Luke 7:47 “”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.”
We are not told here the response of Simon to this. To be sure it gave him a lot to think about. But, it probably also gave him more reason to suspect Christ. As a Jewish teacher, Simon would understand that only God can forgive sins. So, for Jesus to make this statement about the woman, Jesus would have to be making Himself equal with God.
Jesus does not gloss over the greatness of this woman’s sin. But be very careful to see what He does say. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. And why? Because she loved much. In other words, the woman understood there was much against her. She had a mountain of sin to be forgiven. So the one ‘to whom little is forgiven’ is not necessarily any less of a sinner. But they are forgiven far less for they have little sensitivity to their unworthiness before a Holy God.
This is not the only time that Jesus taught this concept. He always called the religious leaders to repent of their own sins before they began to judge others. The problem was not that Simon recognized the very sinful state of this woman. The problem was that he took little to no notice of his own sins. His estimation of the woman’s great sinfulness was very correct. But, he was totally blind to his own horrible condition.
Heavenly Father, I want to love You very, very much. I want to have a sense of what You have done for me in Christ. Sin is a heavy load that I don’t have to bear! Praise the Lord! You are Awesome, Wonderful, Powerful, Gracious, Loving, Holy, Just, and So Good! I can never stop praising You. I understand Your great holiness more and more all the time. Thank You for being You! You are my song all the day. You alone are worthy. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.