More Love

I often think about the people that got to engage directly with Jesus during His lifetime on earth. A couple of weeks back I drew attention to one such individual during the Sunday morning message when we were considering some of the Bible’s important teaching about gratitude.

Jesus was invited by a man named Simon, who we are told was a Pharisee, to his home for dinner. And while they were there together at the dinner table, a woman comes into the house, positions herself behind Jesus as He is reclined at the table and begins to weep and to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she proceeds to kiss his feet and pour expensive perfume on them.

There is a lot that could be said about the significance of this act itself but what follows is most likely Luke’s purpose for including the story. Simon is indignant and is sitting there thinking how this Jesus can’t be much of a prophet or else He would have known about this woman, for we are told that she ‘had lived a sinful life’ (Luke 7:37). Not only did Jesus know about the woman and her life, but He also knew exactly what Simon was thinking. Simon may well have rethought Jesus’ credentials when Jesus answered his unspoken question. In classic form, Jesus tells a very simple and pointed story, a parable if you will, about two men who owed another man money. One owed him a large amount and the other a smaller amount but the man forgave them both. As is so often the case with the Master Teacher, Jesus pries the life truth of the story from Simon’s own lips with the simple question – “Which of them will love him more?” When Simon answered, “I suppose (note the hesitancy), the one who had the bigger debt canceled”, Jesus affirmed that he was in fact correct.

Let’s pick up the story right at that spot in the text…

“Then He turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (Lk 7:44-47)

Again, this passage is so rich with implications for our lives but one thing seems to stand out to me. I often hear people talk about how as Christians we allow our passion for Christ to wane and really struggle to know how to get it back when it does. It would seem from this passage that one thing we can definitely do is become more fully aware of our spiritual poverty. We really need to be in touch with just how needy we are so that we can have a fuller appreciation for the mercy of Christ.

The passage doesn’t teach that this woman was forgiven because she loved much. It teaches that she loved much because she was forgiven much. She was aware of just how incredibly awesome Christ’s love and forgiveness for her really was.

The apostle John said it simply like this- “We love because He first loved us.” (Jn 4:19) The truth is that we have no capacity in and of ourselves to love. It is only as we experience love that we are able to love in return. He who is forgiven much loves much. In other words, the one who knows what it is to be greatly loved will have a great love. The secret, if you want to call it that, for loving God is to know the wonderful, matchless, abounding love of God in Christ to us.

If you haven’t been listening to the latest song by the band The Sidewalk Prophets, then you may well want to check it out. Even if you have, you might want to have a listen to it again right now as it is very helpful in this regard.