Parables of Jesus Devotional Series

The Parable of the Two Debtors

Luke 7:36—50
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

The Setting
In our parable for today, we simply cannot get the depth of meaning without understanding the setting. Jesus has been invited to have dinner at a Pharisee’s home. An immoral woman heard he was there and went to him and began to wipe his feet with her tears and anoint them with the expensive perfume.

The Pharisee did not say anything but thought, “If Jesus only knew who she was…”

Up to this point the Pharisee has been unnamed, but Jesus, knowing the Pharisee’s thoughts refers to him by name, Simon. Then he tells him the Parable of the Two Debtors.

The Parable

One debtor has a great debt, the other much, much smaller. The creditor forgave them both. Jesus' question, “who would love the creditor more?” The answer: the one is forgiven much.

Jesus likens the women crying and anointing his feet to the one forgiven much. The Pharisee forgiven little.

How this relates to us…

Well, in our Fit.Church community, many of us can relate to the woman at Jesus' feet. We’ve made a mess of our lives and to know that no matter what we have done, we can come to Jesus' feet to worship, and be accepted. Others of us, are more like the Pharisee in that we may not have had a great life of sinfulness, but we need to understand the nature of sin. Paul says in Romans that the “wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin separates us from God, no matter whether it is great sin or not.
We can embrace spiritual, emotional, and physical health knowing that God is on our side because no matter our individual level of sin, we can and are forgiven. We are free from the law of sin and death!