The Larger Debt

This past Lord’s Day, Alex Kiess, pastoral intern at Shady Grove Presbyterian Church, preached on the larger debt every sinner owes and the larger mercy that cancels it. In Luke 7:36-50, a woman known for her sin anoints Jesus’ feet at a Pharisee’s table, while Simon, the host, quietly judges both her and the Lord he invited. Through the parable of the two debtors, Jesus shows that her lavish love was not the price of her pardon but the fruit of it, since it was her faith that saved her. Simon’s real problem was not that he owed less but that he could not see what he owed, and the gospel opens our eyes to our own debt so that we might love much the One who paid it.