Opening Prayer: Forgive me, O God, when I think I need to be forgiven little. Help me to see the depths of my need so that I can begin to understand the depths of your love.
Scripture: Luke 7:36-50
Journal: Who do you relate to most in this story? Why? Do you realize that you have been forgiven much?
Reflection: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47) In reality, no one has been forgiven little, some just think they have. The beauty of the gospel is that only when we know how big our need for forgiveness is, will we ever be able to comprehend how big the cross is, and how big the love of God is. Big need leads to a big cross, which leads to a big love—a bigger love from God, a bigger love for God, and a bigger love for others. God’s love becomes bigger than we could have ever asked or imagined.
By contrast, the Pharisees had a small
love because of how small they perceived their need to be. They spent their whole lives trying to reduce
their need and had somehow convinced themselves that they had succeeded. But all it did was make them judge more and
love less. Sound familiar? It does to me.
Most of us think the goal of spiritual
life is to reduce the gap between us and God.
We think that if we can just be better and perform better then we might
get closer to him. But the truth is that
the older we get, and the more we get to know God, the larger the gap gets
rather than the smaller. Thus, the cross
does not get smaller and smaller but bigger and bigger. And the bigger the cross gets, the bigger love
gets. The bigger the cross gets the more
we realize how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God, which makes
our love for him grow in return. We love
because he first loved us. That’s what
the “sinful” woman had learned that the Pharisees had not. Let’s be like her and not like them.
Pray
Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that those who have been forgiven much love much. Help us to see the enormity of your forgiveness so that we might also see the enormity of your amazing love.
