Every sinful thought, word, and deed, though harming those near to us, is ultimately a crime against our Creator. 

And forgive us our debts.—Matthew 6:12 (NASB 1977)

At high school I tagged along with some boys lobbing apples into a quadrangle packed with students sitting down for lunch. Such fun.

When the fearsome deputy caught us, I had an old apple in my hand, ready for launch. He paused a moment from the excoriation to address me personally: “Take that pained look off your face.”

I know why he said that. I’d twisted my face into a portrait of aggrieved innocence. “I hadn’t thrown anything!” (Yet.) My honor was as bruised as my apple.

Asking our heavenly Father for forgiveness expresses a heart humbled and broken for sin.

Contrast my wounded self-righteousness with the woman that Luke describes in chapter seven:

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment. (Luke 7:37)

“A woman of the city, who was a sinner.” Perhaps she had committed adultery or was a prostitute. Luke doesn’t specify so that every sinner might identify with her.

When she heard that Jesus was dining with a prominent Pharisee, she hurried there with an alabaster jar of perfume, a terrifically expensive luxury item.

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