While studying Chapter 7 of the gospel of Luke (verses 36-50 KJV), I was struck anew by the interplay of love and forgiveness. Jesus used a parable to dramatize His most radical teaching of how we are to love and forgive our enemies. A summary of the verses will show they are two sides of the same coin.

The scene is recorded that Jesus is having a meal at the home of a Pharisee named Simon when a woman, who was a sinner, began to worship Him with unabashed devotion. She must have heard that He was going to be there and thought, “This is my opportunity to see Him up close and let Him know how much I appreciate His teaching.” She was so overjoyed that she started to cry and wash His feet with her tears. Then she wiped His feet with her hair and kissed them and anointed them with ointment from an alabaster box. 

Simon remained silent as he watched. He hadn’t invited this woman, but he didn’t want to seem inhospitable to her in front of Jesus. He thought to himself that if Jesus was a true prophet, He would know the woman was a sinner. Jesus indeed proves He is a true prophet by revealing Simon’s thoughts. He poses a scenario of a creditor who was owed money by two debtors; one owed him $10 and another owed $1,000. The creditor forgave each one the debt.

Jesus asked Simon which debtor would love the creditor most. Simon answered,” I suppose, the one whom he forgave most.” Jesus said,” Thou hast rightly judged.” He then went on to remind Simon that his hospitality was sorely lacking. He didn’t give Jesus water and a towel for His feet (as their custom dictated), nor did he greet Jesus with a kiss or anoint His head. But the woman’s actions far exceeded those of Simon — the host. Jesus tells Simon that He forgives the woman’s sins (verse 47) and adds, “…to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”

For many years, I’ve read this passage and didn’t pay attention to the end of verse 47. Perhaps I focused on Simon, the self-righteous Pharisee, and how Jesus taught him a good lesson. But the real lesson is for me to see how love and forgiveness are intricately connected in my life. As Christians, many of us still struggle with loving and forgiving. But Jesus is saying, in essence, that we can only love much if we have forgiven much because, the amount we are able to love is tied to the amount we are able to forgive. Conversely, if we are only able to forgive a little, we can only love a little. It also seems to say that God loves me according to how much He has forgiven me and I love Him back on the same basis.

So the issue really becomes how much I want God to love me. Am I willing to see my need for forgiveness? If I think (like Simon the Pharisee) that my need is not so great, then I will not experience great love from God. But if I am granted tremendous forgiveness, I will experience tremendous love from God and be able to extend that love and forgiveness to others — even to my enemies.

In fact, Jesus had commanded His disciples to love their enemies in Luke 6:27-35. He said they, and we, must bless and love our enemies. This is a hard lesson to learn. How can I love and forgive my enemies? Jesus explains by comparing the love He requires of us with the way that sinners love. In verse 32, He says sinners love those who love them. Christians are expected to go beyond that to love in a radical way.

It seems clear that what we really need to decide is how we are going to love. Am I going to love like Jesus or am I going to love like sinners? Am I going to forgive like Jesus? That is the only way I can love like Him. There is no forgiveness in the world or from sinners.

These passages of Scripture show why what Jesus taught was revolutionary in His day and it is still revolutionary in ours. It has caused me to rethink how I love. We often complicate love and get confused by it. Our family relationships suffer and we wonder why they don’t work. Marriages break up even though we desperately want them to work. We say we love that person but somehow love is not enough. I believe it is lack of forgiveness because we cannot love or continue loving without it. God knew our greatest need so He sent His Son to show us His love by forgiving us – even when we were His enemies.





(Note: Scripture references and quotations from KJV)