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

 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him.  And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat.  And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when he knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.  Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know what who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."  So he said, "Teacher, say it."

"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.  One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.  Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"  Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."  And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."  Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?  I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.  You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.  You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.  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."  Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."  And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"  Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace."

- Luke 7:36-50

 On Saturday we read that the disciples of John reported to him concerning all the things that Jesus had done.  And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  When the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'"  And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.   Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard:  that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John:  "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?  A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see?  A man clothed in soft garments?  Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts.  But what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.  This is he of whom it is written:  'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.'  For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."  And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John.  But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.  And the Lord said, "To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like?  They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying:  'We played the flute for you, and you did not  dance; we mourned to you, and you did not weep.' "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'  The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'  But wisdom is justified by all her children."

  Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him.  And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat.  And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when he knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.  Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know what who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."  So he said, "Teacher, say it."   My study bible says that this Pharisee was intrigued by Christ, which is shown by his invitation for Christ to eat with Him at his house.   But we can read his critical thoughts of Jesus, that he isn't a faithful follower or disciple, in his assumptions about the known sins of this woman and Christ's willingness to allow her to touch Him.

"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.  One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.  Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"  Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."  And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."  Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?  I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.  You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.  You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.  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."  Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."  Jesus tells a parable which illustrates His own understanding of sinfulness, healing, need, and love.   Jesus gives more evidence of the Pharisee's lack of belief in Him, and his lack of love for Christ:  he lacked even common hospitality toward Him.  In a sense, the parable told by Jesus has much in common with the parable of the Prodigal Son, which is found only in Luke's Gospel (15:11-32).  The "perfect," or those who have sinned little (or who think of themselves on these terms), need little forgiveness, and therefore love little.  But this woman, aware of her sins and need for forgiveness, loves much.  My study bible calls this encounter with the sinful woman an icon of the grace which is only found in the Church.  It quotes St. Ambrose of Milan, who says that through her, "the Church is justified as being greater than the Law, for the Law does not know the forgiveness of sins, nor the mystery in which secret sins are cleansed; therefore, what is lacking in the Law is perfected in the Gospel."  

And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"  Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace."  My study bible says that the idea that a man could forgive sins was beyond the bounds of the Law as understood by the Pharisees (see 5:21).  But Christ was not simply a mere man; He is the Lawgiver Himself.  St. Cyril of Alexandria asks, "Who could declare things that were above the Law, except the One who ordained the Law?"

Jesus introduces a parable which gives the idea of sin as a form of debt, and forgiveness as akin to the forgiveness of a debt, as in the Lord's Prayer (11:1-4, Matthew 6:9-14).  But this being the Gospel written by Luke the physician, and in which Jesus also compares Himself to a physician (Luke 5:31), when He is criticized for dining with tax collectors and sinners after Matthew the tax collector became a disciple (see this reading).  In this perspective, sinfulness is akin to sickness, and the Gospel includes incidents of healing in which the afflicted are also told to "sin no more," such as that of the paralytic healed by Christ with the help from his friends (in this reading).   But in today's reading, Jesus speaks of love, and therefore indicates that what is included in healing and forgiveness is also relationship, communion, and that the communion which God seeks with God's people is one of love.  In this love, we are given to understand, is where we find healing, cleansing, and right-relatedness to Creator.  It is a way of opening up a new revelation:  that it is not simply those who lead outwardly blameless lives who are "perfect" in faith, but in fact those who have much need of forgiveness may be capable of loving more.  Out of the ills of this world can come a deeper healing and greater faith than a simplistic understanding of what it is to be faithful to God.  Indeed, hidden here is the understanding that repentance is for all of us; we do not live in a perfect world, and therefore by definition each of us needs to come to Christ to see clearly, to understand our own particular ailments or blindness, to find true health.  In this sense, the sinful woman who showed such love for Christ is more healthy than the Pharisee, simply evidenced by the fact that she loved much.  In the fallen condition of the world, it is not easy to see what we lack and what we need.  It is, indeed, through love that we find true repentance, which comes through an awareness of where God may be asking us to change what we might not understand we need to change and grow.  It's also important to understand that the Greek word "sin" simply means "missing the mark."  In this perspective, we all have ways in which we can change to come closer to our true image in the sight of Christ.  The quite obviously sinful, those who have failed in the eyes of the world, may be acutely more aware of the healing, forgiveness, and love from God that they need -- and therefore much better off spiritually than the Pharisees of our world, in whatever form or modern guise they can be found, and those guises and forms are myriad and surprising.  The Greek in the Gospel can be read to mean more literally that those who love much are forgiven much, and those who love little are forgiven little.  Let us consider the love to which He calls us, how that love confers of state of grace and healing within a capacity for communion with God who is love.  Let us also consider the blindness to it that can separate us from God and our own need for healing.   In God's love is the surprising good news of Christ.