“Which of them will love Him More?”

“And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”… Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:40-43, 47 ESV)

Do you have passages from Scripture that keep coming back to your mind? I know I do. Like Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” You have no idea how many times I have come back to this verse to be reminded that because I am now in Christ, God does not condemn me. There is nothing I can do that will take God’s love away from me. Or like Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” I can hear my mother telling me, “Jerry Allen (she always used my middle name when she was serious), don’t go getting the Big Head.” She said this when I started thinking too much of myself and impressing myself.

That’s what God says in this verse also, “so no one may boast”. You see, just when we think God is impressed with us, we are reminded that God’s love for us is not based on what we have done for Him. We can’t impress God with our puny good deeds. The debt that we owe God for our forgiveness is so great that it is impossible to repay. That’s why it's so very important for us to understand that God saved us through His grace (unmerited favor), not as a result of our actions. That is why this passage from Luke is one of those passages that keeps coming back to my mind. Just how much do I love Jesus?

That’s the main point of this beautiful example of God’s forgiveness. If you read the earlier verses of this story (vv. 36- 50), you’ll find that a woman in the city who was a “sinner” found out where Jesus was having a meal and came to Him. She was so overwhelmed with the love He had for her and what He had done for her that she wept so profusely that her tears “wet” the Lord’s feet, and she was drying those precious feet with her hair. 

Now please understand how absolutely against Jewish custom this was. Women were not permitted to touch men, especially a woman who was known to the community as a “sinner”. Her actions caught everyone off guard, but not Jesus. The religious leader whose home Jesus was dining in couldn’t believe this violation of Jewish customs. But Jesus wasn’t looking at the outward actions of this woman; He was looking at her heart.

She was overwhelmed that the Holy, Righteous God of the universe would forgive a person like her. I’m sure she thought for many years, “After what I’ve done, how could God ever forgive me?” That’s the same thing that I used to think, and I bet it’s the same thing that some of you are thinking right now. I hear you saying, “But you don’t know what I’ve done!”, and friend, you don’t know what I’ve done either! But God has forgiven me of every sin that I’ve ever committed against Him. You see, we don’t know every sin of each other, nor do we need to; it’s not a contest to see who sinned the most, or who committed the worst sin. It’s not about us; it’s about the love of our God giving His one and only Son to die to pay for the sins that we have committed.

You see, my friend, this woman loved Jesus “much” because she understood all that Jesus had forgiven her. She knew the depravity of her sins; she knew and understood what it cost her Savior to pay the price for her sins, and it broke her heart that the nails that were used to put Jesus on the cross were really meant for her. All three of the nails had her name written on them; every blow by the Roman hammer to drive those nails into the hands and feet of Jesus was a blow that should have gone to her.

She “loved much” because she was forgiven much. This truth keeps coming back to my mind when I find myself inconvenienced about serving my Savior. I mean, it isn’t always convenient to interrupt my priorities and to be used by God to be a blessing to someone else. After all, I have really important things to do! Then God brings this passage back to my mind. Just how much has God forgiven me? Just how much do I love Him?

So, the question that each of us must answer is “How much has God forgiven us?”

The purpose of today’s devotional isn’t to guilt anyone or make us feel bad for forgetting the debt that God forgave each of us. But to remind us that we need to remember just what it cost Jesus to secure our forgiveness. Once we are reminded of that, what he said about this woman will be true for us as well: She loved much because she was forgiven much.

Thank you, Lord, for your love for, and forgiveness of this “sinner”.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"