Shouldn’t our willingness to be kind and compassionate and to forgive others be strongly influenced by what Jesus has done for us? Many times, we just don’t grasp how much we have been forgiven of. Luke 7:36-47 records the account of a time that Jesus was eating dinner with a Pharisee named Simon, when a woman with a bad reputation in town came into the room and stood weeping at Jesus’ feet. As her tears wet Jesus’ feet, she knelt down and wiped them clean with her long hair, kissed them and then anointed them with perfume. Simon was disgusted and disappointed that Jesus even allowed such a woman to touch Him. But Jesus responded by telling a parable about two people who were both in debt to the same moneylender and unable to pay. One owed an amount equal to 50 days of wages, while the other owed 10 times more- an amount equal to 500 days of wages. The gracious moneylender forgave both of their debts. Jesus then asked Simon, “Which of the debtors would love the forgiving moneylender more?” Simon correctly answered that it would be the one who was forgiven of the greater debt. Then Jesus contrasted how much love the sinful woman had shown to Him to the much lesser amount that Simon had showed to Him. Jesus said that the great love the woman had shown to him demonstrated that she knew that she had been forgiven of her many sins- her love for Jesus proved it. But what about Simon? What did the lack of love that he had shown for Jesus show? Does applying the parable indicate that his lack of love for Jesus was because he had less to be forgiven of? That probably would have been how Simon would have thought about it. But the reality was that Simon, like all of us, had plenty of sins that needed forgiveness. The correct application of the parable to Simon was that he loved much less because he THOUGHT he had much less to be forgiven of himself. Simon had no sense of the enormity of the sin in his own life…no sense of his great need to seek forgiveness from God, and therefore no understanding of what it feels like to actually receive such a great forgiveness. For Simon, this translated into his showing no love to Jesus, and notably, no love to the sinful, yet repentant and grateful woman. Yes, the one who has been forgiven the most responds in love the most. But with many of us, as it was with Simon, the problem is that we just don’t get how much we have been forgiven of, and thus don’t respond with a proportionate amount of love to Him or to others. We are to be kind, compassionate and forgiving just as Jesus is with us. But if we don’t truly understand how great the kindness, compassion and forgiveness of Jesus really is, then obviously we do not respond by being nearly as kind, compassionate and forgiving to others as we should. Long ago, a man named Robert Falconer was doing missionary work in a city among many very poor people. He was telling them the story of this woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair when he heard a loud sob. He looked up to see a young, thin girl. After he spoke a few words of encouragement to her, she said, “Will He ever come again, the One who forgave the woman? I have heard that He will come again. Will it be soon?” Falconer replied, “He could come any time. But why do you ask?” After sobbing again uncontrollably, she said, “Sir, can’t He wait a little while? My hair ain’t long enough yet to wipe His feet.” O that we all would understand, in the way this skinny young girl did, the great debt of love we owe due to the deep, deep love of Jesus demonstrated on the cross and due to the unmerited forgiveness He has so freely given us. O that we would then truly be as kind, compassionate and forgiving with others as Jesus has been with us.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 09:31:14 +0000
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