The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-03-03
.THE PULPIT.
Sermon Preached by Rev. Dr. J.W Pratt
in the Music Hall, Cincinnati, Sun
day Afternoon, February %.

VII. OO-OO.
Our Lord having been invited to dine
at the house of one Simon, Pharisee, was
reclining on the dinner couch, as was the
custom in those days. A woman who
was so obscure that we do not know even
her name Cfor it is no where mentioned,
but who was an abandoned woman of
the town." when she knew that Jesus
was at dinner, brought a flask of precious
ointment and stood before Him weeping
and began to wet His feet with tears, and
then to dry them with her disheveled hair
then she kissed His feet, and anointed
them with the ointment
When Simon, the host of Jesus, saw
this transaction, his opinion of Jesus un-
derwent a great change He had invited
Him to dinner under the impression that
He was a great prophet. And now, at
the very outset, all his favorable prepos-
sessions are done away with Here is
the man whom he had taken to be a
holy rabbi actually permitting common
woman of the town" to caress HIS per-
son.
He says to himself: "This man either
knows or He does not know the character
of this woman If He does not know her
character, He can not be a prophet, for
true prophet of God is .discerner of
spirits; if He does know her character
He can not be prophet for no holy
prophet of God would suffer so vile a
woman to touch him.
This was good reasoning. Nevertheless
it was defective, because it was based on
false premises. The false assumption con-
sisted in supposing that holy prophet
could not be a friend of sinners.
Now see how Jesus upsets Simon's rea-
soning.
First, He replies to Simons unuttered
thoughts In this way He refutes his
first objection to His being prophet, by
proving to him that He could read what
was in his mind
Secondly, in reply to his other as
sumption, He invents the parable of the
two debtors:
There was certain creditor that
had two debtors. One owed five hundred
pence, and the other owed fifty And
when they had nothing to pay, he freely
forgave both Tell me which of them
will love him most. Simon answered,
suppose that he to whom he RENTED
most Jesus said, Thou hast rightly
judged " Disregarding the secret i'm
putatlon OF want of purity. He at once
shows to Simon his own relations to Him
and to the weeping penitent behind Him
He represents Himself as the creditor
and the other two parties as the debtors
Notwithstanding His evident allusion to
Simon in the parable. Simon does not
seem to recognize its applicability to him
self In order therefore, to open his
eyes, our Lord says to him in effect: az
mean you and this woman by the two
debtors Upon you'll have conferred very
little; therefore you love me but little.
But to her | have given everything;
therefore she loves me much. entered
into thine house thou gavest me no water
for my feet, but she has washed them
with the tears of penitential grief Thou
gavest me no linen towel for my feet. but
she has dried them with the thousand
hairs Of her head. Thou gavest me not
the customary kiss on my forehead, but
this woman has imprinted thousand
kisses on my feet My head with the
ordinary oil of hospitality thou didst not
anoint, but this woman has anointed nv
feet with the most costly ointment
Wherefore l say unto thee, Her sins,
which are many, are forgiven; for she
loved much"
The form Of statement, {" Her sins are
forgiven, for she loved much, suggests
the inquiry whether our Lord means to
teach that pardon was granted to her on
account Of her love. This might seem to
be the meaning were it not for what i'm
mediately follows: But to whom little
is forgiven the same loveth little" which
Just as clearly shows that the intensity of
love Is determined by the magnitude Of
the pardon.
And the parable itself teaches the same
doctrine. For in it the debtors are re-
presented as loving the creditor in pro
portion to the amount of debt RENTED
and on account Of its remission. And in
the third place, the authoritative declare
ton Of our Lord, "Thy faith hath saved
thee, settles the matter and shows that
her faith and not her love, was the con
dition Of her pardon
How then are we to explain, Her
SINS, which are many, are forgiven, for
she loved much" Very easily in the
light Of the context. 1t is an argument
not from a cause to an effect but from. an
effect back to cause. Her much love
was the sign Of her much forgiveness.
met NO &c. IL L..