Luke 7:47-50
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Sometimes forgiveness of sin can seem like something we hardly know we need.  This woman who came to Jesus was apparently known to be a sinner.  She had many sins, according to Jesus.  And perhaps she couldn’t quite articulate what it was that she needed from Him.  She made no request or plea.  She merely wept at His feet and made an offering of her brokenness to Him.

Perhaps she lived with the weight of bondage to sin, the sense that something wasn’t quite right, the understanding that something was missing without being able to pinpoint what it was.  But then Jesus states it so simply: “Thy sins are forgiven.”  And with that, freedom awakens within her soul, and she realizes that’s what she needed.  She needed her Master to cancel her debt when she had nothing to pay.

The accumulation of our sin debt weighs heavy upon us.  The guilt and shame can perhaps consume us.  And with that comes the understanding that there is nothing we can do to make up for it or to undo it.  We have nothing with which to pay it back.  And the gracious pardon of our Lord—forgiveness from the one we have sinned against, perhaps without fully recognizing that that is what was happening—is what we need to be free.  So when He grants us that pardon, we can truly go away whole and at peace, saved from our sin.  May we, too, be willing to come to Jesus to receive His precious gift of forgiveness of sin.