Oct 13 2019 Luke 7: 36-50

‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’
Jesus is dining with Simon, a Pharisee. Pharisees were not inherently bad, although they are generally used in the Gospels to spotlight dogmatic and sometimes nonsensical Judaism. I think of them as Orthodox Jews of their time.

In any case, Jesus is dining at the house of Simon, a Pharisee. A woman, the author informs us, “who was a sinner”, comes in with her alabaster jar of ointment and anoints Jesus’ feet, cries on them, kisses them, and dries his feet with her hair.

The Pharisee complains that if Jesus only knew who this woman was, and what she was, he’d never allow this. Jesus responds with this parable about the creditor, effectively saying that the woman who had more to forgive, was bound to be more appreciative, and love the debt forgiver more than the one who had less to forgive. He concludes the story by telling the woman her sins are forgiven, and that her faith has saved her. 

This morning, I’m thinking about how we include a confession in our worship services, for exactly this reason. I had a priest friend who actually wrote down on a slip of paper the things during the preceding week he felt bad about, or things he knew he’d done wrong – things he’d done or not done that created a larger gulf between him and God’s love. Before the service, he’d look through the list so it was fresh in his mind. Then when it came time for the confession, he was absolutely confessing things that were real and imminent. When he did this (as opposed to when good intentions and actions are not the same), he was more appreciative of God’s love, and grace, and mercy. He had more debt to be forgiven.

Today, I want to be conscientious about the things that I’ve done or not done. I want to see that when I don’t love God or love my neighbor, I create distance between me and God. If I don’t confess and acknowledge that distance, the distance remains, and grows with tomorrow’s foibles. The best way to close the gap is to name it, and claim it, and ask God to close that gap.