Sunday between 12 and 18 June    (if after Trinity Sunday)    

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - 2 Samuel 12.1-5,7-9,13a

A reading from the second book of Samuel. The prophet Nathan said to king David, ‘There were two men in a city, one rich and one poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one small lamb, which he had bought. The poor man’s only lamb grew up alongside his own children, eating and drinking from the little that they had, like another member of the family. Now a traveller came to visit the rich man. And the rich man did not take any of his own sheep or cattle to prepare, as a meal for the traveller, but instead, took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that, as a meal for the guest who had come to him.’ On hearing this, David became angry against the rich man, and said to the prophet Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!’ And the prophet Nathan said to David, ‘You are that man! And now the Lord, the God of Israel, says this: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s possessions, and household, and the whole of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much again. And yet you have despised the word of the Lord, and done what is evil in the sight of the Lord! For you have taken for yourself the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and you have had Uriah himself struck down and killed by the sword of the enemy!’ And King David said to the prophet Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ This is the word of the Lord.

Second Reading - Galatians 2.16,19-21

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Galatians. We know that we are reconciled to God not by keeping the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Through the law, I died to the law. And now, instead, I can be fully alive to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

The life I now live in this body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. If reconciliation with God could be achieved through the law, then Christ would have died in vain - but we know that reconciliation with God is achieved, not by any law, but by God’s grace alone. This is the word of the Lord.

Gospel - Luke 7.36-50

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him; so Jesus entered the house of Simon the Pharisee, and took a place at the table. A notorious woman of that city heard that Jesus was there, and entered the house, bringing an alabaster jar of fragrant oils. She knelt at Jesus’ feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears, and to dry them with her hair. She kissed his feet, and anointed them with the perfume. When Simon the Pharisee saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man was a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is, who is touching him.’ Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee, ‘A money-lender had two clients, who could not pay. One owed fifty coins. The other owed five hundred. And he cancelled both their debts. Which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one who was forgiven the greater debt.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You are right.’ And turning towards the woman, Jesus continued, ‘When I entered your house, you gave me no water, for my feet, but this woman has bathed my feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Her many sins have been forgiven, so she has shown great love. But the one who has been forgiven less, has shown less love!’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Those who were at the table with Jesus began to say amongst themselves, ‘Who is this, who even declares the forgiveness of sin?’ And Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’ This is the Gospel of the Lord.