Luke 7:36-50
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Matthew 2:1-12
Jesus Forgives a Paralyzed Man
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man,carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Matthew 18:21-22
Jesus Teaching Peter About Forgiveness
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Luke 11:1-13
Jesus Teaching of Prayer
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Imagine that you can forgive everybody...To stretch that even more, say you can forgive everybody of anything that they have done to you or to anybody else...And let us say that you hold no grudges or inequities toward anyone...This would give you the ability to love a Great Amount...This would be a great thing, and is quite loving...If you hold no grudges toward everyone, then you have the ability to love everyone...Being able to forgive more, helps you to love more...The more you can forgive your family and friends, the more and greater your loving circle is and the more your loving circle grows...And if you take this beyond family, and can forgive everyone of everything, then quite a lot of people will love you...
There are different aspects about forgiving, and these different aspects about forgiveness, helps us love more...Jesus went around just forgiving people...He was forgiving people of their sins...Jesus teaches us about this type forgiveness and love...Jesus doesn't tell us we cannot love someone or others without having the capacity to forgive...If we don't have the ability to forgive and if we don't know how to forgive or it we don't want to forgive, then we will love only a little...We must have the ability to forgive to love...If we cannot forgive others, our capacity for love is only a little...So the better we get about forgiving others, the more compassion we can have for others...If we have wronged a great many, and we are forgiven out of love by this great many, we can love much and love a lot...And in the LORD's Prayer Jesus says we are to forgive others, as we ask Our Father in Heaven to forgive us, for we are to forgive everyone who sins against us...
When we get mad and/or angry and are hurt or are harmed, we sometimes and maybe many times don't want to forgive he one or those who harmed us...If we want to be able to love others, our families, and our friends, we have to learn forgiveness...If we have the ability to "completely" forgive others, then we can have this ability for Great Love...This is what Jesus is teaching us...Let us learn to forgive others, and learn to forgive quicker than we would normally do...When we hang on to our anger and grudges of others, we diminish our capacity to love...The more we learn to forgive and actually do forgive, the more we are able to love...This ability to forgive is very important, for our ability to love, and to show more compassion toward our neighbors...By being very forgiving, we love our neighbors more...
Jesus at another time, when ask by Peter how many times are we to forgive others, He tells us that it is seventy times seven...Each person seventy times seven...Jesus is telling us to forgive others, not only many times, but many, many times...We are to forgive others over and over again, this is love...If we can forgive like this, we will have the ability to love and love much more, because then we know we have this genuine trait of forgiveness...
Jesus links love and forgiveness...Forgiving is loving...Forgiveness is a form of love...Forgiveness and love are forever tied together since Jesus came to earth...If we never forgive, we cannot love much...If we have sinned a lot and need a lot of forgiving, we can also love more...Or as He says, "He who has been forgiven little loves little."...If one has done many things wrong and are forgiven, then they can learn more about love, just by being forgiven with love...
If one thinks about it, if you cannot ever forgive your friend or your spouse, do you really love your friend or spouse?...And did you really ever love them, if you cannot forgive them?...If your thoughts are continually and still negatively on a time someone hurt you, are you really loving that friend or your spouse or your neighbor...Forgiveness can set your thoughts and feelings free and then love can happen...
Jesus had and completely understands this forgiveness capacity and the love capacity...Jesus has the ability to forgive immediately...We do things He does not want us do all the time, we sin...He forgives us and He LOVES us...He died on the cross for these two things...We should love and forgive in the same manner...The human element in us makes us sinners...We must recognize this...If we acknowledge we sin, then we see our need for grace...We better understand others need for grace, because we need forgiven...Then we will be able to love more and love better in our lives...The more forgiving we are and the more we see that we need forgiveness, the more loving we are...And the more our neighbors will love us...Always remember, that forgiveness is a part of love...