In today’s society, people like to speak about other's past mistakes in order to make themselves feel better. By doing this, society is able to look past their own imperfections or moments of poor judgement by pointing the finger at others. But, by doing this, the victim of this act will feel worse about themselves or do the same to another person. With today’s technology, it’s even easier for the world to turn their attention from themselves to an unsuspecting soul.
This past Saturday I went to mass with my family. That day’s reading was a story about a woman who lived a sinful life. One day the woman heard that Jesus Christ would be at the Pharisee’s house. The woman went straight there and attended to Jesus by washing his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and kissing and anointing them. Because of her actions and Jesus allowing it, the Pharisee belittles Jesus and the woman because He should have known that the woman has lived a not so holy life; but Jesus did not care about that. All he cared about was that this woman believed that he was the savior and that she was truly sorry for what she had done in the past. For that she was forgiven from all of her sins and the man was put in his place for loving so little and not forgiving his neighbor’s trespasses.
Now flash forward to present times. We still have people like the Pharisee and the unnamed woman, but not many in the world who are like Jesus. It is rare to see someone who does not focus on the errors of their neighbor, but on the good. There are many reasons as to why society enjoys displaying people’s mistakes. One of these is that when reading or watching someone do something immoral it helps us to have the ability to say that our past mistakes do not compare to the others.’ This is some sort of therapy for society, to be able to look past your own mistakes and focus on society’s. But the question is, how does this really help anyone? Is it by telling the world about someone’s sins you forget yours? Or hope the world will forget? If that is the case, then by doing this you are creating a cycle. A cycle in which no one accepts their own mistakes.
At the end of the day, society has to look past the errors of our peers and strive to improve themselves. Making the mistake once and then learning from it, and not look for someone else and broadcast their mistakes so they can ease their conscience. We should learn from the story of Jesus with the Pharisee and the woman. We should forgive our neighbor’s sins, and love more with that forgiveness. If we do this, then the world can be a better place in which to live in.
If you would like to read more from the story “Anointing of Jesus,” type the verse “Luke 7:36-50” at www.biblegateway.com
