In the 1950s, one of the most popular shows on television every Sunday asked the question: \u201cWhat\u2019s My Line?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 A panel of celebrities would have to guess what someone did for a living by asking a series of simple yes-or-no questions. The show was a sensation.\u00a0 It ran from 1950 to 1967 on CBS\u2014to this day, the longest-running primetime network television game show.<\/p>\nI thought of this show when I looked over today\u2019s readings, because in many ways Luke challenges us to play a similar game of \u201cWhat\u2019s My Line?\u201d with the woman at the center of this Sunday\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n
Luke gives us all sorts of information about the Pharisee, Simon, and other people who were following Jesus; he sets the scene and provides compelling, credible details about what was going on.<\/p>\n
Yet, when it comes to the woman Jesus forgives\u2026we learn almost nothing.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know her name, her age, her background or even her sin that needed forgiving. Some speculate this was Mary Magdalene, or this woman was a prostitute \u2013 but we have nothing to prove that beyond what\u2019s in this account.<\/p>\n
All we know, really, is that she was a sinner, known to many, and in need of God\u2019s mercy.<\/p>\n
In that sense, she was like all of us.<\/p>\n
So, to answer the question: \u201cWhat\u2019s My Line?,\u201d well, in the case of this woman, we just don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
What we do know is that something compelled her to follow Christ, to come to this Pharisee\u2019s house, to kneel before the feet of Jesus, and to weep and anoint his feet.\u00a0 Something motivated her to perform this great act of love.<\/p>\n
What was it?<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 Well, I think she looked at Jesus\u2026and saw herself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nIf you read what happened just before this episode, you can understand why.<\/p>\n
Just before this dinner at the Pharisee\u2019s house, Jesus had been told of the arrest of John the Baptist. And he wasted no time noting how others had judged John\u2013 and how they had judged him.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor John the Baptist,\u201d <\/em>Jesus said, \u201ccame neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, \u2018He is possessed by a demon.\u2019 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, \u2018Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nMaybe one sinner in particular, that woman, heard that and it struck a chord. Maybe she understood that there was much more to Jesus than what he ate or who he befriended.<\/p>\n
Maybe she realized: \u201cThey have it wrong. They\u2019re judging him the way they judge me. He understands what it is like to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And maybe, drawn to his compassion, aware of her own sin and hungry to be forgiven, she followed him to the house of the Pharisee, and performed that act of tender mercy and love. And her sins were forgiven.<\/p>\n
This story from Luke carries a message we need to hear: God doesn\u2019t jump to conclusions.<\/strong>\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t apply labels. He recognizes our failings, our sins, our shortcomings.\u00a0 But he also sees something more.\u00a0 He sees not just what we are, but what we can be.<\/p>\nWe are more than the sum of our sins.<\/p>\n
We are better than that. \u00a0Who are, we after all?<\/p>\n
We are the alcoholic determined to stay sober\u2014and attending AA meetings five nights a week to make that happen.<\/p>\n
We are the husband neglecting his family because of his job, or his ego, or his own selfishness, and deciding to rearrange his priorities so that he can attend his son\u2019s little league game.<\/p>\n
We are the woman who hasn\u2019t been to confession in 20 years, quietly slipping into the pew on a Saturday morning, waiting for the chance to reconcile with the Church and finally, at long last, come home.<\/p>\n
God sees not only what we are, but what we can be.<\/strong><\/p>\nI think it\u2019s telling that we never learn the name of the woman in this gospel. One commentator speculates that Luke did that to protect her dignity. She was somebody\u2019s daughter, somebody\u2019s sister, maybe someone\u2019s wife and mother.<\/p>\n
But I think he also did it to reflect a deeper truth: she could be any of us.\u00a0 And any of us could be her.<\/p>\n
The Church opens her arms to us in the sacrament of reconciliation, confession, to give us the grace to become, truly, whom God wants us to become\u2014sinners aspiring to become saints. If you haven\u2019t been to confession lately, I urge you to give it a try, to feel in your heart the words that Jesus said to the woman in the gospel: \u201cYour faith has saved you, go in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a peace that makes whatever burdens we carry lighter\u2014and that makes the possibility of a new beginning more than just a possibility. \u00a0As a priest once said to me, after I returned to confession after years of being away: \u201cThere you go. Good as new.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the grace of the sacrament, and the mercy of God, and the extravagance of his love\u2026we are made \u201cas good as new.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name of a TV quiz show can serve as a challenge to each of us. \u00a0What\u2019s my line? \u00a0Well, the line I belong in \u2014more often than I care to admit\u2014is the confession line. \u00a0I\u2019m a sinner. But God wants me to become a saint.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the answer for all of us.<\/p>\n
Because \u2014 as we are reminded in today\u2019s gospel \u2014 God sees not only what we are, but what we can be.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Click here for readings.] In the 1950s, one of the most popular shows on television every Sunday asked the question: \u201cWhat\u2019s My Line?\u201d\u00a0 A panel of celebrities would have to guess what someone did for a living by asking a series of simple yes-or-no questions. The show was a sensation.\u00a0 It ran from 1950 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n