Wednesday, October 5, 2016

The Forgiven

When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.  Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver[i] to one and 50 pieces to the other.  But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

That’s right,” Jesus said.  Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”  Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven. Luke 7:37-48

We have been taught since we were children to forgive.  However, we often focus on us forgiving, and rarely do we focus on the person forgiven.  I recently had a situation where it was me who was in need of forgiveness.  It was revealing because I have not always been the quickest to forgive.  In this instance, I learned exactly how powerful forgiveness can be as the one being forgiven.  You see, we have been forgiven for our sins through Jesus Christ.  That was amazing enough, but it was through being forgiven by a loved one that you can actually gain context.  You have a true feel for what Jesus did for us and its significance.  More importantly, you can actually feel the love one has for you when you’ve been forgiven.  It’s funny that while I practiced the former of forgiving others, I did not truly understand its value until I too was forgiven.

One of the most transformative things one can have is to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us.  The story of Christ, Peter, and the sinful woman is one I have often read and even written a devotional on before.  However while I previously focused on the woman’s faith, today I want to focus on two things; Peter and the woman being forgiven.  We often react to people who either have a troubled past or struggled in their lives with something, and we look at them as Peter initially looked upon the woman.  “You’re beyond redemption,” might be the voice in our head.  But Jesus understood the bigger picture.  He saw a broken woman who was desperately looking for a savior to heal her.  The guilt of her sins was overwhelming such that she could wash his feet with her tears.  Can you imagine the pouring out of tears that must have occurred?  Jesus noted in verse 47 just how tough it had been for her.  “Her sins- and they are many,” gave a clear indication of just how low emotionally she was.  Yet in her forgiveness, she gained a new lease on life.  The burdens of her past were gone, and she could only see a future filled with God’s love and ‘peace.’  Our goal as followers of Christ is to spread the Good News, and if you understand how powerful it is to be forgiven, it can make the path toward forgiving others much more impactful.


Yes, the purpose of forgiveness is for us to be loving examples of Jesus Christ, but to focus exclusively on our own side is to miss the point.  God forgave us for our sins, and we are thus reborn.  How much could someone in your life gain should you forgive them?  The reward is a person will see the God in you, and more importantly, will be able to see God themselves.  Who has forgiven you that you can learn from?  How can you quickly forgive as Jesus has forgiven you?  My prayer is that we realize that forgiveness is more than about forgiving.  It is about the forgiven.  Amen.

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