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Father in heaven, we thank you that you speak and reveal yourself to us. Please help us to understand. And please help us to live in the light of your Wisdom, in Christ and by your Spirit. Amen.

To what, or to whom will you give your heart? For many of us here tonight it is the beginning of a new academic year. What are you hoping for? What will you give your best efforts to accomplish? A place on the sports team? A top class degree? The chance to travel and experience something new? A relationship? For others of us, who don’t work according to the academic calendar – what are you hoping for? What have you been working for this year? A promotion? A cheap holiday now everyone else is back at school? To what or to whom will you give your heart? Because it’s terrible to keep our heart to ourselves.

When something keeps us back from jumping in with both feet to some adventure or some pleasure – that’s a shame. Maybe it’s fear; safety first is the motto. Don’t get drawn in. Don’t accept unlimited liabilities. Keep one hand on the rope. Don’t go out of your depth. Stay in the shallows. And maybe that’s a few of us here this evening. Or maybe for others, it’s despair – of having found nothing or no one worthy to give our heart to. Perhaps the world seems grey and hopeless; no future, no meaning, no joy. We must have something to give our heart to; something to live for that’s beyond ourselves. What is it for you?

Well, it may be that you wouldn’t call yourself a follower of Jesus or a Christian, but you’re here to find out what Christians believe – if that’s the case welcome, we’ll be directing our attention to the dynamic between Jesus, Simon the Pharisee and the woman in the story we have just heard read to us. The dynamic is summed up in the punchline of Jesus’ story, we can see it in Luke 7.47:

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

Here is the dynamic of the Christian life:

Forgiven much loves much. Which is terrifying. Look back with me at the previous section in Luke 7.27, where Jesus, speaking about John the Baptist, quotes the prophet Malachi:

Behold, I send my messenger before your face,who will prepare your way before you.

We heard that passage read this evening. The role of the messenger was to prepare the way for God to come to his people. And when God came, he would come to refine, to purify, to judge, and afterwards, to bless. The dynamic is forgiven much loves much – but forgiven little, loves little. And Simon is left desperately exposed after this encounter. Let’s go over the details again; Simon invites Jesus round for dinner, and during the dinner a woman who was known to have led a sinful life turns up with a jar of perfume. Now the historians tell us that the fact that an uninvited guest was present at the dinner party is not the surprising part. Apparently these dinners were more like exhibitions where famous people could talk and their discussions observed by passers by. A bit like a Joe Rogan or Stephen Fry podcast of the 1st Century. This is the Simon the Pharisee Show. No the shocking thing is that the woman breaks a jar of expensive perfume, pours it on Jesus feet, washes them with her hair and kisses them. That did not usually happen! And Jesus watches Simon’s reaction and then tells this story about a moneylender who had two debtors. One has a big debt, about £40,000, and one has a modest debt, about £4,000. Neither can pay it back, but happily for them, the moneylender forgives both of them their debts. Question: Who will love him more? Obvious answer – the one with the bigger debt forgiven. Now see the move Jesus makes; he puts himself in the position of the moneylender. See this woman – he says in Luke 7.44-48:

“I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven”.

And the crowd get it – because they ask the question in Luke 7.49:

“Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

Jesus is the moneylender who forgives debts. The woman has seen that; she’s been forgiven much so she loves much. The woman sees that – Simon do you? You who love me so little, have you seen that you also have a debt you must pay – and I have come to forgive it. But you won’t come to me – why? What has stopped Simon coming to Jesus? Is it possible that he thinks he has no debt to pay? Or does he think he’s paid back his sins by good deeds? If so, by who’s reckoning? As though a man could steal £100 and think the theft is cancelled out by washing the victim’s car. Is it possible Simon thinks there won’t be a day of reckoning in the end? Does he think that all debts will be forgiven in the end indiscriminately? If so, he treats the woman very shamefully by holding her sinful life against her. He at least is keeping count of other people’s sins.

Perhaps he is aware of his debt, and really does want to settle accounts with the moneylender – but he’s genuinely not sure Jesus is the one. Well it’s strange that he publicly denies Jesus all the normal courtesies a guest in that time and place expected. A strange way to hedge your bets if he was genuinely giving Jesus a fair hearing. Strange that he ignores the acts of power Jesus has worked up until now; raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, healing lepers. Maybe he thinks Jesus is playing tricks to back up his extraordinary claims. Strange that he ignores Jesus’ teaching from the Old Testament, which prophesied that the coming of God to his people would happen in just the way Jesus came. With a messenger in the wilderness and acts of power. Why won’t Simon come to Jesus? The uncomfortable truth is that the closer Jesus comes to us – the more our intellectual, moral and honest objections fall away and the bare truth is exposed. Simon doesn’t come to Jesus because he does not want to come to Jesus. Simon can see as well as we can that admitting Jesus is the moneylender to whom he is indebted means his life is not his own. It means admitting that he will be a constant debtor to Jesus’ grace. The choice Simon makes is summed up by the poet John Milton in Paradise Lost, when he imagines Satan to say:

It is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.[John Milton, Paradise Lost]

The choice when it comes is between eternal joy and eternal misery. But Simon looks at Jesus; sees his obvious power. He reads the same scriptures Jesus does which talk about the coming of God in such as way as this. He hears Jesus teaching and hears the same invitation that this woman heard – And he says no thank you. The moneylender has come and offered to cancel his debt and he says I’d rather face the courts than be in debt to your mercy! That is sin – it is both offensive and insane. It says to God I would rather die than be blessed by you.

You may not be a Christian; you may have lots of legitimate, honest, moral and intellectual questions to ask about Jesus and the Christian faith, but you cannot have it both ways. If you seek a God who can really bless you then you seek a God who is more than a metaphor. If you seek to know this God, then you seek a God who already knows you. If this God can answer you when you call, he can also speak without our asking. And such is the claim God has spoken clearly and truthfully. He has come into the world through his Son Jesus Christ. And Simon’s only hope is at last to recognise the money lender whom he has offended and ask for mercy. That’s what this woman saw. This woman is like the picture negative of Simon. Whereas he was important and respected – she was notorious and shunned. She had no dignity to stand on. Everyone knew she had lived a sinful life. Simon was shocked that Jesus even let her touch him. And who knows, maybe the level of separation she experienced was justified. All we’re told is she had led a sinful life. Men and women are capable of doing terrible things. We don’t know what this lady had done. All we know is Jesus says in Luke 7.47:

Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.

And then he goes on to say to her in Luke 7.50:

Your faith has saved you, go in peace.

Here’s the dynamic of the Christian life: Forgiven much, loves much. And big headline:

Faith in Jesus saves.

This woman contributed nothing to Jesus for her forgiveness. The perfume. The tears. The kissing of feet. These were all a response to receiving forgiveness by faith. Even now, Simon still has time to say Lord, I’m sorry. I’ve been a fool! Forgive my debt too. What could possibly get him to do so? Isn’t it awful he can enjoy forgiveness like this woman any time he wants – only he doesn’t want to! What hope does he have? What hope do we have? Maybe you’re here this evening and though you call yourself a Christian, it’s been a long time since you’ve thought of doing anything because you love Jesus. Maybe you come to church because your family want you to. Maybe it’s where your friends are. You might be thinking about the year ahead and calculating what are the minimum requirements I need to meet so I can be a Christian, but still be able to…what? Have fun with my mates? Find a boyfriend or a girlfriend? Get the job I want? Whatever it is – that’s the thing you’ve given your heart to.

But what hope do we have if forgiveness is as easy as coming to Jesus for mercy – and we still don’t want to do that? The wonderful news is that is a terrible sin. It is so offensive to God. It does him such dishonour. And yet, forgiven much loves much. Jesus calls to you even now, from the cross, where he bore the just condemnation sin deserves – let me pay your debt. Let me give you a future that will never perish, spoil or fade. To whom else will you give your heart? Who will forgive you as I have forgiven you? Who will bear with you so patiently as me? What else will give as I have given to you? What else desires your happiness as blood earnestly as I do?

Real Christian Faith sees this (and faith responds) and Jesus says – this faith saves. What would it take to make us like this woman who loved Jesus so much? At the beginning of this academic year, let’s remember that our happiness is bound up with a right view of ourselves and a right view of Jesus. Make it your aim this year to know God better that you might discover more reasons he is worthy of your worship. There are so many things which lose their attraction after a while. I played rugby with a guy who studied film. He said he could no longer watch films for pleasure because he had watched so many for work. He said he could tell within minutes who would fall in love, who would be a traitor, what the twist would be and whodunnit. There was nothing new for him. There was no thrill. God is not like that! God is infinite. We will never get to a point where we have sussed him out. There will always be more of God to enjoy – and as we grow to know him better, we will the more willingly offer him the worship he is due. And make it your aim to have a right view of yourself.

One sociologist has said that human beings ask 2 fundamental questions: “Who am I?” and “Who are my people?”Jesus gives you an answer to those questions: I am a forgiven sinner, I have been given a wonderful future I did not and do not deserve. My people are all over the world, likewise forgiven sinners. They can be recognised by their love for Jesus, our Saviour and King.