The magic word in today’s gospel is sincerity.
It looks like there are some customs in Jesus culture then whereby a visitor needs to be given water (to be used for washing his feet) and to be kissed by the host. At first Jesus was silent about these missing elements but later on when his credential was challenged he did point out to Simon his violations of customary rules in entertaining a visitor.
To translate what Jesus told Simon is, “You were not really sincere in inviting me to dine in your household.”
On the other hand, Mary took the risk of being rejected, humiliated and thrown out from Simon’s house because in the very first place she was not invited and being branded as sinner she is certainly not welcome in a Pharisee’s house.
What could be Simon’s real intention in inviting Jesus? What ever it is, one thing for sure, he was not really sincere in having the latter to dine with him.
Simon attitude struck me very much because on several occasions my dealing with people around me is motivated by some personal vested interest which is indeed not very sincere. Anyway when such happens again, I will always remember Simon to keep me from going further.
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