Forgiveness

Tomorrow's gospel is the story of a prostitute who washes Jesus's feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. Simon the Pharisee is outraged about who she is, and her uncleaness touching Jesus. Jesus uses the opportunity to teach about forgiveness. The prostitute's sins were forgiven, so much more so since she had so many of them, but even so, the Pharisee did not see his own sins, which also were forgiven. Had Simon known his own forgiveness, maybe he would have been able to see the forgiveness that the prostitute had too.

None of us do anything to merit forgiveness in God's eyes, yet we require all manner of apology, contrition, punishment, and worse, sometimes death, before we will forgive others. It is a form of arrogance that we do this, because, if God in God's wisdom and mercy forgives each of us, who are we to hold other people to a higher standard than God?

It is a dilemma, and the way we have set up society, that we often require proof of another's contrition in order to restore our relationships. I know I have sought another's apology before being able to have the breadth of heart and generosity of spirit that allows me to forgive easily. Countryman says that our own lack of forgiving can be traced to our not accepting that God has already forgiven us too. That, yes indeed we need forgiveness and that it is offered free for nothing.

What would it mean if each of us accepted our forgiveness? It would mean we could admit freely our lack of meeting our own standards, be truthful about ourselves and about the hurts and anger we have sustained from the actions, thoughts and work of others. Once we accept this outpouring of God's love, we come to accept ourselves with all our warts, and we also become converted to have the mind of God, that is, to see the world as needing forgiveness. We see that we can be instruments of God's peace and forgiveness in the world, being authentically who we are, forgiven in our own humble human state.