“And Jesus said to the woman,” “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:50
She had just simply lost herself in worshiping her Savior and it didn’t matter to her who gazed or gawked in contempt. Her singular focus was on the one who had forgiven her. This woman, written about in the Gospels, who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil, washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair, wasn’t just any sinner. Sin for her had not been just an “occasional missing the mark.” No, sin for her was a lifestyle and a way of living. Most scholars believe that she was a prostitute by trade, and Jesus knew it. In fact, He pointed out to the critics that her sins were “many.”
Her unabashed worship came from the deep gratitude within her, knowing just how much she was forgiven. She had to have known the depth of her forgiveness, or she would never have placed herself in the room that day. She would have never approached Jesus in all of his holiness and righteousness had she not known she was completely forgiven. And, it was in her faith in this forgiveness that she was saved. As Jesus said to her in Luke 7:50, “Your faith has saved you.”
It wasn’t faith in healing that she displayed, it was faith in forgiveness. She believed that she had been forgiven, and she was, and just like Abraham, she “believed God and it was counted to her as righteousness.” It was also this belief in forgiveness that caused Jesus to send her on her way in “peace,” which, in the Greek, means total wholeness and rest in every area of life.
God’s heart is, and has always been, toward forgiveness and mercy as seen in the story of Abraham when he negotiated with God to spare a wicked nation for just ten righteous.
Today, trust in God for your complete and total forgiveness, even if your sins are many, and go in peace.