Love And Judgment

Do you see this woman? …she has shown great love. But to the one whom little is forgiven, loves little. Luke 7:36-50

I had an Aunt once tell me that sometimes it is very difficult to watch our children make destructive decisions particularly after you’ve given them solid advice to which they refuse to listen. Essentially they go their own way. What’s a parent to do except to love them more. It was the most profound advise I’d heard and desperately needed to hear since my mother died in 2005.

This morning I read this passage from Luke with a far different perspective than in the past. I realize that we often spend far too much effort judging ourselves and one another. The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures were highly regarded and the Pharisees assumed Jesus didn’t know that the woman who had bathed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair was a “sinner”. But the woman’s consciousness of her sin impressed Jesus to love her more rather than push her away. This is the message Christ gave two thousand plus years ago. It is the message my aunt gave to me nearly a year ago – and it is this enduring message of love that we must hear today and to which we must learn to respond to the “sinner” in each of us. Thank you Aunt Bernice who never pushed anybody away and all Glory be to God who continues to love us in spite of our “righteous” selves.

Luke 7:36-50 Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” 

Micah 3:5  Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry ‘Peace’ when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths. 

Acts 24:1-23  “Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience towards God and all people.”