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| The Magdalene who loved much because she was forgiven much |
Jesus, I trust in you!
Simon the Pharisee underestimated
Jesus for seemingly not knowing the kind of woman who was touching him: “If
this man were a prophet, he would know what sort of woman this is touching him,
that she is a sinner.” Apparently, many people today are like Simon who thinks
that God does not want to be touched by sinners. While it is true that God
finds sin repulsive, Jesus today shows us how he allows himself to be touched
by the repentance of sinners.
In the first reading, the prophet
Nathan reproved David for very grievous sins: adultery with Uriah’s wife and
then plotting the same man’s murder. “Why have you spurned the Lord and done
evil in his sight ...You have despised me!” The evil nature of David’s sins was
enough to separate him from the Lord and yet, when David realized the gravity
of his sins, he confessed: “I have sinned against the Lord.” That was all
Nathan had to hear in order to assure David of Divine absolution: “The Lord on
his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die.”
We often do not understand how
God could easily forgive David when in fact his sins were so grave. How could
the Lord Jesus allow the woman to touch him in spite of her many sins: “… her
many sins have been forgiven.” We do not realize that the mercy of the Lord is
really very scandalous. It offends our sense of justice, or rather, our desire
for retribution. Shouldn’t David be punished? Shouldn’t the sinful woman be
publicly humiliated? Shouldn’t that criminal be hanged? What about the victims?
Do we not care that they get justice? Pope John Paul cautioned us about how
justice is easily distorted by spite, hate, and cruelty. “In such cases, the
desire to annihilate the enemy, limit his freedom, or even force him into total
dependence, becomes the fundamental motive for action…It is obvious, in fact,
that in the name of (an alleged) justice, the neighbor is sometimes destroyed,
killed, deprived of liberty or stripped of fundamental human rights.” (Dives in
Misericordia, 7.) Pope John Paul concludes: “The experience of the past and of
our own time demonstrates that justice alone is not enough, that it can even
lead to the negation and destruction of itself, if that deeper power, which is
love, is not allowed to shape human life in its various dimensions.” (Ibid.)
Mercy defines the love of God.
“All the subtleties of love become manifest in the Lord’s mercy for those who
are his own.” (DM, 4.) God’s mercy is more powerful and more profound than his
justice. “Love is ‘greater’ than justice: greater in the sense that it is
primary and fundamental. Love conditions justice and justice serves love. The
primacy and superiority of love vis-a-vis justice are revealed through mercy.”
(Ibid.) Jesus himself said to St. Faustina: “Let the sinner not be afraid to
approach me. The flames of mercy are burning me – clamoring to be spent; I want
to pour them out upon souls.” (Diary, 50.) Thus, those who were at table with
Jesus rightfully asked themselves about Jesus: “Who is this who even forgives
sins?” This, indeed, is Jesus: he is the One who forgives sins. He was sent by
the Father as expiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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