Love and Forgiveness: How Jesus' Forgiveness Changes Everything

 By: Lauren Thomas

All month on the blog, I have written about forgiveness. But perhaps one of the most beautiful and poignant stories about forgiveness, I have saved for last. Though last, it is the most foundational for the topic of forgiveness.

In Luke 7:36-50 Jesus went to eat at the home of a Pharisee. While there, an unnamed “woman of the city, a sinner,” came with a flask of ointment. With her tears and her hair, she washed Jesus’ feet. With the ointment, she perfumed him. Jesus’ feet were likely dusty and dung-covered, from what we know of city infrastructure in his time. From what we know of customs of his time, foot washing was a curtesy performed for guests. When the Pharisee criticized the woman, Jesus confronted the Pharisee. He contrasted the love the woman had for him, how it overflowed in her treatment of him, with the unconcern of the Pharisee. Telling a parable, he showed the Pharisee his error and drew a parallel between love and forgiveness:

 

⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 7:47-48 ESV

 

Was it the woman’s love that engendered her forgiveness? Or was it forgiveness that produced her love? I can’t be sure.

 

But what I am certain of is that both this woman and the Pharisee were sinners in need of grace. The difference is not that one’s sin was greater than the other, but that one was more acutely aware of her sin.

 

When we recognize the depth and depravity of our sin, Christ’s forgiveness of us is magnified. Our love for Christ is intensified. And this in turn, causes the forgiveness we extend toward others to be amplified, augmented, increased exponentially.

 

If you have struggled with forgiving someone an offense against you, the first thing to do is shift your focus off the offense and place your attention squarely on the weight of your sin that Jesus bore on the cross. There you will find forgiveness.

 

Reflection:

Read this account in Luke 7:36-50. What or who do you still need to forgive? What changes are created internally when you begin to contemplate Jesus’ forgiveness of you?