Luke 7:47 Forgiven Little ...Then You Must Love Little?

Luke 7:47 'Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven --- for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

At first it may appear that there is some good about being a more severe sinner than "average". It sounds like only people who sin a lot can love a lot, therefore I guess we can find some good in our sin. Since Paul also wrote (I Cor 13:13) that the greatest of Faith, Hope and Love ... was Love, then Jesus was outlining the path to great love ... was he not?

Well of course not, but let's reconcile what it seems to be implying with the circumstances and context of when He said that. 

Luke 7:36-50  36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner." 

Let's take note of a few notable observations. The Pharisee was interested in Jesus enough to invite him to his house, however it also appears that he had a benign respect for Jesus by his comment “if this man was a prophet”. I suggest that the Pharisee was a skeptic leaning toward unbelief in Jesus as a qualified teacher. Also take note that even though it was public knowledge that the woman was sinful, she still was brave enough to come to the Pharisee's event. Finally, one commentary points out that Luke was narrating from the standpoint of public opinion. It is not who Luke thought she was,  it was a narration of what the public opinion was.

Let's keep reading

40 Jesus answered him,"Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

Have you ever had trouble paying your bills? Ever felt the pit in your stomach that the thought of bankruptcy might bring? Jesus was using the metaphor of debt and the pain associated with that experience to reveal to the Pharisee who he really was.

When Jesus said the Pharisee had "judged correctly" he was indicating that the Pharisee, like most of us, cannot escape measuring even our own bankruptcy against the bankruptcy of others! When Jesus asked "which of them will love him more" he was not saying which one should love him more, he was saying which one would love him more!

The reality of the story is they were both bankrupt. Both he and the sinful woman were in the same depraved condition. Most of us feel just like the Pharisee … we feel less convicted, less remorseful, and yes even less condemned when someone else’s misery and or sin is more severe than ours. 

Now Jesus describes the reality of what was happening.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss,but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."48 Then Jesus said to her,"Your sins are forgiven." 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Let's acknowledge right away that the love being referred to is not not a love that generates salvation! While ultimately belief in Jesus and love for him and what He did for us does generate salvation, Jesus specifically points out that it was not the woman's deeds of washing his feet that was saving her. It was what happened to her before she washed his feet ... her love was evidence of the salvation she had already acquired. For Jesus reminded everyone of this when he said in verse 50 "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." 

The sinful woman’s tears were probably a mixture of the joy in attending to Jesus, and the painful remembrance of her prior experience of brokenness. One way to describe brokenness is when the inward momentum of sorrow & guilt reaches a level of uncontrollable remorse. Her sorrow, remorse, and her painful but joyful remembrance of her past forgiveness were being poured out by her act of agape love. 

Friends, being broken is the fertile ground where agape love rises from. This is not an every day event. However, it should not be a one time event. You may say to me, how can I be broken? I am not a prostitute nor have I reached rock bottom through some form of public humiliation. Folks, we do not have to experience public humiliation to be broken.

Paul shared his own experiencing of  brokenness. Let's read parts of what Paul went through.

Romans 7:14-24   We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^c For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! 

Please note that Paul was not writing about what he did before. He was writing about what he was doing!  Paul was broken more than once and we can be broken multiple times too.

Theologically accenting to our sin and depravity is fairly easy. However, accepting the hopelessness of our own ability to emerge from bankruptcy on our own apart from the sin we see in others is very hard. The Pharisee was not seeing his own sin apart from the sin of this woman. Jesus was teaching him that he needed to understand his own condition in order to begin to love like the woman. It is also a concept that we need to acknowledge and pray we can understand and embrace since it is so hard to do.

If you accept to mentally travel on this journey toward personal brokenness you will eventually become frustrated with yourself, just as Paul did. However, during this journey when you reach that place of authentic and heartfelt hopelessness and remorse ... you will at that moment, experience how massive is the grace of God … and the resulting joy and peace which is impossible to describe. It is in these moments, as we absorb the massive grace of God that the fruit of love flows from us more freely toward those who are in desperate need of love and/or in need of some form of help. 

What does our love look like?  The sinful woman?  Or the Pharisee?

The answer to that question can be directly be related to how we view the size of our debt.