False and true humility (Luke 7: 36-50)
Today's Gospel is a continuation of the story of the prodigal sons and the merciful father (see Luke 15: 11-32). Let's see some parallels: the father is Jesus; the younger son is the woman who led a sinful life in the city. And the older son is the Pharisee Simon. The woman has a reputation as a sinner, probably was a prostitute. She invites Jesus to her heart. She is well prepared for this meeting, she makes gestures of love: “Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment". In this way, she expresses her love, although she knows that she can be received unfavorably. And it really does.
The Pharisee also invites Jesus to visit him, but he does it in a completely different way: he disregards Jesus from the very beginning. There is no concern in his attitude, no gestures of love, which Jesus points out to him: “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love."
A woman feels the need of her heart - Jesus is most important to her. In the case of Simon, he is at best curious about Jesus. There is no attachment, no respect. Jesus has no value for him. He probably despises Jesus in his heart. He also despises the woman! For Simon the most important thing is ... Simon. You can be very close to Jesus and despise Him at the same time. You can be so close that others who see us close to Jesus will say: "Yes, he is just praying, he is converting, he is looking for God!" But we know very well that our closeness to Jesus can only bear the signs of closeness at times. It is a great temptation to pretend, to note when Jesus is visiting us, but in fact nothing but knowledge is born between us. All that remains is dryness and distance. What remains is, at best, an intellectual curiosity.
We can call Simon's sin false humility - it is a substitute for love. Its main feature is that it pretends to be a relationship, but it is not and does not lead to it. It focuses man on himself. The same threatens us in our life. We are in danger of growing a little Pharisee within ourselves. What is false humility? It is discouragement with oneself, with other, with life circumstances. It is a resignation from practicing the virtues - as in Simon's life - finally ceasing to make gestures of love. It is a restlessness of the heart, a lack of forgiveness for mistakes made. It is the temptation of spiritual perfectionism that does not allow weakness and failure. And sometimes it is not even the lack of forgiveness, but simply the inability to perceive the evil that is committed by oneself - as in the case of Simon, who, being a Pharisee, knew how to receive a guest at home, but did not do it! And he did not notice that he was doing wrong!
What is true humility? Humility is the truth about us and God. We have nothing of ourselves - what we have comes from God. The source of all good is God - the Creator of the world, earth and man. Man is the one who can open up to this goodness and multiply it, but never alone. He will always need God for that. Humility is the pursuit of holiness - recognizing that God is everything, that we have all good from Him. What is ours is infirmity, poverty. The ability to attribute all that is good to God. Humility is the foundation of the spiritual life. The higher the house we build, the deeper the foundation needs to be laid. A sign of true humility is inner joy, peace (even in the face of sin recognition), meekness and strength, that is, persistence and firmness in the good undertaken - which we see in a sinful woman.
We know well how this Gospel passage ends. The hospitable Pharisee had to listen to Jesus' long sermon on love. I feel pity about this Simon. He invited Jesus to his place, he even prepared a meal, so that Jesus would feel at home with him. Probably only because of Jesus he did not even react when the prostitute entered his house, he did not slam the door in front of her, although he could. And only in one moment, just when this woman came up to Jesus and began to pour some perfume on his feet, Simon can't stand it. Something snapped out on him. He couldn't look at it anymore and show a good face to a bad situation. He said to himself, he said what he thought. He judged. Yet he was the same or even a greater sinner. It happened to Simon ... It also happens to us ... we - like Simon - invite Jesus to come to us, into our life. We also want Jesus to feel good there, we strive for it.
And, like Simon, we sometimes say only few words or other times we say too much. Sometimes no one even hears it, like Simon "we talk to ourselves", but we do. In the context of today's Gospel, it is worth realizing that none of us knows the whole truth about another person. Nobody knows what is in his/her heart; what drives him/her; which makes them make these and or other choices. Therefore, we must not judge, because our human judgments will always be wrong. Just as the priest in the confessional should be not a judge but a father, each of us should be not an executioner for another person, but a sister and brother.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george