The scene must have been shocking because of the reckless display of love. Simon, the Pharisee, invited Jesus along with many other guests to come and feast with him at his house. While reclining at the table, a nameless, well-known woman comes in to express her loving gratitude to Jesus who has forgiven her many sins. She is most likely a prostitute. The words that Luke records along with her actions all point to this. The “uncovering” and caressing of a man’s feet in that culture would have been considered a sexual advance. Simon indicates this when he speaks of the woman “touching” Jesus, a word that can have sexual connotations. Add to this the fact that she lets her hair down in public, an act that would have been reserved for a husband and wife in private—or a prostitute and a client—and we can be fairly certain that this “sinner” is a prostitute.
She has many sins. Jesus says so. She knows it. That’s why she came to Jesus for forgiveness. And she received it. The loving grace of forgiveness that she received drove her to reciprocate in expressions of love for her Lord. Jesus tells her in front of everyone that her sins are forgiven. He adds, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Lk 7.50).
This word “saved” is used many times when Jesus heals people (cf. Mt 9.29; 10.52; Lk 17.19; 18.42; Ac 14.9). Earlier Jesus healed a paralytic through the forgiveness of sins (Lk 5.17-26). Forgiveness of sins heals; it heals wherever sin has put us in bondage. Where sin keeps us in bondage to death, the forgiveness of sins answers in the (eventual) healing of the body through resurrection.
But forgiveness heals everywhere sin has affected us: our disrupted relationship with God, with others, and the wreckage that sin leaves behind in our minds and emotions. When sins are forgiven, we can experience peace … if we believe God’s declaration.
When God created everything, he looked at each of his creations and declared it “good,” culminating in man. God is the Judge who declares things “good” or “not good” (which he did when he saw the man was alone). From the time of our creation, we have needed God’s declaration of approval, to be declared “good,” “righteous,” or “vindicated.” We need acceptance that comes from approval. Sin distorts this need and how it is met, making us unhealthy. We seek approval or justification in all the wrong places; from ourselves and our own set of standards, from others who share in our sins, or in any place where we declare that we want this person or that person to be the judge who approves of us. Groups formed by sin such as the LGBTQ+, abortion advocates, and others will never really settle for tolerance, a live and let live attitude. They must have approval because approval of society is the only thing that will assuage their guilt (they think).
We all have the same need. If we don’t know that we are approved, that we are righteous, the real or perceived guilt will wreak havoc on our lives, ripping us apart psychologically and, consequently, creating toxic relationships. I am never good enough. That hunger I have for approval, to be declared righteous, can never be satisfied. That dissatisfaction that comes through guilt or guilty feelings makes me difficult, if not impossible, to live with because if I never measure up, neither does anyone around me.
You need healing; healing that can only come when you stand as righteous, when the guilt is gone, when there is no more condemnation. The answer is in God’s forgiveness. God is the great Judge whose approval you crave though you are looking for it in other places at times. In Christ, God declares you justified, forgiven of all of your sins and standing as righteous before him.
This is one reason why confession and absolution are so important in every covenant renewal service. You and I need healing. We need to hear authoritatively that God has forgiven us and that we stand as righteous, approved, by him. He created this hunger in you that only he can satisfy. He has provided everything in Christ Jesus for your hunger to be satisfied.
The question is, Will you accept what he says and be healed, or will you continue to insist that God’s declaration about you isn’t true or is deficient in some way? Are your standards higher than God’s? Have you put other people’s opinions above God’s judgments about you?
The beautiful thing about accepting this grace of God is that, when you know you are approved by God, you are free and empowered to live at peace with others, having compassion upon and genuinely loving others. Forgiveness and the consequent freedom from guilt-free you to love genuinely, deeply, and lavishly because you are no longer centered on yourself and seeking approval, but from a place of acceptance and approval by God, you can gratefully love him and focus on others.
Forgiveness and your acceptance of it by faith make you whole.
