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One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.’ Then Jesus took him up and said, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you. There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he pardoned them both. Which of them will love him more?’ ‘The one who was pardoned more, I suppose’ answered Simon. Jesus said, ‘You are right.’

Then he turned to the woman. ‘Simon,’ he said ‘you see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love. It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’

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In the Bible the Pharisees are not portrayed as good people, and on the whole, the ones we encounter in the Bible are not. The Pharisees had the job of making sure worship to God was of a certain standard in the temple. They also had the task of maintaining the Jewish Law, the Torah, which was handed down to them by Moses. The Pharisees came about because they were needed, but many years later there was a tendency among them to be a bit haughty and proud. This resulted in them being unkind to people and to show off how virtuous they thought they were. When Jesus came along, this uneducated carpenter’s son from Nazareth, which was considered to be quite a rough town and people started believing him about God, and not listening to them, the Pharisees became annoyed.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee we hear of who went to see Jesus to find out what he was all about. However, Nicodemus went at night time because he did not want to be seen. Simon, the Pharisee in our story was rather different. He openly welcomed Jesus by inviting him to eat.

The while they are eating, in comes this woman. You can imagine how embarrassed Simon must have been. Perhaps you might even feel a bit sorry for him, I do. They just sit down to eat and in comes this woman, with a bad reputation and while you are trying to have a conversation with Jesus, she’s on the floor under the table crying over his feet!

Simon not only has to deal with the awkward situation but also the fact the woman is not someone he wants to be associated with. In the reading he says to himself “why isn’t Jesus telling her to clear off?”

Jesus sees the story in totally different eyes. On one part he has to be a suitable guest so no doubt he and Simon are trying to speak and be polite but on the other hand Jesus is thinking “this poor woman, she is obviously very remorseful for her sins and remorse such as this can only be met with complete forgiveness”.

Because she had sinned so much Jesus gives Simon the analogy of owing money and Simon understands that. As her sins had been so great, she would be so grateful of the second chance that she would not be so sinful in future. And let us remember Jesus is the son of God, he knows the woman is genuine, she’s not trying to pull the wool over Jesus’ eyes, he knows she is sorry.

When we are truly sorry we will be forgiven. But let’s remember it’s not for us to judge either, as Simon judged. If we do something wrong, there are, inevitably, consequences. Once those consequences have been completed then we grow from our mistakes and we move on. And it’s not for us to judge anyone for anything they’ve done to upset another either.

We all need forgiveness, we all need to know how to forgive, sometimes we need to know how to be forgiven, but if we can be forgiving, we will be forgiven.

 

Closing prayer

Oh Lord we seek forgiveness for the things we have done wrong

The things that separate us from you

The things that separate us from our loved ones, our friends and our families

The things that separate us from our teachers and those who care for us.

Forgive me Lord

Help me to be strong and not to find this burden too hard to bear

Lord help us to be forgiving, to share you love with those who do wrong to us

Help us to be worthy of your love, as you forgive those, who trespass against us.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord

Amen