Thursday of the
Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Timothy 4:12-16; Luke 7:36-50)
There is a story about two monks – one old and one young walking
on a road. At a riverbank a beautiful
woman comes along. She asks the monks to
carry her across the river. The old monk
takes her into his arms, wades through the water to the other side, and lets
her down. The younger monk follows
behind. When the monks are alone again,
the younger monk addresses the older unapprovingly, “How could you hold that
beautiful woman in your arms and not commit the sin of lust.” The elder monk replied, “Son, I took her in
my arms on one side of the river and let her go on the other. But you have held her in your thoughts all
this while.” One may have a similar
question of Jesus in today’s gospel.
The passage calls the woman who weeps on Jesus’ feet,
wipes them with her hair, kisses them, and anoints them with oil “sinful.” It is not said that she is a prostitute
although she is obviously a sensuous person.
Jesus, however, appears unaroused.
At least it can be said that he did not react to the woman’s caresses by
either embracing or rejecting her. Rather
he calmly makes the point to his host that she was in need of forgiveness and
found it in Jesus. Steeped in virtue,
Jesus knows that the woman’s affection was not directed at him at all but to
God.
We all need such self-control and understanding. We may think that the solicitations on Yahoo
advertisements are meant for us as individuals.
Of course, they are a ploy to get our money. Even when a person shows affection, often
enough it is misdirected. If one gets entangled
in a relationship under such a condition, he or she will regret it. We will find true peace if we can put aside
lustful thoughts to view the other as a child of God like us standing in the
need of grace.
