36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Let’s not underestimate the flesh and sin and the human will. The saying “where there’s a will, there’s a way” is born out of an uncanny ability for the human race to dig deep into the pits of our broken souls and find a way to feed the flesh towards great great sin. The desire to prove someone wrong can make a simple man become a world-class defense lawyer. The desire to get revenge for being stabbed in the back can make a common man a murderer. The will to be great perhaps because you’ve been looked down upon your entire life can lead a rather ordinary person to remake themselves into a tremendously wealthy and fabulous man. However, one thing the flesh cannot will itself to do is to will itself to fulfill the greatest commandment— to love God in a holy way. To have no other gods before us. To have him be lifted high as our only and greatest Treasure and Portion and Delight. To love him even at great cost to our own well-being (even unto death). That’s a very spiritual, mystical, out-of-this-world, holy miracle that happens.
And Jesus gives us the prescription. He who is forgiven little, loves little. He who is forgiven much, loves much. And this sinful woman, in all the depths of her brokenness, shame, sorrow, wounds, and fractures— she sought the One who forgives much, and she loved Him much. It wasn’t a ‘got to’, it was a ‘get to.’ It wasn’t forced. It wasn’t fabricated. It wasn’t emotionalized. But it was emotional because it was a delight to love Him.
Luke 7:42 says “When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
It’s a road that we do not like to travel because it requires our humility and our brokenness to be exposed to the great God of the universe (and to one another). But Jesus is essentially saying that our love for Him and others flows from our meditation upon the magnitude of our debt cancelled. It seems unlikely. It seems counter-intuitive. Why linger on the past? Pain? Hurt? Mistakes? Why linger on such serious things like sin? It’s not unnecessarily lingering. It’s lingering to magnify His glory, and to produce a delight, a longing, a joy, a deep affectionate love for our First Love. That's a regular part of our daily bread.