Agape Because of Gratitude

“A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. “When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41–42)

Let’s enjoy unraveling some more of the mystery of God’s love. What can we discover through these two verses…? Here’s some background…

Jesus was asked to eat at a Pharisee’s home. The Pharisee was named Simon. The Pharisee loved right living and ritual cleanliness. He was a learned, religious man.

A local woman who was a notorious sinner crashed the dinner. Here’s Luke’s description:

And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. (Luke 7:37–38)

Make no mistake, this woman was bad news to the town in which she lived. She was not a credit to her community. She was probably a source of shame-filled grief to her family of origin and deserved the reputation she had. Her social circumstance would be similar to a small community’s “town drunk”. She was despised, or pitied, (both?) by all decent people. Nobody wanted their daughter to end up like her. She was the example of a depraved sinner in a religious culture.

Scandalized by her breach of protocol and display of over-the-top devotion, Simon thought within himself as to how, obviously, Jesus was not a holy man. A holy man would never permit, or admit, such a woman in his company, let alone put up with this outrageous display of grief and gratitude.

That’s the context for these two verses. Jesus said:

 

“A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41–42)

 

There are some wonderful truths about the nature of agape in these two verses.

First, we find that, contrary to the common consensus, there are different degrees of agape. The Lord asked, “which of them will love (agapaō) him more?” What is generally taught is that all agape is extreme love. That the only true manifestation of agape is the demonstration of Father’s agape when He gave His wonderful, unique Son up as a sacrifice for our sins.

That is the supreme example of extraordinary, holy agape. John wrote:

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

Friends, here’s an open secret: there are other degrees of agape. There are also varying qualities of agape.

Through these verses we find out that some feelings and expressions of love (agape) are greater than others. Not all agape is the same. Agape can be experienced and acted upon in greater or lesser degrees.

Next, and this is important, too, agape can be spurred by the generosity of another. We’re told that agape is totally altruistic and unconditional. Well, here the condition for agape being birthed in the human heart was the unforeseen forgiveness of debt. That is hardly unconditional or altruistic, right?

We tend to love those who do good things for us. Don’t be ashamed of that. It’s normal agape common to all humanity. Agape can be felt and expressed by normal people, in this case, even the worst of people, and there is a parallel to the way we love God

The insight we have into how much we’ve been forgiven, the measure of understanding we have as to how much we need God to forgive us, helps to determine the quantity and quality of the love we have for the One who has forgiven us.

The Messiah asked Simon, his host, “Which of them will love him more?”

Simon said,

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” (Luke 7:43)

Agape in us can be stirred because of experiencing God’s love manifest in the complete forgiveness of who we are, what we’ve done, and what we failed to do. It is a love which is felt towards the One who forgave us.

Agape is the emotion of love. We can relate.

The point I’m after is this: God loves you. Love is felt. He feels love for you.

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Also, David wrote a book about God’s love for the Jewish People called, For the Sake of the Fathers

And a book on Leadership

Check out David’s new worship album, Looking for a City