It's here: Part 9 of the 9 part series - how to get prayers answered
The Rhythm of The Gospels - D16
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
7/17/20262 min read
The One Who Was Forgiven Much Loves Much.
"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." — Luke 7:47 (NKJV)
She knew she wasn't supposed to be there.
A Pharisee's dinner party was not a place for a woman like her. Everyone in that town knew her name and what it meant, and the careful distance they kept from her in the market was the same distance they kept in their hearts. She had no invitation. She had no standing. What she had was an alabaster flask of expensive oil and something burning in her chest that had nowhere else to go.
So she went in anyway.
She found Jesus at the table, stood behind Him, and began to weep. The tears fell on His feet before she could stop them, and she knelt and wiped them with her hair — her hair, which a woman only loosed in the most intimate of settings — and she kissed His feet and poured the oil over them. The room watched in silence. Simon the Pharisee watched and thought: if this man were truly a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him.
Jesus knew. He knew exactly who she was and exactly what Simon was thinking. And He told a story about two men who owed a debt neither could pay — one owed much, the other little — and the creditor forgave them both. Which one, He asked, will love more? Simon gave the correct answer without understanding that he had just described himself and the woman in the same sentence.
Then Jesus said three words that changed the temperature of the room: do you see her?
Do you see what she has done? Do you see her? The person. The woman everyone else had reduced to a reputation. Jesus was inviting Simon — inviting us — to look past the history and see a human being so undone by the weight of what she had been forgiven of that she could not contain it. Her love was not a performance. It was a response. It was what happened when someone finally understood the full measure of what had been covered on their behalf.
The difference between her and Simon wasn't their sin. It was their self-awareness. Simon had decided he owed a little. She knew she owed everything. And the one who knows they owe everything is the one who loves without measuring the cost.
The question this story leaves on the table is quiet, but it cuts: which side of the room are you sitting on? Are you the one whose gratitude has grown careful and managed — who gives a reasonable amount, loves at a responsible distance, keeps the flask sealed because you've quietly decided you weren't that bad? Or are you the one on your knees, undone by the mercy of it, pouring out what it cost you because you cannot imagine doing anything less?
Grace received fully always produces love that can't stay seated.
Scripture Promise:
"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
— Psalm 103:12 (NKJV)
Prayer:
Father,I owe everything to you. Thank you for covering my sins when I knew I was doing wrong. That's love. Now I know how to love you back. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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