In meretricem et pharisaeum

On the Prostitute and the Pharisee. On Holy and Great Wednesday. Always God, being philanthropic, has given time for repentance to sinners; but through negligence the careless person destroys his own soul. For loving vain, earthly, and transitory things, he is deprived of the enjoyment of heavenly goods, and the human being, established as king and lord of all by the Creator and God, has become a slave of sin through worldly desires. Hence David also says concerning those who do these things: "They did not know, nor did they understand; they walk in darkness." And Christ, alluding to sinners, says: "They do not come to the light, lest their deeds be exposed; for everyone who does base things hates the light." And again he says: "While you have the light, walk toward the light, lest darkness overtake you." And again he says: "I came into the world so that they might not perish, but that they might have life." And again: "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it." And again: "I lay down my life for the sheep." Having heard these words, the prostitute—as if they were perfumes proclaimed everywhere, providing the scent of life to all the worthy—calling to mind her evil deeds, immediately seized upon them, weeping over the shame attached to them, and contemplating the future evils that would befall her because of them; for great affliction and pain occur there for prostitutes. Fearing these things, the prostitute changed. And she no longer remained a prostitute, but immediately became more chaste than a virgin. For sitting down, she convened a tribunal within herself, and condemning herself, she said:

Alas for the sinful woman, alas for the profligate, how long do I not desist from evils? Why do I not consider the compassion of God? That for my sake, the wandering one, like a sheep, the Master goes around every road. For my sake he bent the heavens and descended; for my sake he dines with the sinful Pharisee, he who gives food to every flesh. The sinless one approaches the sinner; he who nourishes all partakes of a table, and he who is borne upon the Cherubim lies down on the ground, and he grants to all sinners the cancellation of their sins. Why then do you remain? Take courage, my soul, draw near; he did not come to save the righteous, but sinners. And as she said these things, immediately from the table of Christ a fragrance of forgiveness came upon her, the once profligate, now chaste; the once beast, now sheep; the once slave of sin, now free through repentance; the once prostitute, now modest. And standing with a ready soul for support, she comes to him. And seeing the Master upon the table, she did not seek, like the Canaanite woman, crumbs, but she embraced the whole bread of life itself. For the Canaanite woman pleaded concerning her demon-possessed daughter, and having heard herself called a dog, she asked to receive crumbs; but this woman did not have a demon-possessed daughter, but an entire body demon-possessed by licentiousness. Yet the Canaanite woman cried out before all: "Have mercy on me, son of David"; but the prostitute did not utter a cry, but seeing that he knows all as God, silent in mouth, she spoke in heart to the one who knows hearts; and weeping she kissed his feet, and thus she moved the Master to compassion.

But I would like, brothers, to investigate the mind of that wise woman, and to learn how Christ received her, and how he shone light into her darkened soul. For truly, as David prophesied: "The Lord is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men," and not only beautiful, but also a lover of the beautiful. For even before she came to him, he recognized that she had the intention of a good soul. But if it seems good, let us also hear the Gospel text. While Jesus was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, a certain sinful woman in the city heard of it. And taking costly ointment, she entered and anointed his feet, and wet them with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. Great zeal of a woman, great course of salvation, great intention of a soul wishing to be freed from dangers: she heard and hastened, she drove her thought toward repentance, saying these things to herself: "O sinful and thrice-wretched soul, why do you wait? Why do you ponder? Behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation. Behold the time you sought has arrived; behold, he is present who looses and cleanses and wipes away sins; the ointment is present; how long do you linger in the mire and the stench? Go to him; for he came because of you. Abandon the former vanities, and desire the now beautiful things; those are abominable, these are desirable and eternal; imitate the ancient resolve, anoint the one who made the ointment, flatter the one who wishes to save you. You have found a lover beyond all the lovers you have had. By kissing those others, you emptied many sins into yourself.

If you kiss this one, he will also forgive you the earlier sins which you acquired from those men. Having reasoned thus, she slips into the house and says: I withdraw from the ancient evils, I find the new things good, and I agree; I renounce the wicked one and I align myself with the good one; for I heard David saying: Approach him and be illuminated; and the Lord himself saying: Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you. I too draw near to God, but I, the sinful woman, am afraid before the sinless one, the filth before the ointment. But I have as a pledge of his compassion the voice that says: Come to me, all you sinners, and I will give you rest. So I go; he does not reproach me, he does not say to me: Stand away from me, sinful woman; until now you were living in darkness, and now you have come to see me, the sun of righteousness? But what shall I consider? I take ointment and go to him, and I make the house of the Pharisee a place of illumination, and with the streams of tears I prepare a pool for myself; and with the alabaster of ointment I receive the seal of the faithful upon my forehead, and through repentance I am cleansed of my sins, and by his healing word I escape the snares of the devil. Nothing is hopeless for me. I know that in the Old Testament Rahab the prostitute had her dwelling at the gate of the city, a habitation of sin; but she, having received the spies of Israel, obtained life as the reward of her hospitality. For the Joshua who saved her, the son of Nun, was a type of the true Jesus; Joshua the son of Nun granted good recompense to the prostitute for the spies.

If then the name of Jesus provided salvation and forgiveness of sins at that time, would the true Jesus—the virgin and born of a virgin—now reject a prostitute who offers him hospitality and anoints his feet with myrrh, and not grant her remission of sins? But there Rahab released the spies, while I remain holding fast to the one I have yearned for, not as she did, a spy of a city, but as a bishop of all human souls. Behold, as I said before, the time I longed to see has arrived: a day has dawned for me, and the sun of righteousness, and a year acceptable to the Lord, and a great visitation from God. Truly, a rising from on high has visited us, to shine upon those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. The master is lodging in the house of Simon; let me go to him. And what shall I do? Shall I weep, as Hannah wept over her barrenness? But Simon will think me drunk, as Eli the high priest once thought of Hannah. Or shall I remain, praying in my heart at the feet of Christ, and weeping? This I shall do.

The prostitute’s faith cooperated with her pure intention, and she goes to the one selling myrrh and begins to say to him: “Since a great friend to me, beyond all the sons of men, has come, if you have myrrh worthy of him, give it to me, so that I may worthily offer it to the one worthily loved by me, who has set my heart and my kidneys on fire. Let nothing about the price concern you; if need be, even to my body and bones, I am ready to sell and give, so that I may have at least a little to offer to the one who wishes to purify me thus.” The one seeing the heat and eagerness of her faith says to her: “Tell me who it is whom you desire, that your love has been so inflamed? What do you expect to receive from him in return for this myrrh?” And she says to him: “What are you saying to me, O man? You are ignorant, you do not know what you are saying. He can give me something worthy in exchange for the myrrh, even if no one can give anything equal to this worth. Neither heaven itself, nor earth, nor any in this world can be compared to the one who has come to me. Whom you see as cheap, he has deemed worthy, as a philanthropist, to free me from my sins. This one is a son of David by flesh; therefore he is also fair to see; for concerning him it was said: ‘Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men.’ This one is a son of God; and I have not seen him, but having heard about him, I was wounded with desire. David’s Michal, the daughter of Saul, loving him, left the palace and followed him in his poverty. I sell my own wealth, even if I gathered it badly, and I buy myrrh, and I run to the one from David who became poor for my sake.

And the faithful prostitute, taking the myrrh, ran as if summoned to the house of the Pharisee. And the Pharisee, seeing the prostitute holding the feet of Jesus and anointing them, and the whole house filled with the fragrance of the myrrh, reasoned within himself and said: “If this man were a prophet, he would have understood who the woman touching him is, that she is a sinner.” And he censured the boldness of the prostitute, as having approached and touched him shamelessly; and he blamed the master himself, as receiving all who approach him without discernment; and condemning his ignorance, he said within himself: “Alas for the situation! I invited him to dinner as one of the prophets; and this woman, whom all who dwell in the city know, and whom each one recognizes, this man did not know. If he were a prophet, he would have known who the woman is.” But Christ, who examines hearts and kidneys, observed the thoughts of the Pharisee; and as his reflections were disturbed, Christ becomes a calm within him, and says to him: “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he says: “Teacher, speak.” He says to him: “Did I appear blameworthy to you because I did not rebuke the prostitute, but sheltered her? Did I appear blameworthy to you because I did not turn away the sinner, but received her? Did I appear blameworthy to you because I did not drive her away, but justified her? Did I appear blameworthy to you because I did not become angry, but was softened? Did I appear blameworthy to you because I called back this woman, who wished to flee from her own lawlessness? You ought to have rejoiced over the one who fell and rose again; you grieve over good things. But your blame is not reasonable. Compare this, which I am about to tell you.

Two debtors owed a certain lender: one owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty. When both were unable to pay, the lender forgave the notes. Which of them, then, ought to love him more? He says: I suppose the one to whom he forgave the greater amount. And he says to him: You have judged rightly. Then, turning to the woman, he said to Simon: Do you see this woman, the one forbidden to you? You did not deem me worthy to wash my feet, but she bathed my feet with her tears; you offered me no kiss of love, but she did not cease kissing my feet; you did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with myrrh. But learn, Pharisee, who the lender is and who the debtors are. I am the lender of both, of you and of her; and not only of you two, but of all people. I forgave to all what I also received from myself: soul, breath, body, sensation, knowledge, motion. Therefore, to the lender who does not demand that you provide in full what you received, if you are unable to repay, entreat him to forgive the loan. But if you can neither repay nor deign to entreat forgiveness, at least do not be shameless in talking much and resisting; be silent like this prostitute, who, seeing her many debts, said to herself: What shall I say, or what shall I answer? If I should wish to say, I do not owe the loan, he knows everything, and he knows how much I owe and from what time I have been liable.

Therefore, as if she saw that he knows everything and that none of the evil deeds she has done escapes him, she approached in silence, weeping, and confessing all her debts in her heart, she propitiated God. Be silent then, also, Pharisee, so that the Lord may forgive you your debt. Do not, being yourself condemned, condemn the one who has been condemned; do not, being yourself worthless, disparage the one who has been disparaged. Be still; for I have need neither of your affairs nor of hers; but I have come to forgive the debt to both. For I am a benevolent lender to the two of you, and not only to you, but to all who are unable to repay; provided only that they acknowledge the debt and ask me to cancel the bond for them through repentance. If, then, anyone is in debt and approaches the grace of baptism, through it he is freed from the debt. Go then, behold, you are released from your debts, you have been freed from every obligation by grace; do not bring another bond upon yourselves, once the first has been torn up. But, Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, since I do not have the means to repay what I owe you, nor am I able (for from my many lawless acts I have squandered both the principal and the interest badly), do not demand from me what you have provided me—the principal of the soul and the interest of the flesh—but lighten the burden of my debts, as a benevolent one, and say to me also as to the prostitute: Your many sins are forgiven. For you alone are sinless and good and benevolent, and you forgive sins.

And to you belongs all glory, honor, and adoration, together with your beginningless Father, and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.