Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much

 

 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 in the city who was a sinner, when she 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 then 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 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 these things being done in Jesus' ministry.  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 in the city who was a sinner, when she 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 then 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 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."    My study bible comments on today's passage that this Pharisee was intrigued by Christ, as is evidenced by his invitation, but He clearly does not believe in Him, as is shown in his reaction to Christ's mercy, and also in his lack of what would have been common hospitality ("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.").  Moreover, my study bible cites St. Ambrose of Milan, who calls this encounter with the sinful woman an icon of the grace which is found only in the Church.  Through her, writes St. Ambrose, "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."   As far as the Pharisees understood it, my study bible tells us, that a man could forgive sins was beyond the bounds of the Law (see 5:21).   But we are to understand Christ as not a mere man, but the very Lawgiver Himself.  St. Cyril of Alexandria writes, "Who could declare things that were above the Law, except the One who ordained the Law?"

There are two things that are striking in today's reading.  Christ says that those who are forgiven much, love much.  At the same time, we observe the great love expressed by this woman, for whom much was forgiven by Christ.  He says, "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much."  What we can understand about this extravagant expression of the woman is that it is a great outpouring of love.  Jesus seems to say, in both the English and the Greek, that her sins are forgiven "for she loved much."  And there we also come to a kind of conundrum:  Did she love much because she was forgiven much, or was she forgiven much because she loved much?  I think that on some level we are meant to understand that these things form a circle.  Because those who cannot feel or appreciate forgiveness have little capacity for love to begin with.  The tremendous outpouring of love and gratitude on the part of this woman is linked not only to the forgiveness of Christ, but to the power of love which also links them.  Christ, as God, is love -- but that love is also reciprocated and called out in the creature.  She is responding out of faith.  This woman expresses a deeply extravagant and "expensive" love for Christ, for she has found through faith in her Creator a well of love, which can only be expressed through the power of grace at work.  The extravagance of her response to Christ is the only thing that can express the tremendous love we receive from God, the power of grace that knows no bounds and flows without measure.  What we find in this capacity for love and its outpouring symbolized in the flow of the expensive oil is the power of Christ's healing through love.  The forgiveness He gives from God's boundless love taps into the power of a soul healed to the depths of this outpouring, and her gift is a measure of her love.  We don't know what she did, nor what she was like, nor what gave her a rather notorious reputation.  But we can see her real character expressed through this love for Christ, and that is what we are meant to know.  Christ's love challenges us on levels which we can't know fully and can't see, and like this woman, we never know what depths of love might be brought out in us through Christ's forgiveness.  An unconditional power in God's love can bring out strengths and potentials for which we have no inkling, but nevertheless He calls from us through this great love and grace at work.  On the other hand, those for whom a coldness remains, despite salvation and love on offer perhaps express no such thing themselves, as they trust only in themselves to start with.  Jesus tells her that it is her faith that saved her.  Let us remember that in her expression she reveals that she is healed:  something has transformed her life to one of preoccupation with what is selfish to one of this overflowing love she expresses this night.  How are we open to that kind of healing?  What can give us this grace, in which we see how much the love of Christ is worthy of our love and trust, and a dedicated life?  Let us consider the power in God's love, for it is there we go to become "like Him."