Mark 2:13-17
Jesus Eats with Sinners
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Luke 7:36-50
A Sinful Woman Forgiven
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.”
Jesus and Simon have two different views about the woman who comes in uninvited to Simon's house...Jesus shows her respect, while Simon shows here little respect...So Jesus tells Simon the story of two in debt to a certain creditor...One debtor owes a very large amount and has no leverage and bargaining power...Appreciation and mercy comes from the one who is able to forgive the most...And there is an appreciation (and maybe a different type of appreciation) from those who have no bargaining power and are forgiven...Through the greater amount we are able to forgive -there is also this opportunity for great love...When we can only forgive a little, there is only the ability to love a little...The debtor who had no bargaining power can get his debt removed only by love...The LOVE of God can produce an extraordinary response...And, I think Jesus is telling us, that our forgiveness and our love toward others can show great responses in those around us...
Does Simon, like the woman, know what is in his life, his heart, and his soul?...He offers the comment “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.”...Has Simon learned how to forgive and about the power of forgiveness?...Jesus teaches and shows us who we are, but we have to look and reflect on who we are...
When we think of this Parable, does the woman earn her forgiveness?...The woman knows she has sinned in the past, and she knows she is a sinner...She says very little, yet her actions speak of her, and they speak loudly...She wants forgiveness...She knows what is in her life, her heart, and her soul...And maybe her soul keeps echoing the guilt of her sins, and she heard and knew where Jesus was, and came in uninvited...And she knows she came to the Man who can give her forgiveness...But what does forgiveness cost?...Does she think anointing Him with her nard is her payment for her past sins?...The two in debt in the Parable, when we think about it -if the creditor cannot love the two in debt what becomes of forgiveness...If God cannot LOVE us, what becomes of forgiveness in the world...And what becomes of the world if no one forgives or ever has mercy on another...
God's grace is like this...Forgiveness is not something we have earned, or can earn...Forgiveness is not for one special group, it is for everyone...Jesus says He did not come to earth for the righteous, but for sinners...He is ready to forgive us when we quietly and humbly turn to Him...It is God's grace, His LOVE, His will, and His forgiveness that are the great forces of life...
Jesus teaches much about forgiveness...To seek and love God, let us keep forgiveness in our hearts...