What would the scenario have to look like today? You are the host of the party. You are Simon. While unlikely, perhaps your motives in inviting Jesus are pure and you’re still searching to discover what you should think of him. Or, the whole thing is just a setup to see to hopefully see him stumble in a sticky situation. So in comes the woman with a sordid reputation… only in our day and age, we’d have to replace her with someone else? Whom might that be? Who would it really ruffle your feathers to see Jesus interact with in this way? A leading politician of the other political party you can’t stand? An outspoken activist for social justice? A proponent pushing pro-choice? An advocate for sexual or gender fluidity/orientation/preference? Because honestly, we’re so familiar with interactions Jesus had with sinful women in the Bible that we find ourselves rather sympathetically siding with the sinful women when we know those “no-good rotten Pharisees” are looking down on them. But would we have the same sympathy if we replaced the sinful women with the types of people that would make us cringe if Jesus were to treat them the same way?
In other words, forgiveness is nice and tidy when we see Jesus extend it to a sinful woman in Scripture, but perhaps that leaves us unable to see in ourselves a bit of Simon who was so offended that Jesus would engage in any way whatsoever with such people. But maybe we’d see more of Simon in ourselves if we replace the sinful woman with one of today’s equivalents that would bring our blood to a boil to see Jesus treat them as he did the woman. Then perhaps we would grasp what is central to understanding the unique challenge of this habit of his grace, forgiveness: that the problem is rarely the way we prefer to frame it – with the sinner on the other end, but rather the sinner on this end who by nature is selectively stingy with forgiveness toward others.
That’s the real reason this habit of his grace is so difficult. It’s honestly because it shows what’s wrong with ourselves more than what’s wrong with anyone else. It shows how unlike Jesus you truly are. It shows how undeserving of Jesus’ forgiveness and mercy you truly are when you can’t apply forgiveness to someone else. It shows how unworthy of heaven you really are to choose a to bear a grudge rather than to forgive. It shows that hell is not actually some really awful place reserved for really awful people, but that it’s a place for people like you who cannot forgive. So when you’re ready to stop hanging on to the idea that forgiveness is so hard because of what someone else may have ever done to you and instead accept that it’s so hard because it shows the painful picture of how unJesus-like you actually are, then progress can be made.
Because that’s when Jesus’ forgiveness for you reaches a new depth of meaning and significance. Like, say, such a stream of tears flowing down your cheeks that they are substantial enough to wash Jesus’ feet. “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” (v.38). Compare the night and day difference between Simon and the sinful woman in the presence of Jesus. One can’t keep it together because she’s so emotionally overcome by the gracious forgiveness that rightly connects with its source, Jesus. The other can hardly keep it together because he’s nearly emotionally overcome with outrage by the sight of supposedly upstanding Jesus allowing a sinful woman to touch his feet! One was well aware of her sin and the joy of forgiveness; the other knew nothing of either.
This was not only evident to Jesus, who alone can see the heart of each individual and know what is in it; but, that forgiveness had taken root in one heart and not the other was evident in their outward behavior, which Jesus didn’t hesitate to point out in front of everyone. “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. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet” (v.44-46). That’s what forgiveness does – it won’t be kept concealed or hidden away to remain unseen; rather, it flows seamlessly into service. It blossoms into fruit. Forgiveness is the fertilizer which brings forth an abundant harvest of good works of love and service to others. The whole life of a Christian and anything good that comes from us can be traced all the way back to the radical power of forgiveness. Jesus connected that forgiveness to the woman’s humble service of gratitude: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown” (v.47a). Forgiveness had made itself so evident and obvious through her act of great love.
And in that respect, faith’s forgiveness is so radically different than any poor imitation forgiveness the world tries to offer up. The world is willing to grant forgiveness only when it determines the guilty party to be deserving of it. The world demands certain qualifications must be met. A level of remorse must not only be expressed, but also shown by actions. The world decides when punishment must be rendered in place of forgiveness. Appropriate actions must precede forgiveness. And, if these qualifications aren’t met and someone still extends forgiveness, it leaves a bitter taste in the world’s mouth. It resents it and sees that kind of forgiveness as weak and powerless. That’s why not everyone had the same reaction when Brandt Jean extended forgiveness to his brother’s murderer in the courtroom about a year and a half ago. Some expressed disgust and disappointment over video of the high-profile case that showed him leave the witness stand to hug Amber Guyger, who murdered his brother, Botham Jean, in his own apartment. While many applauded his powerful words and actions expressing his forgiveness, others saw no place for such mercy.
While every one of us knows that we ought to praise such a fine example of forgiveness and imitate it, too often we imitate the world’s poor excuse for forgiveness instead of faith’s forgiveness. We take up our gavel as judge to determine when others deserve forgiveness. We decide who is forgiven and who is not. And sometimes we are even less inclined to forgive each other – fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, justifying it because we have a different standard for Christians… instead of remembering that being a Christian does not mean one has ceased to be a sinner. So if we decide that forgiveness is applied on the basis of one’s actions, then we have forgotten how forgiveness came about in the first place.
The sinful woman’s forgiveness wasn’t earned by her actions. Her washing of Jesus’ feet did not open the floodgates of forgiveness. Rather, it was the other way around! The floodgates of forgiveness brought on the tears and grateful foot washing. She was forgiven so much that it burst forth from her heart in a loving act of gratitude.
That was the point of the quick illustrative story Jesus told. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 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?” (v.41-42). We all know the type of story Simon would have preferred, the same type of story that little Pharisee in each of us would also prefer. That’s the one about the moneylender to whom two borrowers owed a certain amount of money. One of the borrowers was always on time with his payment. In fact, sometimes he was even early! Other times he even paid back more than his monthly payment. And, he had even been known to help others with their payments on occasion! The other borrower, however, was rarely on time with his payment and had a habit of just coming up short each month with what he owed. The moneylender was delighted in the borrower who was on time and went above and beyond to pay back his debt. But he was displeased by the other borrower who clearly was less than desirable. Simon and the proud Pharisee in each of us would love to have Jesus tell that story just once in his ministry! Oh, that we could find such a story somewhere in the Bible that would validate why we’re so deserving of what God gives us, because we are fine, upstanding Christians, doing our part to pay back the debt we owe!
Alas, Jesus never tells such a story. His story is always one about the borrower never being able to pay back a debt, and the lender having to cancel his debt. But if the other story would be told then we would be justified in withholding forgiveness from others who have wronged us or whom we perceive to be inferior in their Christian faith – those who never seem to pay back what they owe on time! But there is no such story. For there is no such borrower who can pay back a single cent of what is owed to a Holy Righteous God. Luther said it best: “wir sind alle Bettler” (“We are all beggars”). If we ever approach God with even an ounce of expectation, confident in self, thinking we just might have earned so much as a crumb from him, we will always be underwhelmed by what he gives us. But when we come to him with the heart of a humble beggar, holding out our hands desperately to receive whatever he might give us in her mercy, we will always be overwhelmed by what he gives us. And when we are always overwhelmed by what he gives us, we are on our way to establishing this habit of his grace as we overwhelm others with the same forgiveness Jesus has lavished on us.
At the beginning I asked who we’d have to replace the woman with for this account to strike a chord with us today. Who would really get under your skin to see Jesus interact with and lavishly forgive? But the greatest takeaway from this account is not to leave you today feeling more like Simon, guilty for being selectively stingy with forgiveness. No, today see yourself as the sinful woman. Because that’s who you are in this account, by God’s grace. We are always the sinful woman, which is to say we are always the forgiven woman. Let Jesus speak to you daily the words he spoke to the woman: “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (v.48, 50). Then, let our love show that we are forgiven. We have been forgiven so, so much. Let us love as much as we forgive others.