gospel
Jesus is invited by the Pharisee to dine with him. Then suddenly a sinful woman,
who was never invited to the house, came and fell at the feet of Jesus. The righteous Pharisee was scandalized. He wanted
to drive away the sinful woman because according to the law, this sinful woman
is ritually impure. But instead of driving her out of the house, Jesus welcomed
her into his heart. Through this action,
Jesus showed how God would deal with sinners. God is not a Pharisee who
will drive sinners away. All sinners, especially those seeking forgiveness will
always have a special place in the heart of Jesus. This tells us that we should
never be afraid to come to Jesus. Some are afraid to go to Jesus because of
their many grave sins. But on the contrary, we should all the more go to God
because of our many sins. Why should we not be afraid to go to Him?
GOD
WILL REMIND US OF HIS FAITHFUL LOVE. When we approach God, bringing with
us our sins, He will not reprimand us, He will remind us how much He loves us.
In the first reading, God speaking through the prophet Nathan confronted David
of his sinfulness. But notice how God spoke to David. God first reminded David how much He loved
him – that God protected David from all dangers, God gave David everything he
needed, God chose David to reign as king. It was as if God was telling David:
“I loved you David. I did not do anything to hurt
you. I gave you the love you did not deserve. But why did you offend me by
committing this sin? Why did you take someone else’s wife and had her husband
killed? Is this how you show your love for me?”
We see here how
God is touching heart of David by awakening in his heart the memories of God loving him.
This conversation touched the heart of David. He realized that what he did was
incompatible with the God’s love for him. This led him to humbly admit to the
Lord, “I am a sinner.” He said this without any justification and
rationalization. What was God’s response to David? The first reading says: “The
Lord has forgiven your sins.” Why does it seem to be easy for the Lord to forgive?
GOD
NEVER GIVES UP ON SINNERS. God is not blind to our sins. He sees them but he
chooses not to focus on them. God rather chooses to focus on the goodness
hidden behind every sinner. Remember that in the book of Genesis, “everything
that God created was very good.” (Gen 1:31) This is why God never loses hope on
us sinners. Because there is goodness in us. This was the experience of Paul in
the second reading. In his former life as a Pharisee, he strictly followed the
law to the point that he persecuted Christians. But the Lord never gave up on
him. True enough the time came when Paul converted from being a persecutor to a
zealous follower of Jesus. I remember the saying, “All saints have a sinful
past. All sinners have a saintly future.”
