This morning I am reflecting upon a rather lengthy section of Luke's Gospel. As I was reading through these passages something Jesus said caught my attention and I want to spend some time mulling his statement over. Here are the verses - Luke 7:36-50 NIV:
[36] "When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. [37] A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. [38] As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
[39] When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is---that she is a sinner.”
[40] Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
[41] “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. [42] Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
[43] Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.`
[44] Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. [45] You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. [46] You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. [47] Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven---as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
[48] Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
[49] The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
[50] Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
I love this story for several reasons, but the phrase that caught my attention this morning was Jesus' statement, "But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Isn't that an interesting statement?? Clearly, Jesus is tying His statement to the situation at hand, as well as the story He told. I don't think we can make a spiritual principle out of this statement, but we should look at the underlying truth.
Jesus is associating the woman's expressive love, with her understanding of her being forgiven. It is interesting to note that He actually didn't forgive her sins, until later. She had clearly already had some sense of His love and compassion, His willingness to forgive, for she came to Him and was very vulnerable. I think we must remember that although the Holy Spirit had not been poured out yet at Pentecost, that He was still present and moving upon people. I believe that it was His invitation to this woman that caused her to have faith in Jesus, in His willingness to forgive her. I believe that it was the Holy Spirit giving her courage to approach Jesus in the midst of a banquet of people who knew her story. That strength and courage must have come from faith.
Secondly, as I was reflecting yesterday, there is something important to our remembering whee we came from, and part of that is remembering our sins and the forgiveness of those sins. As Jesus states, their is a correlation between understanding our forgiveness and our love for Him. I think this is one of the reasons that the Saints were always aware of their own sinfulness, not just because they saw how perfect Jesus was, but they also saw how much the Lord had forgiven them.
It seems to me that we have an unhealthy perspective on sin these days, and it relates to our shame about our sinfulness. I love the simple reality that Brother Lawrence expressed when he asked for forgiveness, He would say, "I am used to do so: I shall never do otherwise, if I am left to myself." In other words, he recognized that he, along with all of us, was a sinner, and left to himself that is exactly what he would do, sin. He went on to say that it is only through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and through constant relationship and embracing God's love for himself that He was able to do God's will. To me, while it seems dark, this is a healthy perspective to have concerning sin. We are constantly trying to become Christ-like, and yet we are unable to do so perfectly. God completely understands our nature, and expects nothing less, and thus extends forgiveness and mercy. He is not surprised by our sinfulness, He expects it, but rather than allow us to remain in our sin, He has made a way for us to receive forgiveness and maintain our relationship with Him.
As we see in the story of the wayward son in Luke 15, the Father welcomes the wayward son with open arms, love, forgiveness and restoration of relationship and identity. This is what the Father extends to us when we come to Him in our repentance! He knows our sin, yet He loves us!
The enemy would try to keep us from God's love, and from experiencing forgiveness, by convincing us of our shame concerning our sinfulness. He tries to convince us that we are the only person that struggles with not doing God's will, not living our life in perfect unity with the Father! The enemy wants us to expect judgment and punishment at the hands of our Father. The enemy has worked hard to foster that attitude in the church, so that rather than welcoming sinners (for we are all sinners) we reject them and judge them. We are taught by religion to hold up a false image of ourselves to those that we meet, proclaiming our righteousness, as if we had some ability to affect that in our lives. Paul made it quite clear that our righteousness is only possible through faith in Jesus (Rom 3: 22-28). The church is too often like the Pharisee in this story, judging the sinful person, and being appalled at their presence and audacity to come and worship God! We tend to label people with their sin, judging them like we have never sinned ourselves, thinking of ourselves as better than them. Oh Lord, forgive us!
This morning, I am reminded of God's great love, His mercy and His forgiveness that He has extended to me! I am reminded that He waits for me to turn towards Him! I am reminded that His love for me includes His understanding that I am a sinner, and in spite of that He welcomes me with open arms. I am encouraged to look at my life an my actions, to make sure that I am representing the heart of the Lord to all those I meet, especially to the "sinners", for that includes us all! I am stirred in my heart to love God, to be amazed at His abundance and mercy, His compassion and forgiveness! I am reminded to be grateful for His forgiveness, rather than ashamed at my weakness and sin.
Amen!
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