Forgiven Much? | Sunday, November 23, 2025

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it." "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged." (Luke 7:36–43)

When you measure your debt by your neighbor's, you may forget how much you yourself have been forgiven.

A Theme God Wants to Challenge Us With

Over the last several weeks the subject of love has been a central theme in this teaching, mainly because it is central to the text. Back in Luke 6:27 we read, "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you." These are some of Jesus's most well-known sayings—known not only to Christians but to people who don't read the Bible or attend church.

I know this because I've had many conversations with people who don't know the Bible, and when the subject turns to Jesus, they'll say something like, "I think Jesus is a great guy, a good moral teacher." Press them on which moral teaching they mean, and it may well be this: love your enemies. Another favorite is "judge not, that you be not judged." Both come from the Sermon on the Mount. The command to love your enemies is highly valued even among westerners, even though it's a hard one. I would suggest it's not only hard for us—it's nearly impossible.

The Gospel of the Kingdom

When I speak of Jesus's kingdom message, here is what I mean. Immediately after His baptism by John, recorded in Matthew 3, Jesus went into the wilderness for temptation, and immediately afterward He began His formal ministry. Matthew 4 says He went throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. What is that gospel? Very likely it is the message that follows: the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7. Luke 6 is Luke's recording of that same message.

So this concept—love your enemies—is not just core to Jesus's teaching. I would suggest it is central to His very nature. As you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, what is on display more than His love? Paul says in Romans 5 that the greatest demonstration of God's love is that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. But Christ's love for us is greater still, because while we were far from Him, at enmity with Him, enemies of God, He loved us.

More Than Phariseism

When Jesus says, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no," I can train myself to be a man of my word. When He says, "If your right hand offends you, cut it off," I can, by grit and determination, discipline myself to avoid sin. Rigorous religious ritual and personal piety are easy in comparison to the kind of righteousness Jesus prescribes. But when He says, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"—that is nearly impossible for me, and I think you would agree.

If Christianity were merely about checking off the boxes of the sins I don't commit and the good things I do, that would be easy compared to the genuine Christlikeness we are called to. Here is point one: Christ has not called me to mere religion, but to more than Phariseism. This is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 5:20: "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Who Were the Pharisees?

Those were big words for Jesus's hearers, who highly regarded the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a religious sect in Judaism that appeared about 200 years before Jesus. By the first century they were the predominant religious sect among the common people. They lived among the people, led and taught in the synagogues, and lived a highly religious form of life. I would call them super-Jews.

Imagine yourself a common person in Galilee—a fisherman, a mason, a farmer, a shepherd—going about daily life in Capernaum or Bethsaida. You would see the Pharisees in their robes, praying in public to be seen, and you would regard them as the super-saints, shoo-ins for the kingdom of God. Among them was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. Among them was also a young man named Saul of Tarsus, roughly Jesus's age, who regarded himself, according to the law, as blameless—boastful of all the credentials righteousness required. And then Jesus comes and says, unless you are better than them, there is no hope for you.

The Bar Set Higher and Higher

Right after setting that high bar, Jesus raises it again and again to define what He means. Six times He says, "You have heard that it was said... but I say to you." First: "You shall not murder." How are we doing on that one? When you have a spiritual conversation, someone may say, "Well, I'm a pretty good person; I've never killed anybody." If the bar for righteousness is never killing anyone, we're all doing pretty well. But Jesus says, "If you are angry with your brother without cause, you are in danger of judgment." The bar just got higher.

Then: "You shall not commit adultery." Got that one down too. But Jesus says, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Six times He raises the bar, and the sixth time is, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies." That is the heaviest lift of all.

A Concerning Tone in the Church

I've been hammering this theme not only because it's in the text, but because I believe God wants to challenge us with it in this cultural moment. I am deeply concerned by the division in our culture. Division is not new—it's most of human history. But there's something different now: a fragmentation, a fracturing, and it weighs on me.

Here is what is new. Leaders within the church—some I know personally, some whose ministries I've followed for years—seem to be fostering an us-versus-them hostility toward outsiders in a way they did not even ten years ago. The tone is not "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." It is rather "love your neighbor and hate your enemy." And the difficult part is that this rhetoric appeals to my flesh. I've lived with myself for almost 46 years, and I know there is an aspect of my nature that gets charged up about things I don't like, given to a bad attitude and a short temper. So warning signs go off in my spirit, because since I was a child I was taught, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave you."

"No More Christian Wimps"

Let me give an example. This week I read a short book, about 100 pages, called Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide for Taking Dominion and Discipling the Nations, by Andrew Isker and Andrew Torba. As I read an extended section, consider the tone. Does it sound like "love your enemies," or like "love your neighbor and hate your enemy"?

From page 52: "The time for emasculated, retreatist, tolerant Christianity is over. The time for being a Christian wimp is over." Now, there's a part of my flesh that goes, Yes—no more Mr. Nice Christian. The authors continue: "Now is the time for a masculine, patriarchic, crusader, Jesus-is-king Christian revival... or risk being conquered and destroyed by the false god of woke Marxism and its pagan army of lost souls."

They go on: "We must exit the beast system completely and build our own parallel Christian society... We must be prepared to wage a multigenerational spiritual war against the demonic anti-Christian worldviews." And from pages 70–71: "By the time they're 18 years old, they will conquer, lead, and take dominion of all nations for the glory of God... We are not the same... our victory is inevitable... it is our sacred duty to rise to the great challenge of our age."

There's a part of that that charges me up; a part that says, Yes, I like this. But then a track loops in my head that I can't get rid of: "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who spitefully use you. Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." One of these things is not like the other. Christ has not called me to mere box-checking religion, but to more than Phariseism.

Self-Righteousness Does Not Save

What is Phariseism? The word Pharisee comes from an ancient Semitic word meaning to separate, divide, and distinguish: This is us, that's them, and we are the pure ones. They were committed to the laws of Moses plus an extensive set of oral extensions designed to maintain religious identity and purity. Jesus says our righteousness must exceed theirs—but His exceeding righteousness is clearly different in kind from theirs. Their form of righteousness was self-righteousness.

Now Jesus is invited to the home of a Pharisee, which signals this is early in His ministry. Later the Pharisees will oppose Him and be involved in His crucifixion, but here they are curious about this man with multitudes following Him. They want to determine: is he like us? Is he with us, or with them? So Simon hosts a meal as a test.

The Uninvited Woman

And behold, a woman who was a sinner—a notorious sinner, known in the town—came in. Simon knew who she was; his guests knew who she was. She was the kind of person Simon would avoid on the street, taking care that even her shadow not touch him, lest he be defiled. The word translated sinner means irreligious, impious; it implies an outsider. There is us, the truly righteous, and there is them—and she did not measure up.

She was uninvited, unwelcome, not where she should be. She should have known her place. For a Pharisee to associate with someone like this, let alone eat with her, would render him impure. It makes me wonder who the uninvited, unwelcome, irreligious person of our day would be. I suspect they probably have pronouns.

She brought a costly alabaster flask of fragrant oil, sealed—once the seal is broken, the value is gone. She stood at Jesus's feet weeping, washed His feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the oil. All eyes moved from her to Simon: this is your home, your table—what will you do? Simon thought within himself, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know what manner of woman this is, for she is a sinner."

The Way of Jesus Makes Pharisees Uncomfortable

Point two: the way of Jesus often makes Pharisees uncomfortable. He has an amazing propensity for doing and saying things that embarrass the really religious. Simon had decided: clearly this man is not a prophet; I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but now I know.

Jesus answered his unspoken thought. "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher, say it." I imagine Simon listening with disdain. "There was a creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii—more than a year and a half's wages—and the other fifty. When they had nothing to repay, he freely forgave them both. Which will love him more?" "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." "You have rightly judged."

As Simon stared at this woman making a scene in his dining room, he knew she had an incalculable debt—she was the five-hundred-denarii debtor. But the second debtor in the story was not whole and well; his debt was smaller, but it was still a debt. Who is the obvious second debtor? Simon. But Simon failed to see his shortfall. All he could see was the pitiful mass of sin on his floor.

The point is that Jesus wants to make Pharisees uncomfortable, because they are still in debt, still sinners. They may not be as notorious, but they still have an impossible-to-pay debt. Self-righteousness does not save—and worse, more often than not, it condemns. I would suggest there will be more than a few Pharisees in hell. Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, did we not do all these religious deeds?' And I will declare, 'Depart from Me; I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness.'"

She Loved Much Because She Was Forgiven Much

Point three: Jesus does not want you to be comfortable in your self-righteous Phariseism. He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but she has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

Quick question: was she forgiven because of her works of devotion? No. But her works revealed something about her—unlike Simon. She loved much because she knew how much she had been forgiven. Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven... Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

The problem with Phariseism is that it leads the Pharisee not to see his need for forgiveness. It's not that he doesn't need it; his sin, compared to the great debt of others, causes him to think he has no need. It's those people out there, the gross ones. The Pharisee quickly sees the sin of others but is blind to his own—seeing the speck in his neighbor's eye from a thousand yards away while missing the beam in his own.

Learning Love Through Forgiveness

The woman's many sins once weighed her down and bound her; now, released, she pours out loving worship and devotion. She learned love through forgiveness—and that is a key. Jesus said, "Love your enemies." How do I learn to love my enemies? By considering the great debt I have been forgiven. It changes the way I see the debts and sins of the sinners outside.

Simon lacked love because he didn't know forgiveness—not because he didn't need it, but because he saw no need for it. Like Saul of Tarsus, "according to the law, blameless." He looked at others as outsiders and said, "We are not the same." Just like the authors I quoted, he saw the false-god-following, pagan army of lost souls as something to be conquered or eradicated. But Jesus saw lost sinners differently—and are you not thankful that He did?

Beware a Religion That Otherizes Outsiders

Jesus does not like religion that otherizes outsiders. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul writes, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass... Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge... but have not love, I am nothing... and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

I am easily given to self-righteous Phariseism—especially the longer I do this Christian thing. The longer I read the Bible and spend time with Christians and see all the other people out there, the more I think, "Well, I'm pretty good." And the danger is to start thinking, "Well, the reason He chose me—wouldn't you? I'm pretty good." But God cautioned Israel against exactly this in Deuteronomy 7:7–8: "Don't think I chose you because you are bigger or better than the other peoples. I chose you because I love you." That's it.

One of my concerns about the current trend in evangelicalism toward Christian nationalism is that it sees the world God loves and desires to redeem as enemies and outsiders. Beware a religion that otherizes outsiders. It's very seductive, but it's called Phariseism—and Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites.

Put On Love

Let me close with Colossians 3:12. "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved"—you are chosen by God; He loved you—"put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful."

Be thankful that God has saved a wretch like me, and that Christ came into the world to save sinners—of whom Paul said, "I am chief." Paul went from Saul, a name meaning desired, to Paul, a name meaning little. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." I am fearful that the evangelical bent toward Christian nationalism in our moment is a failure to recognize that you are a sinner saved by grace. God help us.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank You today that You have saved us. Not a single one of us was worthy because of our good works or anything awesome about us—other than that You made us, placed Your image upon us, and love us. You graciously came to demonstrate Your love toward us, in that when we were Your enemies and far from You, You died for us. God, help us never to become comfortable with Phariseism, even though we can so easily become accidental Pharisees. Help us to remember that we are and always will be sinners saved by grace, called to extend the same love and grace to lost sinners in need of salvation—and there are many of them.

We live in a culture desperate to be part of the family, the group, to be connected. What they truly long for and don't even realize is to be connected with You. Help us to be ambassadors of You and Your kingdom. Help us to be compelled by Your love to love the outsider. Do a work in us, Lord, lest we fall into the trap of loving those who are lovely and hating our enemies. We ask this in Jesus's name, and all those who agreed said, Amen.