ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C
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DEFENSELESS BEFORE
LOVE
The woman in the gospel did not
have to gate crash the party which Jesus was attending. But she did. And without words, she
expressed all her feelings to the Lord: crying before him, wiping his feet with
her hair, anointing with choice oil the feet of the Lord.
Only Jesus knew what the woman
was doing. She was surrendering her sins to the one who loves most. She was
breaking her defenses before the tender power of God’s mercy. She was returning
to the source of love she once betrayed. Jesus said: your sins are forgiven.
In the first reading, king David
was listening to the narration of his own sins by the prophet Nathan. He could have avoided this audience
with the holy man. He could have stopped his ears and not be reminded he was a
failure. But no, the king listened, and his heart was moved to ask for
forgiveness. And this gift was immediately bestowed on him by God. His sin
dissolved in the pool of God’s mercy and love.
Many times, we are tempted to
build defenses around our sins and faults. We deny. We rationalize. We argue.
We hide. We pretend to not know. But building defenses attracts more
attacks. And more attacks push us
to be more defensive.
If we take the way of love, there
is no need for defense. Love accepts. Love forgives. Love renews. Love sets us
free. The love of God gently breaks down the hardness of heart and mind,
stripping us of pride and clothing us with new dignity as God’s sons and
daughters.
We are sinners and yet we have
God before us. Let us not defend ourselves before the Lord, but let us be
humble, trusting and open. His love will free us as it did to David. His mercy
will renew us as it did the sinful woman who served Jesus the Lord.
