Gospel Reflection for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 12th – Your faith has saved you, go in peace

Jesus loved a good meal and ate with anyone who invited and welcomed him to their table. This is the setting for this Sunday’s gospel. While eating with the Pharisees, a woman silently enters the room. She washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed his feet with oil. This took great courage. Given her past and reputation in the town, she still found the strength to reach and touch Jesus. The others not only looked on, they look down on her. We are told what one of them is thinking; he’s sees her as a sinner, not as a person. There is more than a hint of the hypocrite in this man. Although he invites Jesus to his table, he keeps Jesus at a safe distance, maintaining only a surface relationship with him. He is safe and secure with himself as he is. The woman, in contrast reaches out to Jesus with her whole person. She experiences Jesus in a very personal and intimate way.

The gospel offers us two ways of meeting Jesus; like the Pharisee who keeps Jesus at a safe distance, for fear of being changed, and the woman who is free enough to admit her own condition and still has the courage and humility to present herself to Jesus. She is not afraid of his touch and is open to being transformed and healed. She anoints him with tears and oil, Jesus in return anoints her with healing, forgiveness and peace.

Perhaps we afraid of coming to Jesus worried that our faults and failings will be held against us. In this year of mercy, all we need to do is look to this woman and follow her example. We can only come to Jesus as we are, not how we like to be. Jesus will accept us, welcome us, and heal us. Jesus will say to us what he said to her, ‘your faith has saved you, go in peace.’

This gospel asks us to reflect on these questions prayerfully; what is my relationship with Jesus? Do I keep him at safe distance like the Pharisee, or am I able to be close to him to like this humble and courageous woman?

-Michael Moore OMI