Luke 7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
We love to hear about transformed lives. But not all lives! When someone takes a radical turn toward self-destruction, we don’t like those stories. We want to think that the natural path for humanity is an upward one, that we are getting better, wiser, more loving and kind.
But then we look out the window, read a news story, look inwardly (be careful with this one), we find out that our hopes and dreams of an upward trajectory just don’t match reality. We live in a world that is messed up. People are inventive when it comes to the ways they choose for self-destruction.
But today is the same as yesterday. Jesus bumped into this all the time. He is reaching the poor, the most downtrodden and rejected of society and those at the top of the social order feel insulted. They have worked their whole lives to be separate from the very people Jesus is reaching. They don’t want to be dirtied by association.
But Jesus isn’t bothered by such petty distinctions. He is here to love all. And those who reach His direction, He is more than happy to reach back.
Jesus is at the wealthy home of one of the leaders at the top. He has accepted the invitation for the meal. He has enjoyed the meal. He has not judged the attendees. But there is one person who doesn’t fit the profile of the home. And Jesus accepts her as well.
This rejected woman has been accepted by Jesus. He has allowed her to serve Him. Jesus isn’t afraid of guilt by association. But not his host!
Jesus host knows this woman and her reputation. How he knows, and how she entered this rich person’s house is a modern question that the text just doesn’t answer. We could write a novel based on speculation about this rich man and his relationship to this impure woman, but that is for another day.
Jesus hears the thoughts of his host and puts them into words and answers them. Righteous people don’t need forgiveness, but everyone else does. And righteousness can be seen in actions. This woman demonstrated with her actions that she knew her own spiritual state and the righteousness of Jesus. Her actions demonstrated the brokenness of heart that is needed for repentance.
The host probably was a very ‘good’ man. He did many things right and therefore didn’t have many things for which he needed to be forgiven. He got ninety nine percent correct and didn’t see that one percent that separated him from salvation. The woman saw her ninety nine percent sinfulness and was overwhelmed. She knew she needed grace.
How about you? What is your picture of your spiritual condition? How much grace do you need? Or are you pretty good, good enough, doing fine?
The Arnold Journey 