Wednesday after the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 23, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 7:36-50 (NKJV)
7:36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
So he said, “Teacher, say it.”
41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”
And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Devotion
The world thinks that those who need to be forgiven least are the more holy. In this way, they use God’s forgiveness to brag of their own sanctity, and consequently, only a little love or gratitude is shown. This was the case of Simon the Pharisee. But Jesus points out to him that the woman who so reverently washed His feet, kissing them and wiping them with her tears, thereby showed tremendous love for her Savior. Why? For the same reason that Simon despised her. She had sinned much.
All three of them knew this. But only Jesus and the woman understood the significance of her act of love. She had also been forgiven much. The faithful try to show love in proportion to forgiveness. Simon did not consider the grace of God to be so super-abounding as to forgive someone like her.
We cannot truly understand the grace of God if we are preoccupied with convicting others. We only truly understand God’s grace when we first convict ourselves. How much have we sinned against the Lord? How much have we been forgiven by the Lord? How much, then, should our love be flowing from our hearts in thanks and praise for His superabundant grace!
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
