I once heard Cory Ten Boom speak. She had us hold our hands in a
clenched fist. She said that life makes a person close their hand with the
hurts that come our way. God wants us to live with an open hand. She said, “It
is better to open your hand to God, but if we don’t, he will pry it open, and
it hurts when he does.”
Living with an open heart that is receptive to God’s kindness and love is essential to living a meaningful life. Jesus told a parable that demonstrated the opposite when people reject God’s kindness. A father who had two sons. He asked the first to go work in his vineyard. He answered, “I won’t, but later changed his mind and went.” The second, said he would, but later did not go (Matthew 21:33-39). Jesus was pointing to tax collectors and prostitutes who were immoral but listened and repented. At the same time, the Pharisees pretended to be righteous but were not.
Luke told the story of a woman who came to a dinner uninvited, where Jesus was the guest, and wept over his feet and dried them with her hair. Then she broke an alabaster jar of perfume and anointed his feet. When the host, Simon saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner” (Luke 7:39).
Jesus told him a story: “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.“ Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. (Luke 7:40-43).
The point of the story was that the woman had an open hand and an open heart to receive God’s grace, while Simon did not. Jesus said that the person who had the bigger debt forgiven would love the most. It was true of these two. Simon did not have a debt to be forgiven, at least that is what he thought. His heart was closed.
Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. (Luke 7:44-46).
When Jesus said to her, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little. Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:47-48). The thought is not that her great love for Christ earned her forgiveness, but rather, this extravagant display of love was the result of being forgiven and living with an open heart.