Luke 7:36-50--A Sinful Woman Forgiven

Luke 7:36-50
English Standard Version

A Sinful Woman Forgiven
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. 37 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, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

​41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

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We have some more details about this encounter if we read some of the other gospels.  Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus over.  We don't know his motives, but for some reason a "sinner" crashes this party and becomes the one who everyone is focused on.  What would Jesus say to her?  Would he condemn her?  Cross-references here are probably Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8.  Today, we'll stick to this text and our focus will be that the audience here is a Pharisee (and there are probably other Pharisees as guests).  These would be the religious and political class, and probably the rich "socialite" type.

This ointment is very valuable, probably made of pure nard if we look at some of the cross-references.  It's almost certainly the most valuable thing this woman owns, and maybe all that she had as we would assume that someone that was a "sinful woman" (read that as probably a prostitute) and maybe demonized if this is Mary Magdalene as some suspect, then she probably didn't have a lot of money.  She deemed Jesus worthy of giving Him her best and probably her all.

This is put in contrast to Simon the Pharisee who didn't offer Jesus his best and certainly not his all.  He didn't even afford Jesus some of the common courtesies like washing his feet or offering to anoint Jesus' head with oil.  It's not that Simon couldn't afford it, he just didn't see Jesus as worth it. This woman did and she did not stop washing Jesus' feet with her tears and anointing Jesus' feet with ointment.  Notice how Simon reacts to this saying that if Jesus knew what kind of woman this was (her past) that He would not accept this kind of behavior from her (maybe even saying that He as God the Son should reject her and her worship).  See, the Pharisees did not believe that someone could change, and they didn't believe that there was any atonement for high-handed sins of rebellion, because there is no sacrifice for them in the Levitical Law.  However, there are places in the Law and in the rest of the Old Testament (like with the story of David's repentance after his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and murder of her husband ) that we see repentance and evidence that someone needs to be "born again" like we see in John 3.

Notice that Simon is willing to call Jesus "Teacher," but does not call Him "Lord" or "Master" like the "sinners" do.  He is also willing to think that Jesus is a "prophet," yet he is not willing to listen to the call of Jesus to repent and believe the gospel because Simon believes he needs no repentance.  This woman is showing a broken and contrite heart and if we read Psalm 51, we understand that's something that God will never reject.  Jesus tells Simon a parable about the one who realizes that he has been forgiven much loving much.  Notice that we never hear the conversation between the Master and the unmerciful servant (remember that Master or Lord is not the title that Simon would use because he didn't want to think of himself as a servant/slave).  You can read this entire parable in Matthew 18:21-35.

Jesus does not leave this up to Simon's own interpretation though.  Jesus spells out all the ways this "sinful" woman has loved him and how Simon has not loved Him and how that happened ever since He entered Simon's house.  Then Jesus is going to blow Simon and everyone else away by declaring that these woman's sins have been forgiven (because she came to Jesus in repentance and knowing she needed to be "born again"), but Simon who thought that he had no need for forgiveness was exposed for loving others and loving God little because his hatred for this woman was hatred towards the God who had chosen to forgive her.

The guests at Simon's party don't miss that Jesus just said that He was willing and able to forgive this woman's sins.  They seem to be saying they've never heard of anything like this before.  Where have they been?  Have they not heard how Jesus forgave the sins of those He was healing, or was that part of the story left out when the Pharisees told it to their friends?  In case there was any question as to what Jesus meant, He announces to the woman in front of everyone so they could hear, "Your faith has saved you, go in peace."  Wow, a salvation by grace through faith that brings peace between God and sinners.  This is what Jesus has to offer, and it was more valuable than that expensive perfume that she put on Jesus' feet--it is not just worth our best, but worth our everything.