“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little.” Luke 7:47 (read 36-50)

Does Jesus forgive our sins because we love Him? Or, do we love Him because He has forgiven us all our sins?

Some may read this account in Luke 7:36-50 and think that Jesus forgave this woman because of the great love which she showed to Him when she kissed Jesus’ feet, washed them with her tears, dried them with her hair and anointed them with expensive ointment. But the parable which Jesus told Simon the Pharisee, when Simon was inwardly critical of Jesus because He permitted a woman who was a sinner to touch him and express her love for Jesus in this way, reveals the truth that this woman loved Jesus because she had come to know and trust in Him for mercy and forgiveness.

If two debtors owed their creditor – one about 50 days’ wages and another 500 – and neither had the means to pay their debt and the creditor forgave them both, which would love the creditor most? When Jesus asked Simon, he rightly said the one who was forgiven the most would love the most.

Then Jesus pointed out the great love this woman had shown to him when Simon had not even treated Jesus with the common courtesies normally shown to a guest. Jesus said to Simon, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little.”

And though Simon and his supper guests questioned Jesus’ authority to forgive sins, Jesus assured this woman that her sins were indeed forgiven and told her to “go in peace.” Her faith in Jesus’ mercy and forgiveness had saved her. Through faith in Jesus, she received God’s pardon and peace. From his lack of love, Simon, it appears, had not taken hold of God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus. He hadn’t seen his own utter sinfulness and didn’t look to Jesus for the pardon and forgiveness which he so needed to be right with God.

And what about you? Do you love little because you have not come to see your own utter sinfulness and unworthiness and have not come to know and trust in God’s rich grace and mercy toward you for the sake of Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross? He who loves little has been forgiven little!

The Bible says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness … If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world” (1 John 1:8-9; 2:1,2).

I am a sinner, O Lord, and cannot pay the debt I owe. Have mercy upon me and forgive me for the sake of Your blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture

quotations are from the King James

Version of the Bible.]