Reflecting on Luke 7:36-50
"Whoever has been forgiven little loves little." (Luke 7:47)A person’s gratitude will match the size of the gift given.
If I am given $1 dollar, my gratitude will be small.
If I am given $1 million dollars, my gratitude will be huge.
The gratitude will also match the value of the gift for the recipient.
If the recipient values the gift, they will be very grateful.
If I gave you a fan belt, you would not likely be thankful.
But imagine someone’s car stranded on a desert road with a broken fan belt.
If I gave them a fan belt, they would be very grateful.
It’s value to them and to you would be different.
The difference between the woman and the Pharisee was value.
It was not that the Pharisee was less a sinner, but he didn’t realize it.
Nor was she a worse sinner, but everyone else told her she was.
She felt her diminished value, he did not.
She sensed her need for mercy, he did not.
Both of them had experienced the kindness and generosity of Jesus.
We don’t know when she experienced it (was she the woman of John 8)?
But it a radical and dramatic encounter for her.
For the Pharisee having Jesus over was not radical or dramatic.
Her response reflected her sense of appreciation for Jesus’s kindness.
His response did too; no customary cheek kiss for this guest.
He didn’t even offer Jesus the customary foot washing for guests.
All of us are equally sinners before God, like this woman.
All of us are equally sinners before God, like any other sinner we know.
Our specific sins may be different, but to God they are still sin.
The question is not whether we are sinners, but do we realize it?
Do we realize how we fall short of God’s design for love?
Do we realize we all need God’s help, God’s mercy, God’s grace?
The comfort in this is obvious: God loves, forgives me and welcomes me!
Jesus wants to sit at the table with me, and to help renew my life.
God knows my specific sins as they actually are.
Not as others say they are (Pharisees), not even as I think they are.
I am no better or worse than anyone else; I am graced all the same.
The conviction in this is that I do not see myself as sinful like others.
I see myself in comparison to other worse sinners, and I feel less guilty.
I treat some as worse, and refuse to welcome them or be merciful or kind.
This is the Pharisee spirit, and it sadly infects many Christians.
The calling in this is to change the way I think of myself, and others.
I need to be more humble in regards to my own goodness.
And I need to be more gracious in regards to my sense of their badness.
Maybe if I show my own radical gratitude, it will show others.
Kindness and grace are God’s way of dealing with sinners.
We prefer shame and judgment, but that does not soften hardened hearts.
I am called to be an ambassador of radical grace and mercy.
Other sinners need to experience from me what this woman experienced from Jesus.
Freely I have received grace; freely I can extend grace.
Not everyone will accept it (like this Pharisee).
But that is not on me, nor is it on Jesus; that is on them.
They will not know what they are missing…
The wonder of experiencing the love of God in Jesus transforming us.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am indebted to You, and my debt is cancelled. What a wonder to sense God's smile beaming down on me, just as I am, helping me to become all that I was meant to be. May Your grace continue to shoine on me and through me, that others may experience this wonder too!