Luke 7:36-50
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she 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 ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
So why does she make such a spectacle of herself?
It’s a good question, one asked by Simon and, no doubt, most of his guests.
Jesus, however, has no doubt about what has prompted her display of extravagant hospitality and extreme devotion. To share his knowledge with the others, he asks Simon a brief question that takes the form of a short story or parable.
Who do you think would be more grateful, Jesus asks, a man whose debt of five hundred denarii was cancelled or the one forgiven fifty? A denarii was the value of about a day’s wages for labor, but for the point of this short parable that’s almost beside the point. All that’s required here is a basic understanding of math, as the first man is forgiven ten times the debt that the other is.
Simon, apparently, knows how to count, and so answers that he supposes (“supposes”? – really, Simon, you only suppose?) it would be the man for whom the greater debt was cancelled.
The obvious analogy is to the woman who has been bathing his feet with tears. She apparently has been forgiven much, perhaps ten times what others have been forgiven. Which explains why she is devoting herself to Jesus, weeping as she does. She is overcome by gratitude, the kind of gratitude understood only by someone who has been given everything.
But is forgiveness really everything? Can it possibly be worth that much?
Consider: forgiveness at heart is the restoration of relationship. It is releasing any claim on someone else for some past injury or offense. That’s why the analogy to a debt works so well. Forgiveness cancels relational debt and opens up the future. Which is why it’s so important, so valuable.
But it’s also something more. Forgiveness also give you back yourself. You see, after a while, being indebted, owing others, knowing yourself first and foremost as a sinner – these realities come to dominate and define you. You are no more and no less than what you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, the debt you owe. When you are forgiven, all those limitations disappear and you are restored, renewed, set free.
So, yes, forgiveness is everything.
After his exchange with Simon, Jesus turns and addresses the woman directly, saying that, “your sins are forgiven.” I think we typically take such pronouncements in a present-tense kind of way, assuming that Jesus is offering forgiveness right in that moment, as a response to the woman’s devotion and, perhaps, supplication.
But in this case I don’t think that’s how it played out. I think Jesus had already met this woman, already forgiven her sins, and that she is now demonstrating her extreme gratitude, unable to hold back, unaware or uncaring of the surprise and stares and even disapproval of everyone else.
And, just to make sure she realizes that this new reality that has broken her heart with its beauty is real, Jesus says again, “your sins are forgiven.” Some things, you see, are so good it’s hard to believe they’re true. And so Jesus repeats the words of forgiveness that they may sink deep into her broken and reborn heart.
But that’s still only half the story….
Prayer: Dear God, remind us again that when we hear words of mercy, grace, and forgiveness all things are made new. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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