Posted on 10/09/2019 10:42:25 AM PDT by Salvation
As we read Scripture, we should be very attentive when Jesus asks a question. In particular, we should understand that Jesus is posing the question to us as well. It is easy to treat the Gospels like a spectator sport and wait to see what the response is, but that is not the only way we should engage with the text. Not just the Gospels but the entire biblical narrative is our story, too. We are in the story, and the story is in us. (I have written on this topic more thoroughly here: 100 Questions That Jesus Asked and You Must Answer.)
Let’s ponder a question that Jesus asked in last week’s Gospel reading. (Note: I was at a meeting of the Catholic Bar Association in St. Louis, MO, this past weekend, and Fr. James Mason, the rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary helped me to appreciate a new level to this question.) The question comes in Luke 7, when Jesus is dining at the house of Simon the Pharisee. As Jesus reclined at table, a sinful woman came up behind Him; she washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive perfume. The text tells us that Simon thought to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him, for she is a sinner” (Lk 7:39). A few moments later Jesus asks Simon,
“Do you see this woman?” (Lk 7:44)
Now, let the question linger for a moment and ponder its depths. There is more here than an inquiry as to whether Simon is aware of her physical presence.
“Do you see this woman?”
He does not. He sees a sinner, likely a prostitute, but he does not see her.
Whatever this woman’s sins, and they may be many, she is still a child of God. Something terrible must have happened in her life that she has fallen into such self-destructive sin. What a miserable life of forced intimacy! Has her poverty driven her to this? Was she disowned by her family? She has not lost her way entirely, however, for she has crossed paths with Jesus. Propelled by sorrow for her sin, she reaches for Jesus in the hope of receiving His mercy.
“Do you see this woman?”
We can be inclined to treat people the way Simon treated this woman. It is easy to forget that behind the many labels we can put on another person is a human being, a child of God, someone’s son or daughter, perhaps someone’s father or mother, perhaps someone’s brother or sister. It is a form of reductionism in which we focus on a single aspect of a person, forgetting the full, complex human being that exists.
For example, in the sin of lust, one reduces another person to his or her body for the purpose of one’s own sexual pleasure. Love regards the person, but lust cares only for the body. Pornography not only reveals too much, it also reveals too little; the body is displayed, but the person is not. I encourage those who struggle with pornography to ask for the gift of tears; to realize that what they are looking at is a tragedy. (Because the vast majority of those who fight this battle are men, I will word the rest of this paragraph from that standpoint, however, the message is the same for women who face this struggle.) The woman a man lusts after is a person, a child of God, someone’s daughter, perhaps someone’s mother, perhaps someone’s sister. Something has gone terribly wrong in her life. When she was a child she surely did not dream of this life. She probably wanted to find a good husband and have a family. Something tragic must have brought her to this place.
“Do you see this woman?”
There are many other ways we can reduce people and forget their humanity. We see that criminal or that member of the wrong political party. We savage many of our leaders and sometimes even their children. We look at others and see only their race or their sex or how they are dressed. Behind all these labels is a person who has a story. In my role as a priest, I have come to recognize that few of us ever really understand the struggles and sorrows of others. Many people carry burdens of which we are unaware. We need to remember this, especially when dealing with troubled people in our lives. Many of them are troubled for a reason. This does not always excuse their behaviors, but remembering this can help us to be more patient, more understanding, and less quick to condemn.
“Do you see this woman?”
Conversely, there are some people who insist that we reduce them and see them only in the light of a single aspect of who they are. In today’s world of identity politics, some label themselves as LGBTQ, some emphasize their race, some emphasize a particular disability, and others want us to see them only as victims of this or that. Why should I see people simply in terms of what sexually tempts them or merely as victims of “the system”? Are they not also free human beings? Are they not also children and siblings and parents? Are they not also lawyers and teachers and mechanics? Why do they insist that I focus on only one thing? When I am constantly confronted with labels or narrow categories, I often don’t ever get to meet the real people behind them. I don’t get to know if they root for my favorite team, or have a similar love for photography and music, or have had ups and downs in life similar to my own.
Simon the Pharisee looked at a woman and saw only a prostitute. What do I see when I look at others, especially the most troubled?
“Do you see this woman?”
Monsignor Pope Ping!
What do we see when we notice a Down Syndrome baby or grown adult?
Catholic or not (I am Baptist), that is a powerful statement and thought provoking message. “Do you see this woman” could be asked of any of us when dealing with anybody. Do we really see the person we are dealing with, listening to, avoiding, anything?
The power of the internet/social media sadly has taken that question away or diminishied it.
I always think of this..
If you knew the story of everyone you meet, it would break your heart.
It's all for our benefit.
It isn't about us, nor are we in the story.
Sorry Arch-Pope
For God so
Loved the World,,,
I see a person with a tough row to hoe … same as any other physical or mental disability. YMMV.
Indeed. Jesus (ie: GOD) is eternally aware of all of us; holds us in existence. To suggest that He lost such awareness while he walked this Earth in His human nature would seem akin to Arianism.
I have heard that God calls us by our Names … satan, the great accuser, calls us by our sins.
Should we see people as God sees them or as the devil sees them?
Should we see people as God sees them or as the devil sees them?
And should we see ourselves as God sees us or as Satan sees us?
“I always think of this..
If you knew the story of everyone you meet, it would break your heart”
That is so very wise.
Thanks.
The question answers itself. Pope Charles’ comments about identity politics are well stated. There is a lot more to each of us than the (largely) superficial categories certain politicians use to divide us. Self-identification according to sin is even worse.
What an amazing piece, it bought tears to my eyes. I see you
One of the most powerful statements I heard in a homily was "The Lord is forever pining away for us to come to him with our problems." It brought tears to my eyes: why would the Lord pine away for me, a sinful creature, to come to him seeking help? Clearly, it is his endless reservoir of Love.
That made me think of people we may consider beyond help. You NEVER know what's in man's heart, and friends who are atheists or living a life of sin may be just one, pivotal moment away from returning to Our Lord's arms.
You are right, the internet has made it real easy to bash this or that 'enemy' or person with a disability or whatever. Indeed, I consider it shameful how many people didn't "see" Greta Thunberg - this child who is on the spectrum and has a few other issues should NOT be the target of ire or vitrol; yea, I know...her words and sanctimony were off-putting, but if anyone should have been rebuked, it was her parents and handlers who KNOW better than to take a child and effectively make her the subject of endless memes and attacks.
While it may not be visible, many of us endeavor when posting to leave the door open juuuuust a little bit, because you don't know what kind of epiphany may be around the corner. We've seen conversions, We've seen changes...when we never thought they'd happen. Indeed, I believe Roe in Roe v Wade regretted what she spawned (and I believe she did what she could do die in a state of grace).
I was a loser in high school, I'm still a loser at heart. I never forget from whence I came, and I work hard every day to ensure I "see" every man and woman for who they are - a loser like me who, while unworthy, has The Lord waiting in the wings for me, pining...
I think you may enjoy this painting, as I do:
It's "The Serving Girl at the Supper at Emmaus," by Velázquez.
This is the poem Denise Leertov wrote about it:
The Servant-Girl At Emmaus
She listens, listens, holding
her breath. Surely that voice
is his---the one
who had looked at her, once, across the crowd,
as no one ever had looked?
Had seen her? Had spoken as if to her?
Surely those hands were his,
taking the platter of bread from hers just now?
Hands he'd laid on the dying and made them well?
Surely that face---?
The man they'd crucified for sedition and blasphemy.
The man whose body disappeared from its tomb.
The man it was rumored now some women had seen this
morning, alive?
Those who had brought this stranger home to their table
don't recognize yet with whom they sit.
But she in the kitchen, absently touching
the winejug she's to take in,
a young Black servant intently listening,
swings round and sees
the light around him
and is sure.
If "it's all for our benefit" --- that's what makes it "about us". That's why we are "in the story."
Christ isn't letting us see, hear, and witness all this --- whether parables or actual episodes --- because He tells an amusing tale. He surely intends our full personal engagement. You may be the prostitute; you may be the Pharisee. You may be a traveler, neither here nor there; a doubter, a believer. Maybe you are just a serving person, eavesdropping. You are indeed in the story.
That's the point, really, where you don't just hear "about" Christ.
You hear Christ.
`
`
Even people we are close to...family. We don’t really know their whole story. I think of that a lot.
if it ain’t on a phone, no one sees.
The social justice issue is strong in this presentation, but the topic of discussion for Jesus was forgiveness of sins.
Luk 7:41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.
Luk 7:42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Luk 7:43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.
Luk 7:44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer Me water to wash the dust from My feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
Luk 7:45 You didn’t greet Me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing My feet.
Luk 7:46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint My head, but she has anointed My feet with rare perfume.
Luk 7:47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Luk 7:48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luk 7:49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that He goes around forgiving sins?”
Luk 7:50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
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