Wednesday after the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 14, 2024 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
Jesus’ forgiveness comes before our love. The woman loved Jesus because she believed that He had forgiven her. Therefore, Jesus does not say, “your love has saved you,” but, “your faith has saved you.” Forgiveness comes first, received by faith, and love is the fruit that follows.
Was the woman more sinful than the Pharisee? No. They were both sinful and in need of forgiveness. The difference between them was that the woman acknowledged her sin, and the Pharisee did not. The Pharisee, because he denied his sin, did not receive forgiveness (since forgiveness is received through faith), and consequently had no love for Jesus or the woman. But the woman, because she acknowledged her sin, was comforted.
If we know that we are forgiven in Christ through faith, then the Law no longer condemns us. Instead, the better we know our sin, the better we know Jesus’ love for us. This is why Christians continue to learn and practice God’s Law. The better we know the Law, the better we know Jesus. And the better we know how unlawful we are, the better we know how much Jesus has forgiven us. Once we know Jesus, then we can truly love one another.
Collect: 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.
