| Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap Prostitutes Will Enter the Kingdom Before You Pontificial Household Preacher Comments on Sunday's Reading |
ROME, SEPT. 26, 2008 - "Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: ‘What is
your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, "Son, go out and work
in the vineyard today." He said in reply, "I will not," but afterward changed his mind and
went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, "Yes,
sir," but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?' They answered, ‘The first.'"
The son who says "yes" and does "no" represents those who knew God and followed his
law to a certain extent but did not accept Christ, who was "the fulfillment of the law." The
son who says "no" and does "yes" represents those who once lived outside the law and
will of God, but then, with Christ, thought again and welcomed the Gospel.
From this Jesus draws the following conclusion before the chief priests and elders:
"Truly, I say to you, even the publicans and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God
before you."
No saying of Christ has been more manipulated than this. Some have ended up creating
a kind of evangelical aura about prostitutes, idealizing them and opposing them to those
with good reputations, who are all regarded without distinction as hypocritical scribes
and Pharisees. Literature is full of "good" prostitutes. Just think of Verdi's "La Traviata"
or the meek Sonya of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment"!
But this is a terrible misunderstanding. Jesus is talking about a limited case, as it were.
"Even" the prostitutes, he wants to say, are going to enter the Kingdom of God before
you. Prostitution is seen in all its seriousness and taken as a term of comparison to point
out the gravity of the sin of those who stubbornly reject the truth.
We do not see that, moreover, idealizing the category of prostitute, we also idealize that
of publican, which is a category that always accompanies it in the Gospel. The publicans,
who were employees of the Roman tax collection agencies, participated in the unjust
practices of these agencies. If Jesus links prostitutes and publicans together, he does
not do this without a reason; they have both made money the most important thing in life.
It would be tragic if such passages from the Gospel made Christians less attentive to
combating the degrading phenomenon of prostitution, which today has assumed
alarming proportions in our cities. Jesus had too much respect for women to not suffer
beforehand for that which she will become when she is reduced to this state. What he
appreciates in the prostitute is not her way of life, but her capacity to change and to put
her ability to love in the service of the good. Mary Magdalene, who converted and
followed Jesus all the way to the cross, is an example of this (supposing that she was a
prostitute).
What Jesus intends to teach with his words here he clearly says at the end: The
publicans and prostitutes converted with John the Baptist's preaching; the chief priests
and the elders did not. The Gospel, therefore, does not direct us to moralistic campaigns
against prostitutes, but neither does it allow us to joke about it, as if it were nothing.
In the new form under which prostitution presents itself today, we see that it is now able
to make a person a significant amount of money and do so without involving them in the
terrible dangers to which the poor women of previous times, who were condemned to
the streets, were subjected. This form consists in selling one's body safely through
cameras. What a woman does when she loans herself to pornography and certain
excessive forms of advertisement is to sell her body to the eyes if not to contact. This is
certainly prostitution, and it is worse than traditional prostitution, because it is publicly
imposed and does not respect people's freedom and sentiments.
But having denounced these things as we must, we would betray the spirit of the Gospel
if we did not also speak of the hope that these words of Christ offer to women, who, on
account of various circumstances (often out of desperation), have found themselves on
the street, for the most part victims of unscrupulous exploitation. The Gospel is
"gospel," that is, "glad tidings," news of ransom, of hope, even for prostitutes. Indeed,
perhaps it is for them first of all. This is how Jesus wanted it.
your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, "Son, go out and work
in the vineyard today." He said in reply, "I will not," but afterward changed his mind and
went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, "Yes,
sir," but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?' They answered, ‘The first.'"
The son who says "yes" and does "no" represents those who knew God and followed his
law to a certain extent but did not accept Christ, who was "the fulfillment of the law." The
son who says "no" and does "yes" represents those who once lived outside the law and
will of God, but then, with Christ, thought again and welcomed the Gospel.
From this Jesus draws the following conclusion before the chief priests and elders:
"Truly, I say to you, even the publicans and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God
before you."
No saying of Christ has been more manipulated than this. Some have ended up creating
a kind of evangelical aura about prostitutes, idealizing them and opposing them to those
with good reputations, who are all regarded without distinction as hypocritical scribes
and Pharisees. Literature is full of "good" prostitutes. Just think of Verdi's "La Traviata"
or the meek Sonya of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment"!
But this is a terrible misunderstanding. Jesus is talking about a limited case, as it were.
"Even" the prostitutes, he wants to say, are going to enter the Kingdom of God before
you. Prostitution is seen in all its seriousness and taken as a term of comparison to point
out the gravity of the sin of those who stubbornly reject the truth.
We do not see that, moreover, idealizing the category of prostitute, we also idealize that
of publican, which is a category that always accompanies it in the Gospel. The publicans,
who were employees of the Roman tax collection agencies, participated in the unjust
practices of these agencies. If Jesus links prostitutes and publicans together, he does
not do this without a reason; they have both made money the most important thing in life.
It would be tragic if such passages from the Gospel made Christians less attentive to
combating the degrading phenomenon of prostitution, which today has assumed
alarming proportions in our cities. Jesus had too much respect for women to not suffer
beforehand for that which she will become when she is reduced to this state. What he
appreciates in the prostitute is not her way of life, but her capacity to change and to put
her ability to love in the service of the good. Mary Magdalene, who converted and
followed Jesus all the way to the cross, is an example of this (supposing that she was a
prostitute).
What Jesus intends to teach with his words here he clearly says at the end: The
publicans and prostitutes converted with John the Baptist's preaching; the chief priests
and the elders did not. The Gospel, therefore, does not direct us to moralistic campaigns
against prostitutes, but neither does it allow us to joke about it, as if it were nothing.
In the new form under which prostitution presents itself today, we see that it is now able
to make a person a significant amount of money and do so without involving them in the
terrible dangers to which the poor women of previous times, who were condemned to
the streets, were subjected. This form consists in selling one's body safely through
cameras. What a woman does when she loans herself to pornography and certain
excessive forms of advertisement is to sell her body to the eyes if not to contact. This is
certainly prostitution, and it is worse than traditional prostitution, because it is publicly
imposed and does not respect people's freedom and sentiments.
But having denounced these things as we must, we would betray the spirit of the Gospel
if we did not also speak of the hope that these words of Christ offer to women, who, on
account of various circumstances (often out of desperation), have found themselves on
the street, for the most part victims of unscrupulous exploitation. The Gospel is
"gospel," that is, "glad tidings," news of ransom, of hope, even for prostitutes. Indeed,
perhaps it is for them first of all. This is how Jesus wanted it.