Sizing Up Sin

"He who has been forgiven much loves much” (Luke 7:47).

I’ve been thinking about this line from Sunday’s sermon, about what it means for me. Of course I came to Christ as a sinner - but not a particularly remarkable one, as we think of sinners. I did not come as a serial killer or a Mafia member or a former Nazi prison guard, and I’d never contemplated becoming a suicide bomber. I’m guessing you might not fall into any of those categories, either. Does that mean we can’t love Jesus as much as those who have been forgiven for grandiose crimes?

I see that Jesus spoke those words to Simon the Pharisee, at whose home he was dining. Simon had objected when a sinful woman anointed Jesus feet, but Jesus rebuked him:

“You didn’t give me water for my feet, but she has washed them with her tears. You didn’t anoint my head but she anointed my feet with costly perfume. She has been forgiven much, and she loves much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

I don’t know if Simon got the message that day. But maybe the light began to dawn, some months later, when a cross stood against a darkened sky and Jesus groaned, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing,” and a nearby centurion breathed in awe, “Surely this was the Son of God.”

Because it’s Jesus’ death that puts sin into proportion, isn’t it? At the foot of the cross, I see that no matter how little – or much – wrong I have done, Jesus had to die. Just my being born made it necessary for Him to die, because my innate, inherited sinful nature needed atoned for, before I ever told a lie or threw a tantrum or kicked the cat. Simon’s did, too. If he was forgiven little, it wasn’t because of the size of his sin, but because he hadn’t asked for forgiveness.

I think that one good way to experience God’s grace at the gut-level is to just sit down at the foot of the cross awhile. To take the time to consider what it cost Jesus and where I would be without His self-sacrifice. To realize that my sin was evil enough to bring the Lord of Glory to earth, sharp enough to pierce and scar Him, heavy enough to make Him gasp, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Big enough to make me love Him much, for He has forgiven me so much.