1 Cor 15:1-11 / Luke 7:36-50
A person’s status and reputation are highly regarded in society.
So when someone with a high status and good reputation speaks, people will listen and believe in his words.
Even his simple and ordinary actions will be applauded because of his status and reputation.
In the first reading, St. Paul did not try to hide or deny his past reputation.
He admits that since he persecuted the Church of God, he hardly deserved the name apostle.
But by the grace of God, he worked hard in preaching the Good News.
And what he preached was what the other apostles preached.
And it is also by the grace of God that those who listened believed the message that he preached, despite his past reputation.
In the gospel, a woman who had a bad name in the town, come to the house of Simon the Pharisee where Jesus was having a meal.
She waited behind Jesus at His feet, weeping and her tears fell at His feet and she wiped them away with her hair, covered His feet with her kisses and anointed them with the anointment.
Her reputation and her action were enough to upset Simon the Pharisee as well as the others who were present.
But Jesus saw it as her act of repentance and forgave her many sins because of her faith.
As much as those with a high status and good reputation are credible in what they say and do, God will also speak through those who are outcasts and ostracized.
Whatever the status or reputation of a person, God looks at the person’s faith, humility and love.
May we also have the faith, the humility and the love to listen to those who are chosen by God to speak His message and carry out His works.