Popeye used to say, “I yam what I yam.” I wonder if he got that from St. Paul. He could have. In our first reading today from 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” Who knew that Popeye quoted the Scriptures?
In the Gospel reading today from Luke 7, Jesus is dining at a Pharisee’s house when a sinful woman comes and bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears and anoints them with ointment. This repulses the Pharisee. So Jesus asks him a question about two people. One owed a large amount, the other much less. Both debts were forgiven. “Which of them will love him more?” The Pharisee replies, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” Jesus then says of the woman, “Her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
This is a wonderful reminder to me about just how much I have been forgiven. Trust me when I tell you that it is a LOT. So, does the amount of love that I show correspond with the amount that I have been forgiven? Hardly. In fact, this is an area of my life where I still have a LOT of work to do. How about you?
Father, thank you for forgiving me so much. May we all love today in proportion to how much you have forgiven us. Amen.
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