Suppose

“I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”  Luke 7:43

Suppose – Isn’t sarcasm grand?  It says so much about the speaker.  With just a word of sarcasm you can turn truth into pain, intimacy into fear or vulnerability into resistance.  It’s such a useful tool.  And it takes almost no training at all to learn.  You don’t have to go to a seminar on how to be sarcastic and hurt others.  All you have to do is open your mouth and let what’s already there come out.

Jesus is in the house of a very pious Pharisee.  Their meal has been interrupted by a woman who is a known “sinner”.  The breach of all social etiquette outrages the Pharisee.  This woman dares to weep over Jesus, touching him, caressing his feet with her hair.  It was an obvious sign of her complete loss of dignity.  As far as he was concerned, she was worthless.  But Jesus sees something else.  He sees overwhelming gratitude for a life pulled from the gutter.  He sees a woman who knows she deserved nothing but who discovered God’s bounty.  And so Jesus recounts a story – a parable that points out a simple theme – the more one experiences forgiveness, the more gratitude bursts forth.

Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Pharisee?  His answer, “I suppose so.”  Acknowledgement with an edge.  Yes, if you insist.  But it doesn’t apply to me.  I am righteous.  I live by the rules.  I don’t need that much forgiveness.  I’m not like her.

The word hupolambano combines the thought of taking with being under.  It is as if to say, “I’ll take it under consideration.  I’ll think about it.”  It is condescending agreement.  “Yes, Jesus.  You made your point.”  This is acknowledgment without commitment for Simon the Pharisee does not admit that he is the one who stands convicted before God.  He is acting the part of the defense lawyer.  “Objection sustained.”  Point given but only a technicality.  In his world, the category “sinner” could never apply to him.

Where do we stand in this courtroom?  Are we alongside the woman, admitted sinners, aware of our guilt and shame?  Or are we holding on to the technicality, admitting nothing that would drive us to our knees to beg forgiveness?  “I’m not like her!”

If you haven’t wept over your sin, how can you weep over God’s forgiveness?

(for a deeper study of this story, see my book Jesus Said to Her)