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 cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning towards 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.”
So this story is about forgiveness. And it’s about the gratitude that forgiveness creates. And it’s about the extravagant acts of love and devotion that gratitude prompts.
But it’s also about something else: it’s about hardness of heart as opposed to love, about judgment instead of forgiveness, and about a sense of entitlement instead of gratitude.
Notice that telling this short parable would have been enough. The parable explains why the woman is acting as she is: she is like one who has had five hundred denarri – well over a year’s wages – forgiven her. That would have been enough, but Jesus doesn’t stop there.
Instead, he compares her actions of extravagant hospitality with that of Simon’s. He changes his focus, that is, from her devotion to Simon’s neglect. It’s not that Simon would have been expected to wash Jesus feet with his tears. It’s that her extravagance only magnifies Simon’s utter lack of hospitality, not providing even the minimum of what a good host would normally offer a guest.
Why this change of focus? Because the truth Jesus points to cuts both ways. It’s not only that one who has been forgiven much loves much from gratitude, it’s that the one who is forgiven little loves little.
Which is interesting. You might have expected Jesus to continue the line of the conversation at this point by moving to an accusation or even threat: Watch out, Simon, because the one who loves little is forgiven little. But rather than render judgment, Jesus instead simply offers a description: Those who have been forgiven little love very little.
Or is it less that they have not been forgiven, but don’t notice it. Perhaps don’t even think they need it. Who knows – perhaps they even disdain forgiveness as something for others, for those like this woman who is clearly a sinner, clearly beneath them, and so clearly in need of forgiveness. But them? Need forgiveness? Hardly!
And so it goes. If we cannot admit our need, we cannot receive the remedy for our lack, will not experience the gratitude of those who have received, as we said before, everything, and so are unable to love with abandon.
This certainly seems to be Simon’s situation. He has invited Jesus over but shows him no hospitality – which makes one wonder whether he invited Jesus sincerely or more for sport. And rather than be taken aback by the woman’s show of love, he judges both her and Jesus. He is a man who has no sense of being forgiven – even of needing forgiveness – and so is trapped in a judgmental hardness of heart.
This story, then, tells both halves of the truth: the joyful truth that those who recognize their need receive their heart’s desire and live out of gratitude and love, and the tragic truth that those who believe themselves righteous or sufficient on their own never know the joy or receiving and so pursue truncated lives absent genuine gratitude or love.
Part joyful, part tragic, this whole story functions something as a parable for the peculiar but life-changing logic of the kingdom of God.
And still it’s not over….
Dear God: You have forgiven us all things. Let us receive this news with joy, that our hearts may be filled with gratitude and our lives shaped by love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Sadao Watanabe, “The Anointing with Oil and Tears”, 1979.
Recent Comments