47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved

much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins

are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among

themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman,

“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:47-50)

Today we finish our devotional thoughts on Luke 7:36-50 in which we’ve learned the

breathtaking truth that Jesus came to bring peace to professional sinners. Sinners just

like you and me who need no help finding all kinds of ways to stray from God’s

thoughts, desires and commands.

Before we go, I want you to notice a couple more things here in this powerful text. First,

Jesus doesn’t soften the sin of this woman. He doesn’t reply to Simon “Oh, lighten up

Simon, she’s not all that bad, there are worse sins than prostitution.” There’s none of

that. In fact, he affirms Simon’s evaluation of this woman’s moral status in the little

parable He creates back in verse 41. It’s clear to everyone at Simon’s party that in

Jesus’ little story, Simon is the debtor who owed a little and this woman is the debtor

who owed much. But Simon is missing the point…

The point of Jesus’ parable is NOT who has the greater sin. The point of Jesus’ parable

is to show whose sin has been forgiven and whose sin remains. Jesus teaches us here

that it’s better to be a “professional sinner” whose sin has been forgiven than to have a

little sin which remains unforgiven. From a human perspective, this is akin to a jumping

contest in which Simon the Pharisee has “morally” out-jumped this sinful woman by

several lengths. But from God’s perspective, it is a jumping contest across the Grand

Canyon and both Simon and the sinful woman are going to miss the other side by miles

and fall to their collective deaths, apart from divine intervention.

This truth has been fully internalized by the sinful woman which explains her show of

emotion at the feet of Jesus. Instead of “hitting the canyon floor” as her sin deserved,

she is caught by God’s amazing grace. Weeping, washing and anointing are the acts

which reflect the intense awareness and deep love this woman has for being forgiven by

Jesus. All this is summed up in Jesus’ words “he who is forgiven little, loves little.”



Q: Do you love much or little? What does this level of love say about your awareness of

the forgiveness of your sins? Where do you see yourself in Luke 7:36-50?

By Jimmy Carter