Well, the Master said more to His entertainer, as follows:
“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. One owed 500 pence and the other 50 pence, and when he had nothing to pay----”
Mark that, sinner; the debtor had nothing to pay. There is no sinner in the world who can pay any thing to cancel his debt to God. The great trouble is that sinners think they can pay--some of them 75 cents on the dollar, some even feel able to pay 99 cents on the dollar, and the one cent that they are short they believe can be made up in some manner. That is not the correct way; it is all wrong; you must throw all the debt on God. Some few, very likely, will only claim to pay 25 cents on the dollar, but they are not humble enough, either; they can not begin to carry out their bargain. Why, sinner, you could not pay one-tenth part of a single mill of the debt you are under to God.
Now, it is said in this parable the debtors could not pay their creditor any thing; they had nothing to give, and their creditor frankly forgave them both.
“Now, Simeon,” the Master asked, “which should love that man the more?”
“I suppose,” was the reply, “he that was forgiven the more.”
“You have rightly judged. This woman loves much because she has been forgiven much.” And Jesus went on to tell Simeon all about her. I suppose He wanted to make it plainer to Simeon, and He turned to the poor woman and said:
All her sins were forgiven--not simply part of them; not half them, but every sin from the cradle up. Every impurity is blotted out for time and eternity.
Yes, truly, she went out in peace, for she went out in the light of Heaven. With what brightness the light must have come down to her from those eternal hills! With what beauty it must have flashed on her soul!
Yes, she came to the feet of the Master for a blessing, and she received it.
We are told that as Jesus stood with His disciples a man, a lawyer, stood up and tempted Him.
“Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He asked what he could do to inherit eternal life--what he could do to buy salvation.
Jesus answered his question by asking another question: “What is written in the law? How readest thou?”
“Thou shalt love the Lord God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.”