Scripture Reflection, June 17: Courageous Reconciliation

Scripture Readings:

2 Samuel 12: 7-10, 13
Psalm 32
Galatians 2: 16, 19-21
Luke 7: 36-50

A wonderful group of young adults spent last week here at CTU for the June Catholics on Call Young Adult Conference. They came from all over the country and really entered into the experience of exploring vocational discernment. As part of this experience, we visited some vibrant ministry sites in the Chicago area in order to become more familiar with various forms of ministry and to listen to the vocation stories of priests, religious and lay ministers. As we have done in the past, we included a visit to the reconciliation ministry of the Precious Blood community in the “Back of the Yards” section of Chicago. This historic area of the city, once famous for its proximity to the Chicago stockyards, is now a place characterized by a lot of poverty and gang violence.

We listened as Fr. Dave Kelly and two of his lay coworkers shared the story of their call to reach out to juvenile offenders and their families, as well as to the families of victims of violence. They invite young people from the area, most of whom are gang members and have done some jail time, to come together at their center to reflect on their lives, get to know one another better, and think about how to move into the future in a more positive way. Dave and his coworkers emphasized the spirit of hospitality that they try to convey to these young people. They work hard to provide a place of welcome and acceptance, a place where those who take the risk of coming to the center will not feel judged and looked down upon. Many of these gang members are teenagers that people simply want to avoid. But the ministers at the Precious Blood Center attempt to take these young people where they are and walk with them into the future.

The Gospel story for this Sunday is a stunningly beautiful account of Jesus’ welcome of a person who was considered completely undesirable by the “respectable” people of his day. Reclining at table in the way that was customary in his culture, Jesus encounters a woman who has slipped into the dinner, probably unnoticed at first by Simon the Pharisee and the other guests. Her actions on his behalf are heartfelt; in fact, they are extravagant expressions of her affection and desire. She bathes his feet with her tears, kisses them, and anoints them with perfumed oil. She knows how much she needs Jesus and she is courageous in displaying her desire for reconciliation and new life. What will be the reaction to this unexpected “interruption” at this dinner?

The response of Simon, Jesus’ host, was probably similar to that of many of the guests at the dinner. “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” In Simon’s view, Jesus should have nothing to do with this person who is considered unclean, who stands outside of the circle of those who revere the Law of God. Jesus’ response, on the other hand, is to tell a story about forgiveness. Through his very simple parable, he makes it clear that the experience of forgiveness is transformative – it leads to love. This woman, labeled a “sinner,” has in fact displayed hospitality to Jesus with a generosity that far exceeds that of Jesus’ “upstanding” host. Her demonstrative love for Jesus is a sign that forgiveness is becoming a reality in her life. Love of God and the experience of reconciliation always go together.

Jesus accepts this woman’s sincere expression of desire and love. He responds to her in the same way he did to anyone who came to him with honesty and openness. Over and over again in the Gospels we see that when people came to Jesus sincerely seeking his mercy and help, he took them where they were and helped them to move into the future as transformed people. He did not say to them, “Go away and come back to me when you get your life together.” Rather, he welcomed them and extended to them the life-giving mercy and compassion of God. Jesus’ gracious welcome changed people. His final words to this sinful woman are emblematic: “Your sins are forgiven. … Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

As is often the case, Jesus’ actions in this encounter are both inviting and challenging for us. They challenge us to a stance of hospitality and compassion that is radical. As I listened to Father Dave Kelly and his coworkers last week, I wondered if I would be capable of extending the kind of welcome and support to gang members that they display. As much as we may dislike the response of Simon the Pharisee to the sinful woman, I suspect that most of us find ourselves expressing similar sentiments at times. “I just don’t want to have anything to do with that person.” “Those people are impossible to deal with.” “He (or she) is beyond redemption.” This Gospel challenges us not to give up on others, and it summons us to welcome those who may be on the margins of society or of our own particular worlds.

Jesus’ response to this woman is also an invitation to each one of us to trust in the welcome and compassion he extends to us. Bishop Robert Morneau, in a wonderful article on prayer he wrote some years ago, described a cardinal principle of prayer in these words: “In prayer I must bring this me to the living and true God” (see his book entitled Spiritual Direction, Crossroad, p. 16). When we come to God we must bring this me – not the “me” I wish I were or the “me” I hope to be when I get my life together. I must come before the Lord as I am, with my gifts and accomplishments as well as my sins and failures. We can bring “this me” in a spirit of confidence and hope because Jesus has shown us the hospitality of God in the welcome he extended to the sinful woman and to so many others who were in various states of need.

It is in and through our coming to Christ regularly and discovering his boundless compassion that we grow in our ability to love ourselves, others and him. The mercy of the One who knows us better than we know ourselves enables us to “show great love,” as did the woman in the Gospel. As we approach the table of the Lord at Eucharist this Sunday may we do so with confidence and gratitude to the Lord who welcomes us and empowers us to show great love to others.

Robin Ryan, CP