Loving forgiveness

The Gospel reading for today is Luke 7:36-50.  In it, Jesus is dining at the home of a Pharisee named Simon; a woman, known to be “a sinner,” arrives and proceeds to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing them with ointment from an alabaster jar.  The Pharisee, with his class’s typical obsession with ritual purity and cleanliness, is appalled that Jesus would allow an unclean woman to do this.  Jesus then tells a parable about the creditor who forgives the debts of two debtors, one for a large sum, the other for less; when Jesus asks Simon which of the debtors will love the creditor more, Simon naturally says the one forgiven the larger debt.

Jesus then draws an analogy with his present situation.  The Pharisee, presumably with few sins to forgive, did not offer to wash Jesus’ feet or anoint his head with oil;  the woman, with many sins to forgive, not only washes and anoints, but does so with her own tears and expensive ointment.  Therefore, because of her faith and her great love, her sins are forgiven.

There’s a double message contained in this story.  The obvious one is that Jesus’ mission is to forgive our sins, thus those with the most to forgive are those with whom Jesus is most concerned.  But there is also a message here about what it means to be forgiven, to accept forgiveness.  Jesus says, “The one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”  This is not entirely a cut on Simon the Pharisee, but is also a warning about the linkage between love and forgiveness.  To forgive is to love, and to love is to be forgiven.  This holds true not only in our relationship with God, but in our relationships with each other.  Forgiveness, both in its giving and its receiving, is an act of love which binds us more closely to one another and, ultimately to God.