09-20-2012, 09:48 AM
Scripture Reflections
Thursday, 20 September, 2012, 24th Week, Ordinary Time
ACCEPTANCE AS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS REAL CONVERSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 COR 15:1-11; LK 7:36-50
Like St Paul and the woman in today’s scripture reading, we are all sinners and therefore in need of conversion. Yet, conversion seems to be one of the most difficult things in life. This is because we find ourselves extremely inadequate and impotent before the laws, whether they be those of the, or of an institution. And thus whenever we try to measure ourselves against the laws, we find ourselves always falling short. For those of us who are sincere in keeping the laws, we end up hating ourselves for failing to live up to the rules and laws that have been imposed on us. This, then, becomes a vicious cycle, since the more a person hates himself, the more the person breaks the laws. Now, where will all these eventually lead to?
That is why, labelling people as right or wrong, perhaps will bring us nowhere. This is counter-productive. Precisely, many criminologists have said that criminals are created by society. Most criminals, even after serving their sentence, return to their old way of life because they experienced only condemnation by society; in turn, they also condemn themselves. In the first place, if people have become criminals, it is because they have very low self-esteem, which made them drop out of society. This is equally applicable in other areas of life. For example, if we keep telling a student that he is a lousy student, worthless and stupid, he might really begin to believe that it is true, if not consciously, at least sub-consciously. Thus, he loses all confidence and hope in himself that he can ever make it. That is why students who get good grades for their exams tend to get better each time; whereas those who get poor grades tend to become worse. Affirmation helps people to get better whereas condemnation makes people worse.
For this reason, I am extremely skeptical as to whether it is helpful from the point of conversion, to keep harping on an errant person’s mistakes, telling him what he has done wrong or how he could have otherwise conducted himself. My feeling is that unless a person is truly very humble and open, such corrections cannot be positively received at all. And if we are in authority, our subordinates might accept our corrections, not out of conviction or self-realization, but simply out of pressure or fear. But if they do so for any of these reasons, then conversion is only skin-deep. Once the pressure or fear is removed, they return to their old way of life.
Indeed, this is what we can learn from the scripture readings of today. The woman in the gospel could never change because she had been labelled throughout her life as a sinner by the Pharisees and the leading Jewish leaders of her day. She must have thought to herself that she was really condemned and there was no more hope for her. Consequently, she would have remained always a sinner in their eyes and in her eyes, if not for her encounter with Jesus. What is true of the woman is also true of the early Christians whom Paul persecuted and alluded to in the first reading. Paul, before his conversion, labelled the Christians as the enemies of God. He persecuted them, but instead of winning them over, they became stauncher in their faith than ever.
In contrast, we have in the gospel today, Jesus who could accept the woman totally for what she was, a sinner, without judgment or inhibitions. We are not told why the woman came to Jesus and what made her express such love for Him. Perhaps, she might have listened to the preaching of Jesus and was impressed by His message of the unconditional love of the Father. Perhaps, it is for this reason she wanted to come and thank Jesus for such an inspiring message of God’s unconditional love.
And indeed, Jesus confirmed His message by welcoming and accepting the woman when the Pharisees could not. Unlike them, Jesus did not label the woman as a sinner. He did not pass any judgment on her whatsoever. He allowed her to judge herself. On the contrary, we are told that Jesus accepted the love and contrition offered by the woman. He could have said, “Why should I allow her to smear my reputation by associating myself with her?” Truly, the so-called proper thing for Jesus to do, as a holy man, would have been to reject that love, since it came from a sinner. But He did not because He did not see her as a sinner but a woman who needed love and acceptance.
Jesus showed compassion for her. This is the only response to those who sinned. Compassion means to feel with the other person in his predicament. It means trying to understand where the person is coming from; how his past has affected his present response; his sufferings from those who hurt him have resulted in him being vindictive or suffering from low self-esteem. No one wants to be a sinner or a criminal. In most cases, it is because they have been unjustly treated, abused, marginalized, discriminated, shamed or neglected. Once we understand the wounds that such difficult and sinful people carry with them, then we understand that most of our sins come from the very fact that we are a community of sinners.
In accepting that love, therefore, He was telling the woman “I accept you as you are. I believe in you. I believe that you really want to grow in love and to change.” That is indeed what Jesus meant when He said, “Your sins are forgiven” and “Your faith has been your salvation.” In other words, the woman, in accepting herself for what she was, found faith in herself again. And this confidence was now bolstered by Jesus, not simply because she had heard Him preach about God’s unconditional love for us, but because she had experienced for herself that there was someone who at last had confidence in her. Since Jesus did not perceive her as a sinner and therefore did not condemn her; she no longer perceived herself as a condemned sinner. There was hope again for her. She was somebody after all!
What is true for the woman is also true of Paul in the first reading. Even though he persecuted the Christians, Jesus never condemned him. And I suppose that if Paul had a radical experience of the Risen Christ, it would have been an experience of the unconditional love and forgiveness of the Risen Christ – an experience that set his heart free to love again. For we know that Paul, being a strict Jew, had all his life saw love in terms of obedience to the law. Now he realized that love is beyond the fulfillment of the laws because Jesus could still love and accept him, in spite of all that he had done. It is this experience, I believe, that really transformed Paul from a persecutor to an apostle of the faith.
Yes, strict justice in life cannot bring about a real conversion. Simply by telling people whether they are right or wrong, good or bad, stupid or clever, will not change them. No! It is only when we accept people for what they are, simply because they are persons like us with all our frailties, that they can learn to accept themselves. And once they accept themselves and love themselves for what they already are, then they can then be open to further growth.
Let us pray that we might first and foremost learn to accept each other as we are, instead of always thinking how to correct our brothers and sisters; as if we ourselves know what is right and wrong, when in the final analysis all the judgments we pass on others are always subjective and in relation to ourselves; and more often than not, they spring from our own hang-ups and prejudices. Yes, as Paul said elsewhere, love brings acceptance, acceptance brings hope; and hope brings faith; and faith brings salvation.
Written by Rev. Fr. William Goh
Spiritual Director, Catholic Spirituality Centre (CSC)
© All Rights Reserved
Thursday, 20 September, 2012, 24th Week, Ordinary Time
ACCEPTANCE AS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS REAL CONVERSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 COR 15:1-11; LK 7:36-50
Like St Paul and the woman in today’s scripture reading, we are all sinners and therefore in need of conversion. Yet, conversion seems to be one of the most difficult things in life. This is because we find ourselves extremely inadequate and impotent before the laws, whether they be those of the, or of an institution. And thus whenever we try to measure ourselves against the laws, we find ourselves always falling short. For those of us who are sincere in keeping the laws, we end up hating ourselves for failing to live up to the rules and laws that have been imposed on us. This, then, becomes a vicious cycle, since the more a person hates himself, the more the person breaks the laws. Now, where will all these eventually lead to?
That is why, labelling people as right or wrong, perhaps will bring us nowhere. This is counter-productive. Precisely, many criminologists have said that criminals are created by society. Most criminals, even after serving their sentence, return to their old way of life because they experienced only condemnation by society; in turn, they also condemn themselves. In the first place, if people have become criminals, it is because they have very low self-esteem, which made them drop out of society. This is equally applicable in other areas of life. For example, if we keep telling a student that he is a lousy student, worthless and stupid, he might really begin to believe that it is true, if not consciously, at least sub-consciously. Thus, he loses all confidence and hope in himself that he can ever make it. That is why students who get good grades for their exams tend to get better each time; whereas those who get poor grades tend to become worse. Affirmation helps people to get better whereas condemnation makes people worse.
For this reason, I am extremely skeptical as to whether it is helpful from the point of conversion, to keep harping on an errant person’s mistakes, telling him what he has done wrong or how he could have otherwise conducted himself. My feeling is that unless a person is truly very humble and open, such corrections cannot be positively received at all. And if we are in authority, our subordinates might accept our corrections, not out of conviction or self-realization, but simply out of pressure or fear. But if they do so for any of these reasons, then conversion is only skin-deep. Once the pressure or fear is removed, they return to their old way of life.
Indeed, this is what we can learn from the scripture readings of today. The woman in the gospel could never change because she had been labelled throughout her life as a sinner by the Pharisees and the leading Jewish leaders of her day. She must have thought to herself that she was really condemned and there was no more hope for her. Consequently, she would have remained always a sinner in their eyes and in her eyes, if not for her encounter with Jesus. What is true of the woman is also true of the early Christians whom Paul persecuted and alluded to in the first reading. Paul, before his conversion, labelled the Christians as the enemies of God. He persecuted them, but instead of winning them over, they became stauncher in their faith than ever.
In contrast, we have in the gospel today, Jesus who could accept the woman totally for what she was, a sinner, without judgment or inhibitions. We are not told why the woman came to Jesus and what made her express such love for Him. Perhaps, she might have listened to the preaching of Jesus and was impressed by His message of the unconditional love of the Father. Perhaps, it is for this reason she wanted to come and thank Jesus for such an inspiring message of God’s unconditional love.
And indeed, Jesus confirmed His message by welcoming and accepting the woman when the Pharisees could not. Unlike them, Jesus did not label the woman as a sinner. He did not pass any judgment on her whatsoever. He allowed her to judge herself. On the contrary, we are told that Jesus accepted the love and contrition offered by the woman. He could have said, “Why should I allow her to smear my reputation by associating myself with her?” Truly, the so-called proper thing for Jesus to do, as a holy man, would have been to reject that love, since it came from a sinner. But He did not because He did not see her as a sinner but a woman who needed love and acceptance.
Jesus showed compassion for her. This is the only response to those who sinned. Compassion means to feel with the other person in his predicament. It means trying to understand where the person is coming from; how his past has affected his present response; his sufferings from those who hurt him have resulted in him being vindictive or suffering from low self-esteem. No one wants to be a sinner or a criminal. In most cases, it is because they have been unjustly treated, abused, marginalized, discriminated, shamed or neglected. Once we understand the wounds that such difficult and sinful people carry with them, then we understand that most of our sins come from the very fact that we are a community of sinners.
In accepting that love, therefore, He was telling the woman “I accept you as you are. I believe in you. I believe that you really want to grow in love and to change.” That is indeed what Jesus meant when He said, “Your sins are forgiven” and “Your faith has been your salvation.” In other words, the woman, in accepting herself for what she was, found faith in herself again. And this confidence was now bolstered by Jesus, not simply because she had heard Him preach about God’s unconditional love for us, but because she had experienced for herself that there was someone who at last had confidence in her. Since Jesus did not perceive her as a sinner and therefore did not condemn her; she no longer perceived herself as a condemned sinner. There was hope again for her. She was somebody after all!
What is true for the woman is also true of Paul in the first reading. Even though he persecuted the Christians, Jesus never condemned him. And I suppose that if Paul had a radical experience of the Risen Christ, it would have been an experience of the unconditional love and forgiveness of the Risen Christ – an experience that set his heart free to love again. For we know that Paul, being a strict Jew, had all his life saw love in terms of obedience to the law. Now he realized that love is beyond the fulfillment of the laws because Jesus could still love and accept him, in spite of all that he had done. It is this experience, I believe, that really transformed Paul from a persecutor to an apostle of the faith.
Yes, strict justice in life cannot bring about a real conversion. Simply by telling people whether they are right or wrong, good or bad, stupid or clever, will not change them. No! It is only when we accept people for what they are, simply because they are persons like us with all our frailties, that they can learn to accept themselves. And once they accept themselves and love themselves for what they already are, then they can then be open to further growth.
Let us pray that we might first and foremost learn to accept each other as we are, instead of always thinking how to correct our brothers and sisters; as if we ourselves know what is right and wrong, when in the final analysis all the judgments we pass on others are always subjective and in relation to ourselves; and more often than not, they spring from our own hang-ups and prejudices. Yes, as Paul said elsewhere, love brings acceptance, acceptance brings hope; and hope brings faith; and faith brings salvation.
Written by Rev. Fr. William Goh
Spiritual Director, Catholic Spirituality Centre (CSC)
© All Rights Reserved