"Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much" (Luke 7:47)

Surely, one of the most beautiful pictures in all of literature is the one in which the father of the prodigal son is looking down the road, hoping his boy will be coming home, and then running down the road eager to embrace him, eager to welcome him home, eager to forgive him!

The story is told of an otherwise loving mother who probably was less than eager to forgive her son and welcome him home, at least for a time. It seems that the young man had taken a temporary job in a far-off city and his mother was worried that he would be lonely. She went to a pet store and told the proprietor that she wanted to send a very special pet to her son to keep him company. The merchant replied, "I have just what you are looking for. The bird you see in that cage will entertain your son for hours at a time. It is the only bird in the world that can recite the 'Gettysburg Address,' the 'Preamble to the Constitution,' the '23rd Psalm' and the 'Lord's Prayer.'" Hearing this, the mother knew that she just had to send this fantastic bird to her son. "How much is it?" she asked. "Two thousand dollars," said the proprietor. The woman gulped. "That's almost all of my savings," she said to herself. "But, I don't care. I just want to make my boy happy." And so she made the purchase and shipped the bird to her son. A few days later, he called her long distance: "Did you get the bird I sent you?" she asked. "Yes mother." "How did you like it?" she wanted to know. "It was delicious, mom!"

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus is a dinner guest in the home of a Pharisee named Simon. A street woman learns that Jesus is in the Pharisee's house and goes to Him. She stands behind Jesus and begins to wet His feet with her tears. She wipes them with her hair. Then she kisses His feet, and anoints them with some expensive ointment she has brought with her. Seeing this, Simon says of Jesus, "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" (Lk. 7:39). Then Jesus, who knows very well who and what the woman is, turns to Simon and says, "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. You gave Me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much" (Lk. 7:44-47).

One of the beautiful things about coming to worship week after week is the opportunity it gives us to praise God and thank Him for His forgiving love. God creates us and, in His love, gives us freedom. And even when we misuse that freedom and rebel against Him, He is eager to reconcile us to Himself, eager to bring us home, eager to forgive us.

There is this episode from the life of Clara Barton who founded the American Red Cross. During a conversation with a friend, the name of a person they both knew came up. The friend reminded Clara that many years ago, that person had done something mean and vicious and cruel to her. "Don't you remember when that happened to you?" the friend asked. "No," Clara Barton replied, "but I distinctly remember forgetting it."

"You have heard that it was said," Jesus said to His disciples, "'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' but I say to you, 'Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also'...You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,' But I say to you, 'Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors, so that you may be sons of the Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust'" (Mt. 5:38,43).

The necessary precondition for us to experience God's forgiving love is that we forgive others. This must have been very important to Jesus, because He put it right in the middle of the Lord's Prayer! "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" has been called the most dangerous petition that any of us could ever offer. What we're really saying is, "To the degree to which I haven't forgiven other people, to that degree I am praying that I will not experience God's forgiveness." Jesus is trying to help us understand that until we have gone through the struggle of forgiving someone who has really hurt us, until we have experienced the costliness of forgiveness, we are in no condition to understand, appreciate and assimilate God's forgiveness of us. Our unwillingness to go through this struggle and to pay the price and to discover what forgiveness is all about may be the main stumbling block to our spiritual well-being. There is no way we can experience wholeness of life if there is some person whom we refuse to forgive. It is our unwillingness to forgive that cuts us off from God. This is emphasized again and again in the Scriptures.

There is a "Garden of Eden" story in which Eve accuses Adam of seeing another woman. Adam denies the accusation, but Eve persists. "If you have been unfaithful to me, I might be willing to forgive you," she says. "But if you lie to me about it, I'll never forgive you." To which Adam replies, "But there is nothing to forgive. Don't you know you are the only woman God has created?" Eve seems convinced and she regains her composure. Nevertheless, when Adam goes to sleep that night, she quietly reaches over and counts his ribs.

We may, if we choose, make the worst of one another. But we may also make the best of one another. We may forgive, even as we hope to be forgiven. We may put ourselves in the place of others, and ask what we would wish to be done to us, and thought of us, were we in their place.

By loving whatever is lovable in those around us, love will flow back from them to us; and we shall become worthy followers of Him whose Name is Love.