Sometimes we read Luke 7:36-50 and get stuck on the woman who walked into the room. Everybody seemed to know her story, and apparently it wasn't a very good one. Simon the Pharisee certainly knew it. He also knew the rules about respectable people and the kinds of folks they were supposed to associate with. She clearly didn't make the list. But Jesus saw something Simon didn't. He saw a woman who knew she needed forgiveness, and she wasn't afraid to show just how grateful she was. She didn't come looking for approval from the crowd. She came to Jesus because she knew she needed grace.
And that's where this story gets a little too close to home. It's easy to be Simon. We may never say it out loud, but sometimes we quietly keep score: I'm doing okay. At least I'm not as bad as that person. We notice somebody's mistakes, their past, their choices, their attitude—or whatever else bothers us—and pretty soon we've put them in a box. Meanwhile, we conveniently forget that we're carrying our own baggage. Jesus reminds Simon that people who understand how much they've been forgiven tend to love differently. Grace changes the way we see ourselves, and when it does, it changes the way we see other people, too. Maybe the question isn't, "Do they deserve my kindness?" Maybe it's simply, "What would grace look like right now?"
Reflection: Who have I quietly decided doesn't deserve my grace? Am I more focused on somebody else's shortcomings than my own need for forgiveness? What might change today if I remembered how much grace God has already given me? Could I pass a little of that grace along?