Luke 7

Read Luke 7, verses chosen for devotion 47-50

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Reflect

Jesus was invited for a meal in one of the pharisees house. While reclining at the table a woman (who was a great sinner) approached Jesus. Her tears were welling up so much that they wet Jesus feet. Perhaps the woman was feeling so sinful and remorseful that she finally found love and forgiveness at Jesus feet. She must have already heard a great deal about Jesus healing and cleansing power all over Judea and the surrounding country. Her faith was so strong that she knew her sins were forgiven that she broke out in tears and started wiping Jesus feet with her hair and anointing them with expensive oil. Her faith gave her the courage to “crash the party” uninvited and do something ridiculous in front of many judgemental eyes. Her faith saved her. Her lavish act of love (wiping Jesus feet with her hair and anointing them with expensive oil) flowed from her inner gratitude and joy of being forgiven. Indeed, he who is forgiven much, loves much. 

Relate

I can draw 2 learning points from the chosen verses above.

Do we have the faith like the sinful woman in the passage? 

Do we love much as we have been forgiven much?

The passage of Luke 7 gave us 2 examples of great faith - the centurion who asked for healing of his servants and the sinful woman who asked for forgiveness. Both acts of faith resulted in healing and forgiveness.  James 2:14-17 taught us that faith without works is dead. If we say we have faith but if our actions were contrary to what we say, then our faith is of non-existence. Two years ago as I was planning for the education of one of my children, I prayed earnestly (with great deal of faith) for him to be granted a place in a university we both desired. I have faith that the prayer would be answered since my son put in so much hard work and concurrently I put in so much faith in my prayers. But to our disappointment the application was not successful. I couldn’t make sense of what happened. We are all familiar with the the verse from Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. But having faith that God will prosper us does not mean that He will grant all our desires and answer our every prayers. For God knows what is best for us (even when that means our prayer will not be answered). So it is for us to have faith that His plan works best for us and the “works” required here is to surrender and submit to His will. Eventually, my son tried applying again with the same school and a few other schools as well. I continued to pray with much faith but this time I surrendered the outcome to the will of the Lord. In the end my son was accepted into another university. But what we learnt afterwards was that the culture of learning and the values in this university are so much more suitable for my son. Hence the faith that God will give His best must be accompanied by the act of surrendering to Him.

Many of us have experienced the grace of God, for we are all forgiven of our sins. And many times we are given so much overflowing goodness by God even when we know we don’t deserve them. Does this cause us to love Him (like the woman who has been forgiven in the passage) and love others? How much do we love God and how much are we willing to give to Him (in the case of the forgiven woman she gave all that she has, the alabaster jar of precious oil, and even her pride by wiping Jesus feet with her hair!). Sometimes the more we have the more difficult it is for us to give. Whether it’s our time or our money, we find it challenging to give to God and to others. But again we would need to constantly remind ourselves that he who is forgiven much loves much.

The Lord loves us and He always ensure that we will find honey in the rock.

Rest

“Like Honey in the Rock

Sweet Honey in the Rock

For He tastes like Honey in the Rock

O Taste and see that the LORD is Good

For He Tastes like Honey in the Rock”

Amen