Jesus looks at the heart. It’s about the heart. Jesus confronted the unloving hearts of his host and friends while this woman demonstrated a heart overflowing with love. Jesus said, “Simon, I have something to tell you” (v. 40).
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii [a whole lot of money], and the other fifty [one tenth as much]. 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?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. (The only thing Simon had judged correctly that day!)
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. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Luke 7:41–47
It’s all about love! Don’t miss this very critical point Jesus makes to us all—if you truly recognize how much it cost God to forgive you, it will flood your heart with love for God and others who need more of the same, including two lesbians in church.
It’s all about love! Not a love that ignores the mud and the damage that destroys God’s Masterpiece, but a love that recognizes how much loving mercy God has given a messed up person like me!
That great love brings grace and truth together to give hope to a broken world in need of forgiveness and restoration.
This post about two lesbians in church was excerpted from John Burke, The Mud and the Masterpiece, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2013. Used by permission.
