Gospel of Luke, chapter 7:39

C.S. Lewis, in an essay on forgiveness’ wrote that “to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” In the parable of the two debtors’ (Luke 7:36-50), Jesus tells the story of the two debtors to show Simon, the Pharisee, that the woman who washed His feet with tears, and anointed His head with oil loved Him more than Simon because she was forgiven greater sins. This parable is not to be confused with the ‘Parable of the Unforgiving Servant,’ (Matthew 18:21-35).

This parable was not an attack on Simon, but rather Jesus’ way of teaching Simon to see the woman as He sees her. The woman may have been a prostitute; she may have been Mary Magdalene; but whoever she was, her very presence would have been viewed by Simon as an exercise in ritual defilement. She would have been a woman without hope. By affirming the woman’s forgiveness: “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48), Jesus invites Simon to accept her into the community of God’s people. By implication, Jesus is inviting us to accept everyone who has converted into the community of the church without regard to race, creed, sex or social background.

The good news of this parable is that everyone can be forgiven; everyone can turn his/her life around by the forgiveness of Jesus. The message of this parable is similar to the ‘Parable of the Prodigal Son;’ the greater the sinner the more joy there will be in Heaven when he/she repents. Many people who have lived lives of depravity have loved the Lord most because their sins, though many, were forgiven. Some of the greatest Saints were like this: Mary Magdalene, Paul of Tarsus, Augustin of Hyppo, Francis of Assisi. The list goes on!

Jesus came, not to call the righteous, but sinners. That is the good news of this parable.

Fr. Hugh Duffy