Love Measures
“For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Luke 7:47-48 NASB
Love much – What does Yeshua mean with this odd statement? What does it mean to “love much”? This woman is not the picture perfect example of what we imagine as righteous. In fact, she is quite distinctly an outsider. She was a hamartolos. The word does not mean “prostitute.” It means one who lives in conscious opposition to the expectations of Torah, those who break the commandments and ordinance of the Lord deliberately. The NASB footnote, “an immoral woman,” assumes more than the text allows. That makes a difference. If her great sins were willful disregard for God’s directions, then we are in the same boat with this woman. Her sins were “many.” Mine are a multitude. She embraced sin in word, thought and deed. So do I.
If she can be forgiven, maybe I can too. The hinge is “loved much.” The Greek helps only a little: egapesen poly – an aorist, active, indicative with an adjective. We’re quite familiar with the verb—agapao. But since Yeshua is addressing her in Hebrew, we need to convert this verb into ‘ahav. That helps. “Love in the OT is a spontaneous feeling which impels to self-giving, to grasping that which causes it, or to pleasurable activity. It involves the inner person. Since it has a sexual basis, it is directed supremely to persons; love for things or acts has a metaphorical aspect. God’s love is correlative to his personal nature, and love for God is love first for his person and only then for his word or law.”[1] She loved much. That isn’t a statement about ritual observance, theological concern or religious behavior. It is a statement about emotional intensity, a deep longing that directs action, a sense of homelessness without the lover present and a joy in relationship. Ahav isn’t going to happen in my head. “Loved much” means that my feelings take over and I am compelled to act. It is passion, not persuasion.
Ah, this makes it more difficult for Westerners, doesn’t it? We are “head first” followers. We need to control those unruly emotions. They might suddenly make us cry, or shake, or lose our grip on proper decorum. Love is fine and dandy as long as it doesn’t undo me. But, of course, “love much” is precisely being undone. Perhaps the greatest obstacle human beings face when it comes to experiencing the kind of love that results in forgiveness is being afraid! We all want to maintain that persona in the mirror, the one who isn’t coming apart on the inside. But our emotions betray us. We are Adam answering, “I am afraid,” not “I was afraid.” I am afraid to truly love because that means I will have to be completely vulnerable—and vulnerability means risk, the risk that I might be rejected, that I might be unappreciated, that I might be condemned. Until I face my fear that even God is disappointed in me, I won’t be able to love much—and I won’t find the forgiveness I desperately need to be whole.
Topical Index: love much, agapao, fear, forgiveness, Luke 7:47-48
[1] Gottfried Quell, agapao, in Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament . Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, abridged edition, p. 5.
This is perfect. Skip, you go to a lot of effort in some of your older posts to point out that relationship comes BEFORE anything else, including obedience. That makes perfect sense if we are talking about love. We do loving stuff BECAUSE we love, not so that we can love. The love (connection) comes first, and is the indwelling, impelling force that has to precede all right action, but, as I am not a nuclear love plant, I have to be hooked up with (relating with) the only Generator in town before I have the correct motivation (power).
We on the outside of the fence can only get in by being honest about where we find ourselves. Outside. Ouch! That hurts! How do we get back in – get connected again? Turn around. I am already disconnected: already fractured. Repentance is the action of coming back into relationship through the wicker gate – and this is the only way that is met by the Porter of that place – but we need to be met, for only then do we get the permission we must have to traverse on the holy ground. Why? Because we don’t come in with love in hand: we come in with a hole in heart that needs to be filled. Love is the only way I can obey, but love I must have already before I CAN obey. If I attempt to do the deeds of the Law without the relationship (love) that they represent, I am going to be operating from my own motivations (attempts to relate), and, as I have already found to my sorrow, they all are polluted. Back to the beginning again for me! I have to U-turn, because I already missed the only gas station that sells the right power – without money and without price, mind you – that my tank was designed to run (obey) on.
I have been thinking about this, and looking at my life, and right now, today, I have this simplistic thought that the yetzer hara is the attempt to love from my own power; from where I already find myself, for we are hardwired for love – we do everything because we think it IS love – but the yetzer tov is where we are running on the Love that comes to us when we surrender our own motivations; our own willpower, to be transformed into His motivation; His will. He commands us to perfectly relate on all levels at all times and in all ways, but He asks us nothing that He does not give us the Way to do, and that package includes the power to do (become the sons of God), which no one in their right mind could possibly think we were expected to achieve on our own steam!
I have to be hooked up with (relating with) the only Generator in town before I have the correct motivation (power).
Yeah, and BTW, biblically speaking, I can’t breath on my own either. However, I sure can enjoy it as I take a full breath to fill my lungs. 🙂 Sooner or later though, I’ve got to let it out to take another (if I wanna live anyway) sounds a lot like love. We’re a conduit that experiences it as we relay it.
YHWH bless you and keep you……
LOVE MUCH – Such a nice start to the day. “Love is fine and dandy as long as it doesn’t undo me.” Love undid me and my wife 47 years ago today. Long may it “undo” us both.
Happy Anniversary !!
Happy Anniversary, George & Penny! May there be many many more!
Sometimes Dr. Skip, you’re just a breath of fresh air.
For the last two weeks my husband and I have literally been separated by miles. (all is well) I found myself adrift although busy with life. I realized that is because I love him so much. We are so tied together and we have been blessed with 18 years together. Neither of us are youngsters but oh how we love one another! It seems we both find ourselves undone and I have to agree with George and Penny Kraemer. Long may it undo us both.
We are both blessed to be able to love others which I think is simply an overflow of what we feel for each other.
Did I mention that this came only after we both came to love God more than we loved ourselves? Hmmmm
Great post. I so appreciate the clarifying of the Hebrew and what the text actually says. 🙂
“She was a hamartolos. The word does not mean “prostitute.”
I have been going to church ever since I was a babe in arms twice every Sunday. now admittedly the first few years I didn’t take any notice of what was said from the pulpit but when I was old enough to hear the sermon I never once heard this story expounded without the woman in question being referred to as highly immoral and a prostitute. I know that ministers/pastors had to learn Greek and Hebrew in seminary but it makes wonder what they were taught most of the time.
It is great to be able to read your posts Skip and have lots of misunderstandings clarified.
I find it helps to read the whole passage from which you are quoting to get the full context of the related verses.
Oh that I could love much as this woman did!!