Much Love - A Reflection on 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 canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward 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.”
Simon was a Pharisee who invited Jesus home for a dinner. The dinner is not entirely private. Simon has passed the word among his friends that Jesus is visiting, and although he doesn’t invite them for dinner, he’s letting them know that they are welcome to visit. People do this even today, especially in “spiritual” circles. Most of the time it is for the prestige of the thing rather than because they want to hear what the preacher has to say. Anyway, the problem with having an open house is that anybody can walk in, and sometimes you might not like the people who walk in.
Simon has this problem. He has a guest he would rather not have, a woman who was a “sinner”. Although her sin is not specified, most people imagine her to be a prostitute, so let’s just go with that. It works as well as anything else. This woman had heard that Jesus was going to be there so she goes to listen to him and the things he says touch her heart so deeply it brings tears to her eyes. Now she is sitting so close to Jesus some of them fall on his feet, and this triggers a huge bout of weeping that make his feet wet with tears. She wipes them with her hair, then anoints them with some very expensive perfume.
Simon, and undoubtedly all the others guests, are scandalized. He thinks: “This man can’t be a prophet. If he was he’d know what kind of a woman this is!” Jesus, of course, knows what he is thinking. He could have let the matter go because the man hasn’t voiced his opinion loudly, but he won’t. Especially because there was an important lesson to be taught here. He tells Simon a story about two debtors. One of them owed a large sum of money to a certain creditor; another owed a much smaller sum. Both were forgiven their debt. Who would love the creditor more? Simon gave the obvious answer: the one who was forgiven more.
And then Jesus said, “You know, Simon. I came to your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but this woman bathed them with her tears. You gave me no welcoming kiss but this woman has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with perfume. You know why she has done all this? Because her sins were many and she has been forgiven much so her love is great. But to the one whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
Now, my dear brothers and sisters, please listen to me carefully, because this is really important. Jesus says that the one who is forgiven little, loves little, and the one who is forgiven much, loves much. Many of us don’t feel much love because we don’t feel we have sinned much, but just look at our life for a moment. Let us look at the little things that we do every day—the little white lies, the little gossip, the little slander. Multiply that by the number of days there are in a year. Multiply that by the number of years we are alive. And we will realize how much we have sinned. And, consequently, how much we have been forgiven.
And once we realize we are forgiven much we will love much too.
Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here:
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