Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Today's Scripture
Luke 7:36–50

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “Speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (NRSV)

Reflection

If Jesus is right about a correlation between the magnitude of forgiveness a person has received and the love they show, then I’m compelled to wonder what the refusal to permit the government to forgive millions of dollars of student loans has cost us — in terms of love.

We might unspool Jesus’ quip here into a broader strategy for multiplying acts of grace and beauty and love among a population: forgive people. Forgiveness is a kind of virtuous aphrodisiac, fueling acts of devotion like the one described in this dinner scene. A person from town known by all to be a “sinner” (for what we don’t know) performs an act of generous hospitality and care for Jesus, not in spite of her reputation but because of it.

By contrast, Jesus’ host has overlooked even the most basic functions of welcoming a guest. It simply hasn’t occurred to him to show affection or care. He doesn’t sense that he needs to. He is not a person who lives with the sense that he’s indebted to anyone, less still that he’s been forgiven.

He’s like the man in that video you might have seen who tries to comfort his girlfriend, overburdened by housework he won’t do, by explaining to her about a magic laundry basket he’s discovered. “I don’t know how it happens,” he says, “But any dirty clothes you put in this basket, somehow, the next day, they’re just clean, folded, and in a perfect pile on your bed.” The stupefied look on his girlfriend’s face might resemble Jesus’ own look as he looks on at his host’s ignorance about matters of grace and love.

The Christian message is that, in Christ, we’re all forgiven. And yet forgiveness remains a pious abstraction if it doesn’t issue in gestures of care and compassion and nurture. To love is to forgive, and to be forgiven is to love.

Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

The Prayer of St. Francis

Reflection written by Rocky Supinger, Associate Pastor for Youth Ministry and Worship