Two debtors were indebted to a certain lender. One owed five hundred denaria, the other fifty. They, not having [a way] to repay… he graced both. Therefore, which of them will love him more?

Luke 7.42 (McKnight)

I love how Scot McKnight decided to translate this passage in his book, The Second Testament. So often I sit down in the morning to read my Bible and my mind goes on autopilot. I get to a familiar passage and my brain says, “yes, yes, I’ve read this before, I don’t need to pay attention.” But even days later, I still can’t stop thinking about this story.

To get some context, a member of that day’s religious elite invites Jesus inside his home to recline and eat around the table with his friends. A woman in the city, whose only description given is “sinful”, somehow finds her way into the religious man’s house at Jesus’ feet.

The sinful woman is shedding tears and ointment on Jesus’ feet while the religious man is raining judgement on Jesus for even being near her. Talk about a charged situation! In the midst of all this Jesus responds with a story and a question.

As a side note, sometimes I wish I could respond to tense situations by just telling a story. “So I know you’re upset but let me tell you this story…” Full disclosure, I’ve never actually tried this approach but I don’t see it working out well. Maybe it’s just a cultural thing.

Jesus’ story is short and to the point. Two people are in debt with the same person. Out of the blue, the lender decides to forgive both of them. No reason; no explanation. I love how jarring it’s portrayed in Scot’s translation. They can’t pay… he cancels their debt. No one saw it coming.

Then Jesus pulls his signature move of asking a question. Which one of the debtors loves the lender more? Let’s just take a moment to appreciate how Jesus was able to completely dismantle a complex situation with one simple question. The religious norm of the day was to measure righteousness by how far you could separate yourself from sin. Jesus turned this whole idea upside down and was was asking how close they are to God.

The sinful woman was willing to do whatever it took just to be near Jesus. Now, to be fair I just want to point out that the religious man wanted to be around Jesus too. He invited him into his house after all. But I think he was probably too caught up in himself to see how much he needed Jesus.

The woman had a clear picture of who she was and who Jesus was. I don’t know what her game plan was but she knew she needed Jesus. And what was the end result? She humbled herself by literally washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiping off the grime on his toes with her hair. Gross! But in this, she received grace. Actually, Jesus graced her.

That’s what really caught my eye when reading this passage. Who uses grace as a verb? My mom had a saying she would use when someone showed up late. She’d say, “look who finally graced us with their presence.” But graced here isn’t being used sarcastically. The lender graced the debtors.

Almost every time I see the word grace it being used as a noun not a verb. I asked my friend Ra, who knows a lot more about language then I do, for some definitions. In her words, “a noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, activity, or idea. A verb is an action word. A noun can either be the actor of the statement, performing the action of the verb, or the object, upon which the action is… enacted.”

I always used to think about grace as an object that is given or received. But what if grace is the action? Three simple words, “He graced both.” Actor. Action. Object. Or said a different way. Blesser. Blessing. Blessed. The lender graced the debtors and Jesus graced the woman.

Grace no longer makes sense without you and I there performing the action. Grace as a verb isn’t something that I give but that I do. It isn’t something that I receive but something that is done to me. The focus is no longer on the action but the blesser and the blessed.

It’s easy for me, like the religious man, to get lost in dos and don’ts of religion and miss the heart of it all. Relationship. God is innately relational—he’s three beings in one after all! And he has hardwired relationship into each and every one of us. The sinful woman got it right. She ran straight towards Jesus.