He is Worthy: Gracious to Forgive (Luke 7:36–50) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Quite naturally, we recoil at the suggestion that we’re desperate sinners that need forgiveness of our sins. We tend to think better of ourselves. A sin here and there, yes, we’ll admit that. Yet that’s not such a big deal, or so we think. At least we’re not like those who grovel in the depths of wicked behavior. We’re civil in thought and action. We act judiciously in what we do. Our speech, occasionally salty, has nothing of the coarseness so common among the masses.

With one excuse following another, we explain away the need for forgiveness. We gloss over our thoughts and desires. We glare at those leading contemptible lives. We wag our fingers at the wretches living in squalor and crime. We turn our nose at those despicable people that seem to have no self-control or show no restraint in pursuing their godless desires.

We can sound like the Duchess of Buckingham when she received an invitation from Lady Huntingdon, a faithful witness to the gospel, to join her in hearing George Whitefield, the 18th century Great Awakening preacher:

. . . It is monstrous to be told, that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl on the earth. This is highly offensive and insulting; and I cannot but wonder that your Ladyship should relish any sentiments so much at variance with high rank and good breeding [Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, 1:132].

Yes, “high rank and good breeding” seems to be our identity and the rationale that we can give at the suggestion that our sin separates us from a holy God, and that we’re unacceptable before God apart from the righteousness of Christ. It’s difficult to admit that we need the forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can give.

But that’s not the case with the one forgiven by Christ. She has no qualms about admitting her unworthiness of Christ. He attempts no hiding and covering before the crushing weight of conviction of sin. He or she feels desperation: ‘I must know the forgiveness of Christ or I cannot go on.’ Such a person finds the forgiveness of sins to excite the mind and heart beyond measure. That person has come to agree with the psalmist, “But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Ps 130:4). Forgiveness changes everything. The forgiven person lives and loves with Christ in view.

When Jesus forgives the forgiven loves. He loves in ways that he never knew possible. She loves with such intensity that she cares not what the world thinks. All that matters is lavishing love, worship, and praise upon Christ. Does that lavish love for Christ describe you? Let’s think about how the forgiveness of sins results in lavish love.

The Story

Luke shows us in the four narratives in chapter 7 about the worthiness of Jesus Christ. In the story of healing the centurion’s servant, we see His worthiness in matchless authority. When He raised the widow’s son at Nain, we see His worthiness in unrivaled power. In that lengthy narrative on John the Baptist as the one preparing the way for the Messiah, we see Jesus’ worthiness as the expected One. Now, with the story of the forgiven woman, we feel more personally the worthiness of Christ expressed by His graciousness to forgive. For in this story, we find the contrast between a notable religious figure in Capernaum that felt no need for forgiveness and a woman of the street who burst with love for Christ when knowing the forgiveness of sins.

Luke begins, “Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.” Jesus had earlier dined with Levi the tax collector—an act mocked by the Pharisees (Luke 5:17–32). Now a curious Pharisee invites Jesus to dine with him. Such an occasion would not have been an intimate dinner party with a few guests in quiet conversations. Instead, with the house’s courtyard open, people from the community would have come to listen to the conversa[...]