Luke 7:47

Luke 7:47 - “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins are forgiven - for she Loved much. But he who has been forgiven little Loves little.”

Think about it this way. Say you owe money to two different people. To one you owe five dollars; to the other you owe five hundred dollars. Now you have fallen on hard times and have been unable to pay any of it back. These men see this and they have compassion on you, so they tell you that you do not have to pay them any of the money you owe.

Now, in your situation, you were unable to satisfy either of the debts, but to which will you show more appreciation? You will have more gratitude to the one who forgave the larger debt. If both of these men were calling for help you would go to this one first because he forgave more.

Now look at your relationship with God. We have all been forgiven of all our sins. As Jesus says here, though, there are different appreciation levels for this forgiveness. ‘The one who has been forgiven much Loves much and the one who has been forgiven little Loves little.’

In reality we must realize that all sin is equal and all sin deserves death, so we all have been forgiven the same debt. But we don’t all see it this way. In our minds we see some sin as not being as bad as other sin. We think that the little ‘white’ lie we told isn't as bad as the guy who killed someone. From the human perspective this is true, but from the eternal perspective and in God’s eyes these are equal. Both deserve death; but both will be forgiven if you come to Him.

So when Jesus is speaking to His disciples here, why is He talking about different levels of Love? It is because we Love to the extent we realize we have been forgiven. If you think your sin really isn't that bad, you won’t appreciate God’s forgiveness as much as the one who realizes that his sin deserved death.

We will not be able to Love God to the extent we are called to, until we realize how devastating our sin really is. When we realize how bad our sin is and how much God has truly forgiven we will actually be able to Love Him more.

Luke 7:47

Luke 7:47 – “Therefore. I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she Loved much. But he who been forgiven little Loves little.” Jesus says this to a Pharisee after they shared a meal together. In this story Jesus was invited over to the home of the Pharisee for a meal. As He was eating a woman came to Him and began crying at His feet. She didn’t come to eat with them; she just wanted to see Jesus. This woman was known for her sinful life and many did not associate with her because of this. When she came to Him she didn’t say a word, there were no questions, no asking for anything, just tears. As she was crying her tears wet Jesus feet so much that she used her hair to dry them off. After this she kissed them and poured perfume on them. While all this was happening the Pharisee was thinking to himself, “If this man (Jesus) were a prophet, He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner.” Jesus then proceeded to tell a story of two men who owed someone money. One owed five hundred and the other fifty. Neither one could repay the debt. Because of this the lender decided to cancel both of them. Now neither of the men owed the money any more. They come to the conclusion that the one forgiven more will Love more, because he realizes how far down in the “hole” he was. Jesus relates this to our sins that have been forgiven. Those who have been forgiven more will Love Him more. Now in reality the Pharisee and the “sinful” woman were no different. They both had sin and both needed forgiveness. The woman, however, had come to realize her sin and how detrimental it was. She knew that it separated her from God and knew that it was only through Jesus that she could come back to Him. The Pharisee thought that he was already righteous based on his “good” life. In truth all sin is the same in God’s eyes because it separates us from Him. For us we know that we have been forgiven, but there are different levels of understanding on what that truly means. It’s easy to say it, but do we truly understand that if justice is served we would deserve death and eternal separation from God. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. But through Christ we have been rescued from this fate and brought in to God’s kingdom. We are now told to walk in Love. “Love God; and Love people,” Jesus summed it up in those two commands. In order to do this and walk in Love as Jesus did we must realize how bad our sin truly is and how know that God has forgiven all of it.