I’ve spent far too long in Luke 7 so let me finish today. I believe this woman hated the self-righteous religious people who openly despised her. But down deep she knew what she was. She hated herself for what she had become. She was riddled with guilt and shame but felt trapped in her lifestyle… until she met Jesus.  

I like to think of her remaining close to Jesus until the crowds dispersed. I imagine her meekly approaching Him, asking Him about His offer of “rest” from her struggle. Oh, the joy she must have felt when He told her that she could become “a new creation” that all the “old things” in her life could “pass away” and that she could have a new life (II Corinthians 5:17).  

I picture her quietly joining the people gathered in Simon’s courtyard. From a distance, she watches and realizes that Jesus has been snubbed by the religious elite. They have not even offered Him common courtesies. It is more than she can bear. She runs home in tears. She had been “forgiven much” and she knew it. Because she had been “forgiven much,” she “loved much.”

Do we serve Him and His church because it is our duty, because it is expected of us or do we do so out of an overwhelming sense of gratitude for what He has done for us? Do we really love Jesus? If so, how much do we love Him? Two truths we must ever bear in mind are that WE ALL WERE ONCE SINNERS and that WE ALL STILL SIN. No matter how long you have been saved or how young you were when you were born again, you were once a helpless sinner just like the woman in our passage. Would you thank the Lord for His loving forgiveness today?