"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 he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven."
Luke 7:47-48
This beautiful story of Jesus’ power to forgive sin should encourage our hearts and help us to understand the breadth of His mercy. Please read of our Savior’s compassion for sinners in Luke 7:36-50. In this scene, Jesus is eating a meal at a Pharisee’s home. During the meal, Jesus is visited by a woman (“which was a sinner,” v. 37), with an alabaster box of ointment that she brought to Him. She bathed His feet with her tears, and wiped His feet with her hair, and anointed His feet with the lotion. This was all done because she loved the Savior who had forgiven her sins.
This dear lady’s sacrifice stands in stark contrast to Jesus’ treatment by the Pharisee which was minimal, and that didn’t even provide for Him the minimal kindness that Jewish custom demanded. The lady loved Jesus dearly, the Pharisee not at all.
“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven;”
Jesus forgives sin, from the child who is crushed by their “little” sins, to this woman with her many moral failures, to the chief of sinners, the Apostle Paul himself. Jesus described this lady’s sins as “many” (the Greek adjective means “much, many, most”1). She was loaded with sin, and Jesus forgave them all.
“For she loved much:”
The way Jesus stated this is important. He didn’t say, “because she loved much,” but He said, “for she loved much.” Her love was not the reason that she was forgiven, but her expression of her love was a result of her being forgiven. There is no way that we can earn “forgiveness” from God. He forgives us based upon His mercy and grace, and not our merits. The gracious demonstration of her love for the Savior was her response to His forgiveness.
“But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”
And then there’s the Pharisee, the host. He had no love for the Savior, and his behavior bore that out (Luke 7:45-46). Being a Pharisee, he surely had no need for “forgiveness.” After all, he was a religious leader in Israel, he lived nothing like this “fallen immoral woman!” At least this was the common thinking of the day. In Jesus’ words He “loved little,” because he had been forgiven nothing. He had no idea that his need was so great.
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked,” (Revelation 3:17 – the Angel to the church of Laodicea).
“And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.”
Jesus already said that her sins were forgiven in the previous verse. Why did He repeat Himself? Jesus never wasted words, and I have to think that He spoke these wonderful words again so that the lady would have absolutely no doubt that she is forgiven.
When Jesus says “you are forgiven,” then you are forgiven! Believers, we have to trust the Word of God, and when the Word says we are forgiven, we are forgiven!
Praise the Lord for His forgiveness!
1. “Many,” defined in The Wave Parallel Bible.