NOTES for Luk 7:47

If we had to express a similar thought, we would hardly build the phrase this way. We would say: "Her many sins are forgiven because she loved much, and the one who loves little is forgiven little." And everything would be clear and unambiguous. How much deeper is what Jesus says!

First, His phrase prompts the thought: "If I feel that little is forgiven me, then this apparently means that I love little." That is, if I consider my sins small, this is simply because my love for God is lacking.

Second, something greater appears here. A forgiven person becomes capable of greater love; greater love opens the road to greater forgiveness, and from there to still greater love, and so on and so on. What we usually perceive as an act of forgiveness is known as a process that grows love in us.