Go in Peace: Hope for AdventSample

Scandal! Today’s story features a woman whose love for Jesus is so overwhelming that she washes his feet with her tears, dries them off with her hair, and then anoints them with expensive ointment from an alabaster jar she brought with her.

This act of devotion is even further offset by the critique of a Pharisee, the man whose house Jesus was visiting in the first place. He sees her acts of devotion and criticizes her for being a sinner while also criticizing Jesus for letting her do all this to him.

Jesus, being forever on the side of the oppressed and downtrodden, sticks up for the woman by pointing out that she’s doing for him what the Pharisee, against the common tradition, didn’t.

But none of that is the real scandal of the story. No, the part that got everyone whispering under their breath is when Jesus turns to the woman and assures her that her sins are forgiven. That sets the room buzzing! Who is this guy going around forgiving sins?!

Undaunted by the way this news is received, Jesus tells the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

One of the things we see in the Advent and Christmas stories is that Jesus doesn’t do anything like we would expect. A king being born to a lowly family? And into a feeding trough? Celebrated by shepherds and farm animals? Preposterous!

None of the story of Jesus' arrival makes logical sense, but it’s the way he's always has been. He doesn't do what we expect--he accepts us no matter what. We don’t have to have it all together, we don’t have to buy the perfect Christmas present, we don’t have to clean ourselves up.

We just need to come to him, weeping, and let him forgive us.

Go in peace.