Extravagant Gratitude
Jesus said, “The one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47
The risk was great, the ridicule inevitable. But she went to the Pharisee’s feast anyway because the love in her heart couldn’t be contained. She had to see Jesus.
In her arms she carried an alabaster jar filled with perfume. She pushed her way through the crowd gathered outside the Pharisee’s home.
As she moved toward the guests seated at the tables, the whispers embarrassed her: “What is she doing here? She’s unclean. A sinner. How dare she contaminate a Pharisee’s home this way?”
She spotted Jesus and hurried toward him. Before the other guests could stop her, she knelt at Jesus’s feet. The fragrance of the perfume spread through the room as soon as she removed the stopper. More whispers. “What’s she doing? Whaa—?”
Tears flowed down the woman’s cheeks and onto Jesus’s feet. She loosened her hair and bent low, drying his feet with her hair, then pouring perfume on them, kissing them, and wiping them again.
Simon, the host of the dinner party, was incensed. The woman was a sinner. How he despised her! Jesus was moved with compassion. The woman was a sinner. How he loved her!
Jesus then offered Simon a chance to repent by telling the story of the two debtors. But Simon’s heart was too hard to recognize his debt and receive the forgiveness Jesus offered. The woman, on the other hand, knew all too well the enormity of her sin and her need for forgiveness. Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven … Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50).
How often am I more like the Pharisee than the unnamed woman? How often do I stand in judgment, thinking only of someone’s past or unconventional worship style? Do I honor Jesus with a public display of affection like Simon’s dinner party or with wholehearted devotion like the woman’s extravagant gift?
Jesus told Simon, “He who has been forgiven little loves little.” Do you see yourself as one who has been forgiven much or forgiven little?
Oh, Lord, help us be more fully aware of our need for your mercy and grace. And may that awareness make us more devoted to you and more compassionate to others. Amen.
DIG DEEPER
Read Luke 7:36–50. Ask the Lord to reveal to you ways that you can be less like Simon and more like the unnamed woman.
Read 1 Timothy 1:12–16. How did Paul see himself? How do you see yourself?
Pharisees were esteemed as godly leaders in first-century Palestine. What is Peter’s counsel to leaders in 1 Peter 5:1–6? How well did Simon the Pharisee meet these standards? How well do you meet them?
Denise K. Loock
This devotion is part of a series on Women in the Bible. It’s also included in our most recent collection of devotions, Restore the Significance.