MAGDALENE (Luke 7:36 - 50)

This woman is desperate!
Many of the poor and of the sinners are desperate people! She -a public sinner- is not even looked down upon, she is just being ignored. Like a shadow she moves into the house of the Pharisee and situates herself behind Jesus. Although she is being seen, nobody even cares to chase her away. Jesus accepts her service; to him she is a human being who wants to do him something good.

Jesus is not prejudiced
The Pharisee has already labelled this woman in his thoughts: "She is a sinner", now and forever. And he is just prepared to label Jesus, too. If he does not notice her sinfulness and acts accordingly, then he is not a prophet. Label No. 2!
People act sinfully: that does not make them sinners forever. People fail: they do not become total failures!
Is it not possible for us Christians, who preach a forgiving God, to be merciful to our fallen brothers and sisters? Do we need to "sit in judgment over them" most of the time? Jesus warns us: we will ourselves be judged likewise!

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Desperate people turn out to be creative,
because they want to get in touch with Jesus.

This woman has her way to get really close to Jesus. He is her only hope. She wants to get in touch with him by all means. May be, she had to bribe the attendants, in order to be let into the house. Even if nobody cares anymore about this woman -for the others, she is just non-existing- Jesus will care about her. He is her only hope. She must get to him. She must be forgiven and set free from her guilt by him.

When the carriers of the paralyzed man cannot get their paralyzed friend to Jesus, they become cheeky and creative: they let him through the roof, so he lands at the feet of Jesus! Wouldn't we do this for a friend?

Then, what is the Good News of today?
  • Jesus is completely free of prejudice
  • He gives anyone a second chance
  • We can all learn from him to be merciful
  • Jesus constantly challenges us in our everyday life, as he did with the Pharisee. Let us be prepared to be challenged!
Amen.