A Study In Luke - Day 18

DAY 18 - Luke 7:36-43
 
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting 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 what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
Forgiveness is a funny thing. We sometimes feel it and need it, but we don’t always understand it. It is both ethereal and deeply personal and real. Forgiveness is as much a culture we cultivate and an action we engage in and receive. Forgiveness is all of these things and more.

In this story, Jesus is eating at a Pharisee’s house, and this woman comes in and starts to lower herself in front of him, wash his feet, and weep over them. This would have been embarrassing and uncomfortable for everyone. Jesus receives this love because he understands what it means to the woman.
 
When the Pharisee pushes back on the propriety of this woman’s behavior, Jesus tells a story about forgiving a little and a lot. The story's point is obvious: those who have been forgiven of much are often more grateful for that forgiveness, and this woman had been forgiven of many sins.

Sometimes we have trouble really believing in the forgiveness that comes from God as it seems to be such an intangible thing. It is hard for us to believe that God is really willing to forgive us, and we function as if it never really happened. We carry guilt that God has no interest in us carrying, and we work hard to become “accepted” by God, when that acceptance has already been given to us repeatedly.
 
This story reminds us of the greatness of forgiveness and the goodness of Jesus as he accepted the woman’s act of gratitude into his life, regardless of whether it seemed appropriate to others or not.

1. Have you been forgiven of much or of little? 
2. Have you ever met someone who didn’t feel they needed forgiveness for anything? How did that make you feel? 
3. Do you think that the forgiveness of God is a feeling or a fact?