“But the one who is forgiven little loves little.” If a person does not recognize that he is loaded down with a great debt of sin and does not realize that he is in dire need of forgiveness for it, he also loves little. At this, Christ turns to the woman and says to her, “Your sins are forgiven,” and with this comforting absolution He assures her heart and conscience of the gracious forgiveness of sins. But the other table guests who were present said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Does not that belong to the Lord God alone? Therefore, He says further to the woman, “Your faith has saved you,” by which you have grasped the evangelical promise about the forgiveness of sins. “Go in peace.”

From this, we learn first, that repentance is necessary, not only for those who fall into gross outward sins, but for all men in common. For Christ sets His heavenly Father before us in this parable as a rich Lord who has granted us all kinds of possessions and has summoned us to make an accounting. But we have incurred a debt which we are far too poor to pay off, as the parable expressly shows that even the one who owed only fifty denarii could not repay it. This is as much as to say: Not only those are debtors before God’s judgment who have committed outward sins, but also those who have sinned in their hearts have incurred a debt. In this situation, one person can boast as little as the next that he is debt-free, or that he has paid off his debt. This is why it says universally, “They are all sinners; there is no difference here” (Rom. 3:23).

(Sermon for Mary Magdalene-July 22, Postilla Volume 3 by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, page 112)

The Lord God has hidden His wisdom from those who are wise according to the flesh; on the other hand, He has revealed it to infants. Here Christ calls “infants” those who lend faith to God’s Word in childlike simplicity, who become obedient students of the heavenly wisdom, and who are glad to be fools in this world, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:18, that they may be wise to God. The Lord God has revealed the knowledge of Him to those who are unwise and infants in the eyes of the world. He has revealed it not only outwardly, in the Word, as it is presented to all men, but also inwardly, in the spirit and in the heart. “Yes, Father,” says Christ further, “for so it was pleasing in Your sight.” It is altogether just, what happens to these wise and clever; if they are unwilling to lay aside their carnal wisdom, then they will also not come to the knowledge of the heavenly wisdom. This is God’s righteous judgment and His well-pleasing counsel. “Since the world, through its wisdom, did not know God in His wisdom, it pleased God, through foolish preaching, to save those who believe in it (1 Cor. 1:21), not as if He took pleasure in it when men perish, for He sees to it that they are all called through the Word. But if they are unwilling to follow, placing their carnal wisdom and desires ahead of His Word, then it certainly happens to them that the mysteries of divine wisdom remain hidden from them.

But in order that we might know that we should seek divine wisdom only in the Word revealed to us by the Son, Christ adds: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father,” that is, just as the heavenly Father has delivered all things to Me as the Son of Man, having placed all authority in heaven and on earth and all creation under My feet (Psa. 8:7; Mat. 28:18; Eph. 1:22), so also to Me, as the appointed, sole Mediator, He has delivered this, that through the Word and the Spirit, I can and should give the true knowledge of God to men, enlighten their hearts, and be their only Master and Teacher. In this matter, nothing is accomplished with worldly wisdom. “No one knows the Son except for the Father, and no one knows the Father except for the Son.” That is, no man may come to the true knowledge of God by his natural powers, but it must be revealed by the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:3). He alone knows the Father; therefore, He alone can also bring a person to the true, saving knowledge of God. By no means, however, is the Holy Spirit excluded thereby, for He is the One who is of one essence with the Father and the Son and who “searches the deep things of the divinity” (1 Cor. 2:10).

(Sermon for St Matthias-February 24, Postilla Volume 3 by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, page 50-51)