Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. Jesus is responding to Simon's judgment of the woman who anointed his feet. Simon thinks love is proportional to moral achievement. Jesus inverts it: love is proportional to forgiveness received.
The woman who was a prostitute—and Luke gives us that detail—loved lavishly because she'd been forgiven lavishly. Simon, who'd maintained respectability, loves less because he doesn't recognize his own neediness. There's something devastating about that logic. If you think you're fine, you'll love little. If you recognize you're broken, you'll love much. It's an invitation to the uncomfortable acknowledgment: I'm more like the prostitute than I want to admit. I need forgiveness. I need grace. The moment you really get that, love pours out. Not as reward for being good, but as gratitude for being forgiven.
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