Freely Forgiven Free to Love

“Therefore, I say to you, her sins which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Luke 7:47


This is what Jesus says to the Pharisee about the woman who interrupts their dinner party. The woman had just emptied an alabaster flask of fragrant oil on Jesus’ feet. She also emptied her tears onto his feet as well. This statement of Jesus kind of bothers me. I mean, what is Jesus really saying? I want to love more-- I want to be a more loving man to my family; my brothers and sisters in Christ; my neighbor. I really desire to have a Christ-like love flowing from my heart. But, it would seem, by this statement of Jesus that I need to have many sins. Should I sin more so that I can be forgiven more?

The Pharisee was kind of upset about the whole thing. He questioned Jesus’ ability to know people but saying in his mind: if Jesus really knew who this woman was he wouldn’t allow this to go on.

The woman however was responding to Jesus presence. And it was a proper response. The Pharisee did not give a proper response to Jesus presence. “You did not give me water for my feet; you did not greet me with a kiss… But this woman…” Jesus then goes on to make comparison of the Pharisee’s response and the woman’s response. Jesus in this bothersome statement was, as usual, simply stating an observable fact to the Pharisee. The woman realized her great need for forgiveness and showed her appreciation. The one showing more love and mercy here is the one who has genuinely received love and mercy from the Lord. It is not about the amount of sin we commit—for we have all sinned and who can count the times we have fallen short of God’s glory? The focus is really one of realization, at the deepest level of our heart, that we have great need of forgiveness of our sins. And once those sins have been forgiven; once we have been truly cleansed of our sin the response will be one of unselfconscious love.

This woman was very conscious of her sins—but she was more conscious (to the point of not being conscious of anyone else) of the One who could truly forgive and cleanse her of sin. This set the woman free, truly free, to love Jesus in an extremely unselfconscious way.

William Barclay puts it nicely in his commentary on this passage: “It is true to say that the greatest of sins is to be conscious of no sin…”