Much ado about something

If you are a reader of internet jokes, memes or Facebook you may be familiar with the phrase “excited much?” “annoying much?”  Is the saying itself getting annoying much?  It got me thinking about the passage in the Bible where Jesus says “those who are forgiven much love much, and those who are forgiven little love little.”  Is Jesus saying that he forgives some people heaps and others not much, that his forgiveness is doled out unevenly?  Hmmm.  Thinking, thinking…

It’s like if someone steals your pencil.  You don’t need to forgive them much because it costs you very little to replace the pencil (the cost of the pencil is the cost you have to absorb yourself because you decide to forgive the other person, rather than getting them to pay for it).  And they will love you very little for forgiving them of that small debt.

But if they steal and wreck your car and you catch them and you don’t demand justice from them (buying you a new car) but forgive them of the debt and buy the new car yourself; they will probably love you a little bit more than they did before the car theft.

Let’s ramp it up a bit more:  If they steal and kill your child and you do not demand from them justice for that act (their own life for the life of the child) but choose to forgive them and absorb all the emotional cost yourself and spare their life; then they will love you a LOT more.  And that’s what Jesus is getting at in this account.  

God [Jesus] is the creator of the universe and as such deserves love and respect from his creation.  Any act of rebellion against himself or injury to one’s neighbour is disrespecting [sin] Him and his creation.  So every sin we commit against our fellow man is ultimately against God.  If you, like the Pharisee, do not think you have injured God by your thought, words or deeds then you will not think you need his forgiveness.  His forgiveness is like a pencil to you; a very little thing.

In contrast to the Pharisee’s pride we see the prostitute do something outrageous!  She falls to her knees, weeps, wiping his feet with her hair and anointing them with expensive oil.   Why does she do this crazy thing?  Because she realizes that her sins are many and consequently she deserves much punishment from God for them.  But she is spared!  She realizes that Jesus is the kind of God who does not get pleasure from punishing the wicked but rather seeks to forgive them, and to do that he had to absorb upon himself on the cross ALL the cost of all her (and our) sin that ever was.  Realizing this truth she loves him very much.  That selfless, willing sacrifice on her (and your) behalf is applied to, and given to, us freely.  Your life is spared for all eternity!  And not only that, but Jesus welcomes you into his family and treats you like a beloved child.

Forgiven much?  That’s totes amazeballs!