Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 7:36

And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.

36-39. Jesus in the House of Simon.

36. one of the Pharisees ] This exquisite narrative is peculiar to St Luke, and well illustrates that conception of the universality and free gift of grace which predominates in his Gospel as in St Paul. To identify this Simon with Simon the Leper in Mar 14:3 is quite arbitrary. It was one of the commonest Jewish names. There were two Simons among the Twelve, and there are nine Simons mentioned in the New Testament alone, and twenty in Josephus. There must therefore have been thousands of Simons in Palestine, where names were few. The incident itself was one which might have happened frequently, being in close accordance with the customs of the time and country. And with the uncritical attempt to identify Simon the Pharisee with Simon the Leper, there also falls to the ground the utterly improbable identification of the woman who was a sinner with Mary of Bethany. The time, the place, the circumstances, the character, the words uttered, and the results of the incident recorded in Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3; Joh 12:3 are all entirely different.

that he would eat with him ] The invitation was clearly due to a patronising curiosity, if not to a worse and hostile motive. The whole manner of the Pharisee to Jesus was like his invitation, ungracious. But it was part of our Lord’s mission freely to accept the proffered hospitality of all, that He might reach every class.

sat down to meat ] Rather, reclined at table. The old method of the Jews had been that of the East in general, to sit at table ( anapiptein, Luk 11:37; anakeisthai, Luk 7:37; anaklinesthai, Luk 12:37) generally cross-legged on the floor, or on divans (Gen 27:19; 1Sa 20:5 ; 1Sa 20:18; Psa 128:3; Son 1:12, &c.). They had borrowed the custom of reclining on couches (triclinia, comp. , Joh 2:8) from the Persians (Est 1:6; Est 7:8), the Greeks and Romans, after the Exile ( Tob 2:1 ; 1Es 4:10; Jdt 12:15 ). The influence of the Greeks had been felt in the nation for three hundred years, and that of the Romans for nearly a hundred years, since the conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey, B. C. 63.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

One of the Pharisees – His name was Simon, Luk 7:10. Nothing more is known of him. It is not improbable, however, from what follows Luk 7:40-47, that he had been healed by the Saviour of some afflictive disease, and made this feast to show his gratitude.

Sat down to meat – The original word here means only that he placed himself or reclined at the table. The notion of sitting at meals is taken from modern customs, and was not practiced by the Jews. See the notes at Mat 23:6.

Meat – Supper. Food of any kind. Sat down to eat.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 7:36-50

And, behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner

Jesus anointed by a weeping penitent in the house of Simon the Pharisee
Much love shown where much sin has been forgiven

I.

IT IS TO THIS INDIVIDUAL THAT OUR ATTENTION IS, IN THE FIRST PLACE, TO BE DIRECTED. Her name is not given, but only her character. This poor sinner had very different reasons from those of the Pharisee for wishing to see Jesus. The recent miracle of restoring to life the widow of Nains son, had produced, in regard to its author, a deep and general impression. There came, we are told, a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited His people. And this rumour of Him went forth throughout all Judaea. Simon, among others, wished to know something more perfectly concerning Him. The motives of the poor sinner were of a far higher and more interesting nature. She also had heard the fame of Him who had raised the dead, and, instead of merely musing whether He was a prophet, she seems to have been fully persuaded that this was the case; nay, that He was the Great Prophet–the promised Messiah–the Saviour of sinners. Yet all that she had heard of Him only made her wish to hear more. She had already tasted of the fountain of living waters; and the language of her soul was, Let me drink again–let me drink abundantly.

1. She evinced her humility and her godly sorrow. Nor did her humility proceed only from the profound sense which she had of His surpassing excellence and dignity. It proceeded partly from the feeling of her own past guilt and exceeding unworthiness. Her humility, in other words, was closely associated with her deep and godly sorrow.

2. But, by her conduct in the guest-chamber, the penitent also evinced her gratitude and affection. Great as were her modesty and humility, she did not permit these feelings to keep her back, even in the presence of uncharitable observers, from expressing her unspeakable obligations and ardent attachment to Jesus. They were tears of affection not less than of sorrow. They were what she could neither repress nor conceal.

3. The penitent here evinced her profound sense of the veneration and homage that were due to Christ. She came for the express purpose of anointing Him–not only of acknowledging her personal obligations and attachment to Him, but of owning and honouring Him as the Messiah or Anointed One lie was the object of her faith not less than of her love.

II. The next subject, then, which now solicits our attention, IS THE WAY IN WHICH OUR LORD MET THE INWARD SURMISES AND COMPLAINTS OF THE PHARISEE, AND IN WHICH HE NOT ONLY VINDICATED THE CONDUCT OF THE WEEPING PENITENT, BUT SET IT FORTH AS AN HONOURABLE CONTRAST TO THE CONDUCT OF THE PHARISEE HIMSELF. (J. Grierson.)

The penitent

In the conduct of this penitent we may observe the following particulars:

1. Her deep humility–She stood at the feet of Jesus. Mary, the sister of Martha, sat at His feet, which might signify the calm, settled, and composed state of her mind. But this woman stood; a posture which denotes humility, reverence, and fear. She stood like a servant in waiting, ready to put in practice what she had designed for His honour.

2. Observe the holy shame of this penitent–She stood at Jesus feet behind Him. Such was the beauty of His holiness that she was ashamed, and such the glory of His majesty that she was afraid to look Him in the face.

3. Her unfeigned sorrow She stood behind Him weeping. Those eyes, which had been the inlets of temptation and sin, now become the outlets of godly sorrow.

4. Her sorrow was not only sincere, but abundant–She stood weeping, and washed His feet with tears. It was not a sudden gust, but a continual flow.

5. Witness the ardour of her love to Christ–She kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. A pardoned sinner will think no expense too great whereby he may honour Christ or testify his love to Him.

6. Her contempt of the world. She did not mind the things of the world any more than the men of the world. The box of precious ointment was of little value to one who had found the pearl of great price.

7. Her gratitude and joy. All her grief was mingled with love and thankfulness; her tears were tears of joy for sin pardoned, as well as of sorrow for sin committed. Her ointment became a thank-offering to her Saviour. From this instructive history we may learn that the displays of Divine mercy have always a practical tendency. (B. Beddome, M. A.)

A great sinner and a great Saviour

1. First, THE CHARACTER OF THE WOMAN. Everything in Scripture is addressed to character. Oh, how true is that statement of the Apostle Paul, when he declared that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Witness the record given in the Word of God of a variety of prominent characters who have been the recipients of the grace of God. Go back to old father Abraham; an idolator amongst the Chaldeans, yet the grace of God found him, add brought him out, and distinguished him. Mark the character of Jacob. I cannot admire it, except in that which grace did for him. He was a deceitful, supplanting young man; and who would not censure him for the conduct he pursued in obtaining the blessing? Beloved, I wish you to be brought to a deep consciousness that sinnership belongs to us, as well as to the woman of the city, and that our sinnership is such that nothing but the blood of Christ can meet our condition before God. Mark yet further. This poor woman was evidently overwhelmed with the consciousness of her sinnership. It is not simply a cold admission of the fact, but compunction is felt, distress of soul realized, a broken and a contrite heart bestowed, an overwhelming consciousness that you deserve nothing but eternal wrath.

II. Now let us glance at THE OPPORTUNITY WHICH THE POOR WOMAN HAD OF COMING TO JESUS. There is something interesting in the fact that it should have been in a Pharisees house. Think for a moment, here, of the display of discriminating grace. Simon might look upon her to hate, but Jesus looked upon her to manifest that the distinguishing grace which He is accustomed to exercise in the most sovereign manner had reached her heart; and thus, in Simons own house, the discriminating grace of God was exhibited to take the sinner and to leave the Pharisee. Moreover, this poor woman must have been informed where Jesus was, and what He was as the sinners Friend; and this is the very pith of the message of the gospel of Christ. Our great business, from Sabbath to Sabbath, and from week to week, is to publish the name and the fame of the sinners Friend. There must have been after all, an influence put forth upon this poor woman s soul to bring her to the feet of Jesus, or she would never have come there.

III. WE NOW COME TO THE MANIFESTATION OF FEELING IN THIS POOR WOMAN. What are the feelings that she must have been the subject of? The first I shall mention is the feeling of necessity, and the second is that of a new natures affection for what she had discovered. She loved much. This feeling of necessity not only brings the sinner to Jesus under Divine power and might, but constrains the sinner to put forth the emotion which is described of this woman–weeping. I do act so much regard the literal effusion of water from the bodily eyes as I do the weeping of the soul–the compunction of the spirit; though, with persons who are naturally sensitive, this very compunction will flow forth in external tears, but in other constitutions not so visibly. I am very much afraid that many who pass for Christians have glided into their Christianity in a very smooth and easy manner; and I as strongly fear that they will glide out of it as easily, and perish for ever. The best repentance which is known on earth is that which flows from Calvary, from atoning blood, from pardoning love in the contrite soul. What knowest thou, my hearers, of these feelings? Many persons are greatly frightened about going to hell, and sometimes, perhaps, grieve lest they should do so.

IV. Let us now pass on to say A FEW WORDS CONCERNING THIS POOR WOMANS EXPECTATIONS. No doubt they were great. They are not recorded, but I should think we might sum them up in two particulars. She expected to eye the glories of His person, and gaze upon Him with delight; and she expected, also, to receive absolution from Him, and she got both. Now, if you are brought to the feet of Jesus, I would have you encourage this two-fold expectation. The first is, to eye the personal and official glories of Christ. Think, for a moment, of the privilege of gazing by faith upon Him, who is declared to be the brightness of the Fathers glory, and the express image of His person. Behold Me, is His cry. Look off from everything else to gaze upon the precious Christ of God, and know more and more of Him; yea, till ye know even as ye are known. This poor woman expected, also, to receive absolution from the Saviour, and she obtained it. A word relative to the difference between the declaration of the doctrine of absolution, and the reception of it from Christ by the poor sinner. They are two different things. Unto Simon the Lord Jesus Christ said, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. But that would not have satisfied her if she had stopped there. (J. Irons.)

A bruised reed

Probably when Simon invited our Saviour to dine there were a great many that wondered why. Simon was, I suppose, a very good-natured fellow, evidently shallow, but easily excited and easily forgetting it. He was a slate, on which you could write that which you could easily rub out. Everybody was running after the Saviour, and Simon was one of those men that liked to catch lions and parade them in his house. He was, therefore, patronizing Christ. Still he did it cautiously. He professed simply to be His gracious entertainer. Christ went. It is of more importance perhaps to ask, Why did He go there? Well, He went, because He was neither an ascetic nor a rigorous moralist, after the modern sense of the term. He never was afraid of soiling Himself. He carried in Him the light that dispels darkness. Nor do I suppose He ever once thought, What will folks say? Is it best for Me to go? While they were reclining there was an uninvited guest that came in, And behold!–an exclamation, to arrest attention–a woman which was a sinner. Her outward life had been bad. But there was a woman within the woman, a soul hidden within the body. How knew she of Christ? She had heard Him doubtless. She had beheld His face and His eye of mercy, and the gentleness with which He treated children and the poor, and she had said within herself, If there is a good man living, that man is good. So, hearing that He was gone to dine with the Pharisee, she determined to go and see Him. What kind of a teacher must that man have been who could inspire in a harlots bosom those conceptions of human and Divine greatness as manifested in Christ, and who could also draw towards Him from out all the lines of wickedness a creature like unto this woman? Christ was a prophet, and more than a prophet. He saw not only the woman, but also the man; her depth and power, his shallowness and feebleness. He then preaches a short sermon to Simon. No words had passed, but He answers Simons thought. Let us believe, with all true charity, that from the hour of her resurrection she followed the footsteps of her new-found Master, and that she dwells with Him in the purity and the bliss of immortality. Now translate from the wonderful scene some lessons.

1. Your own duty. Separate not yourselves from those that have gone wrong.

2. Have faith to believe that under bad appearances there yet lurks and there yet sighs a soul, a moral conscience.

3. Never forget that when a man has gone wrong he can go right. God is on the side of every man that, having stumbled and fallen, gathers himself together and gets up; and, though his garments may for a long time be soiled, he is on his feet again, and prepared to resist again. Do not forget the all-loving heart of God. (H. W. Beecher.)

Jesus in Simons house

I. THE FORBEARANCE AND CONDESCENSION OF CHRIST.

II. LOVE IS IN PROPORTION TO THE GREATNESS OF THE BENEFITS FELT TO BE RECEIVED.

III. From Simons mistake learn THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE.

1. Spiritual pride blinded his eyes as to himself.

2. It misled him in estimating the character of this woman.

3. It prevented him understanding Christ. (D. Longwill.)

Much forgiveness, much love

The woman had a definite purpose in coming to the house of Simon. She came, not to be a mere spectator, but to anoint her benefactor with a box of precious ointment. Her benefactor we must assume Jesus to have been, though we know nothing of the previous relations. Conduct so unusual could not fail to create a general sensation in the guest-chamber, and especially to arrest the astonished attention of the host. Happily for the object of his harsh judgment, there was One present who could divine the real situation. One brief, simple parable serves at once to apologize for the accused, and to bring a countercharge against the accuser. The parable was spoken with a threefold aim.

I. TO DEPEND THE CONDUCT OF THE WOMAN BY SUGGESTING THE POINTS OF VIEW UNDER WHICH IT OUGHT TO BE REGARDED.

II. TO IMPUGN THE CONDUCT OF THE PHARISEE.

III. To DEFEND THE CONDUCT OF JESUS HIMSELF IN ACCEPTING THE HOMAGE RENDERED. (A. Bruce, D. D.)

Lessons

1. Let sinners of every name and degree be encouraged by this narrative to go at once to Christ.

2. If we would be successful in raising the fallen, and reclaiming the abandoned, we must be willing to touch them, and to be touched by them.

3. If we wish to love God much, we must think much of what we owe to Him. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Faith and forgiveness

1. Does it not seem as if the Pharisee, if he had had a larger heart, would have gained something of the experience of the womans sin without entrance into the sin in the midst of which she had lived, and so would have known the richness of love with which she came to the Saviour?

2. The Pharisee has precisely the same reason for thanking God for having been saved from falling into sin that any vilest sinner has for thanking God when he has been dragged out of sin after falling into it.

3. Remember

(1) that you have the right and the power to rescue your brother-man, and share in the enthusiastic and ecstatic gratitude of the rescued soul;

(2) that every soul has sin enough in it to warrant a consecration of the whole life to the God who has rescued the soul, even from that degree of sin in which it has lived;

(3) that the sense of preservation may lay as deep a hold upon our affections as the sense of rescue. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)

The weeping penitent

I. Love for the Saviour brought her into His PRESENCES.

II. HUMILITY for her sin brought her to His FEET.

III. Sorrow for her sin made her WEEP AT HIS FEET.

IV. GRATITUDE for sin forgiven led her to WASH AND ANOINT HIS FEET. (J. Dobie, D. D.)

Oriental feasts

The guests are in their places, not sitting cross-legged on the floor, like modern Orientals, nor seated on chairs, as with ourselves; but reclining, after the old Roman fashion, on couches, the head being towards the table, and the feet, unsandalled, stretched out behind, while the body rested on the left side and elbow. Around the walls of the room sit some of the inhabitants of the place who have heard of the feast, and who have come in to see the banquet, and to listen to the conversation. In one of the earliest, and still one of the best, of the books of Eastern travel, being the report of the party of which Andrew Bonar and Robert McCheyne were members, we find the following statement:–At dinner, at the Consuls house at Damietta, we were much interested in observing a custom of the country. In the room where we were received, besides the divan on which we sat, there were seats all round the walls. Many came in and took their places on these side seats uninvited and yet unchallenged. They spoke to those at table on business or the news of the day, and our host spoke freely to them. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Jesus and the woman

There was an unrecorded history behind this manifestation. The two must have met before. This was not the first time she had seen the Lord. On some previous occasion virtue had gone out of Him to her, and had awakened new hope within her. She saw the possibility of being forgiven, even for her life of sin. She felt uprising within her the determination to become a pure and noble woman. Nay, she had the persuasion that she was already pardoned and accepted by God; and so, unmoved by all surrounding discouragements, conscious of nothing but that He was there to whom she owed her new-born blessedness, she eagerly threw herself upon His feet, and took this method of telling Him all that was in her heart. She came to Him, not as a penitent seeking pardon, but as a sinner already forgiven; and so that which looked like extravagance to others was perfectly natural in her, and thoroughly acceptable to Him. It was but the return and repercussion of that love which He had already shown to her. Her tears were, as Luther calls them, , heart-water; they were the distillation of her gratitude. She had not come indeed to weep; she had come designing to use the ointment only. But her tears had, as it were, stolen a march upon her; they had come unbidden and unexpected, and had rather interfered with the fulfilment of her purpose. But, in order that her original intention might be thoroughly carried out, she wiped them from His feet with her flowing tresses, and then poured over Him the precious ointment, whose odour filled the house. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

At His feet

I. IT IS A BECOMING POSTURE.

1. As He is Divine, let us pay Him lowliest reverence.

2. As we are sinful, let us make humble confession.

3. As He is Lord, let us make full submission:

4. As He is All in All, let us manifest immovable dependence.

5. As He is infinitely wise, let us wait His appointed time. The best are at His feet, joyfully bowing before Him. The worst must come there whether they will or no.

II. IT IS A HELPFUL POSTURE–

1. For a weeping penitent (Luk 7:38).

2. For a resting convert (Luk 8:35).

3. For a pleading intercessor (Luk 8:41).

4. For a willing learner (Luk 10:39).

5. For a grateful worshipper (Luk 17:16).

6. For a saint beholding his Lords glory (Rev 1:17).

III. IT IS A SAFE POSTURE.

1. Jesus will not refuse us that position, for it is one which we ought to occupy.

2. Jesus will not spurn the humbly submissive, who in self-despair cast themselves before Him.

3. Jesus will not suffer any to harm those who seek refuge at His feet.

4. Jesus will not deny us the eternal privilege of abiding there. Let this be our continual posture–sorrowing or rejoicing, hoping or fearing, suffering or working, teaching or learning, in secret or in public, in life and in death. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Pharisees mistake

I. AS IT REGARDED CHRIST.

1. He could not read Christs nature, and undervalued it.

2. In regard to Christ, he mistook also His way of rescuing from sin.

II. AS IT REGARDED THE WOMAN.

1. The Pharisee thought that as a sinner she was to be despised.

2. He did not see that into her heart a new life had entered.

III. As IT REGARDED HIMSELF.

1. The Pharisee showed that he did not know his own heart.

2. He did not see that in condemning this woman he was rejecting the salvation of Christ.

IV. SOME TRUTHS WHICH WE MAY LEARN FROM THE PHARISEES MISTAKE.

1. Those who profess religion should be careful how they give a false view of it by uncharitable judgments and assumptions of superiority.

2. On the other side, we must remind those who profess to be seeking religion that they are bound to form their judgment of it from its Author. (J. Ker, D. D.)

She is a sinner

This is the Pharisees compendious trial and verdict and sentence of one in whose soul, it seems, the sore but wholesome struggle of repentance was actively going on. She is a sinner; accursed from God she is, and must continue. There is abomination in her touch, and falsehood in her tears. All that a prophet can do for her is to pass her by on the other side. Thus reasoned a sincere, respectable man among the Jews; not a monster of intolerance; Dot a brutal scorner of the suffering; but a respectable Jew of the most exact sect among the Jews, speaking in the interests of society, and echoing an acknowledged social principle. And thus reason many sincere and worthy men amongst ourselves almost two thousand years after the Lord has taught lessons of another spirit and a more loving wisdom. She is a sinner. One word suffices to classify all that have gone astray; the Pharisee makes no inquiries, draws no distinctions, indulges no hopes. It is all one to him whether a depraved will or a giddy vanity made her a willing victim, or the sheer presence of starvation drove her to ruin. It is all one whether, every day when she rises and every night when she lies down she hates herself, and in bitter anguish compares the thing she is with what she was; or acquiesces in her own destruction, and does all she can to hasten the darkness that is settling down upon her moral nature, and to welcome the perfect night. We pass our hasty sentence upon thousands and tens of thousands of erring beings, not considering for a moment how many among them are devoured by an unspeakable remorse; how many are capable of sorrow, though they stave it off; hew few, comparatively, are the hopeless children of perdition, lost in this world and the world to come. Now there are two facts which may well make us pause ere we adopt the hard and thoughtless rule of society in dealing with guilt; and they are facts, not surmises.

1. Society is, in a large measure, responsible for the very sins which it so readily condemns and casts out.

2. That there is hardly any escape for those who have once entered the path of sin. She is a sinner; no one will take her into a blameless home to employ her; no one will visit her and give her counsel. Thus does one step in sin utterly destroy one whom God created to serve and praise Him. God bids the sinner turn from evil ways, and we will give her no chance of turning. (Archbishop Thomson.)

Representative characters

The woman represents humanity, or the soul of human nature; Simon, the world, or worldly wisdom; Christ, Divinity, or the Divine purposes of good to usward. Simon is an incarnation of what St. Paul calls the beggarly elements; Christ of spirituality; the woman of sin. (Preachers Lantern.)

The secret of devotion

I. We find here an illustration of THE RECOGNIZED VALUE OF ALL ACTS OF SIMPLE-HEARTED DEVOTION TO CHRIST. In the act of justification God is entirely sovereign, and man is entirely passive; but in the work of sanctification which succeeds it we are permitted to co-operate with the Holy Spirit. And all along in our career, as the forgiven children of the Highest, we are welcomed in the ministries of affection which evidence our appreciation of Divine grace. The early reformers had no confusion in regard to this point. Their notion as to the proper blending of faith and works may be seen in the two seals which Martin Luther used indiscriminately in his correspondence. On one was cut his family coat-of-arms–two hammers laid crosswise, with a blunt head and a sharp head, his fathers tools at the time when he was a miner; and Martin used often, in connection with this, to quote the saying of Achilles: Let others have wealth who will; my portion is work. Upon the second seal was cut the device of a heart, with wings on each side of it spread out as if soaring, and underneath this was the Latin motto: Petimus astra.

II. Our second lesson is concerning THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLE ON WHICH ZEAL PROCEEDS, AND FROM WHICH COMES ITS VALUE.

1. Many men feel the superior power and dignity of a Christian life, and so seek something like conformity to its maxims. They move on in a correct living of outward morality, because it brings a reputation with others and satisfaction in their own minds: they are wont to speak pleasantly of themselves as outsiders, with a great respect for religion, you know I No value whatever in this. The instincts of an honest heart make us claim, as the very first characteristic of friendship, its disinterestedness. We will not suffer ourselves to be used or patronized; can we suppose God will endure it?

2. Another motive, which gives to many a life a sort of religious cast, is found in conscientiousness. We are all by nature devout; something draws us, and keeps drawing, to God; we grow uneasy under its tension. We seek a kind of temporary relief by yielding a little, without at all intending to yield the whole; just as the foolish fish is said to run up towards the fisherman for a moment, to ease off the stress of the hook, and yet without purposing ever to leave the water. Such a service of God we call duty. Now there is no value either in the surrender we make, or in the acceptance we profess. When we give up sin from mere pressure of pain, we are apt to choose those which will be missed the least, and have grown the weariest in indulgence. Nor is our obedience any better; we go on with a round of duty-doing as senseless as the whirling of a Japanese praying-machine in the market-place. Our motive is the refinement of selfishness, for we work like a galley-slave who is afraid of the lash. Because we mean to cheat on the principal by and by, we scrupulously keep paying the regular interest now. And all this is mere hypocrisy.

3. The true motive for all Christian zeal is found in love–simple, honest affection for Christ as the Lord of grace and glory. A good deed is measured by the temper and feeling which underlies it.

III. THE RECOLLECTION BY WHICH TRUE ZEAL IS STIMULATED. To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. The one great matter of notice here is that alabaster box. It becomes the symbol of a heart full of experience, which no possible language could describe. It would have been more properly named a phial or a jar. It was one of those small vessels, wont to be cherished in that day by vain and silly women, containing rare and curiously-perfumed cosmetics, used by the fastidious Orientals for a meretricious and luxurious toilet. Two things, therefore, were exhibited in the act of this woman–penitence and faith.

1. Her penitence appears in the surrender of the unguent; it was one of the tools of her trade. By this act she avowed her definite and final relinquishment of that old, gay life she had been living.

2. Observe, also, the faith in this action. She ventured much when she came to that feast unbidden. If Jesus should rebuke her, she would be excluded with contumely and contempt. But she trusted Him with all her heart; she believed in her forgiveness in the very moment of asking for it. So she offered her Saviour the highest of all she had. She gave Jesus her last glory; He gave her His full pardon of her sins as His reward and benediction in return. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Jesus in the house of the Pharisee

Then one of the Pharisees desired that Jesus would eat bread with them; and as the crowd falls back they go on their way together to this Pharisees house. And now He lies reclining on the couch. LET US TURN TO LOOK AT THE HOST. He has given Christ a very heartless welcome, and a very scanty entertainment. The commonest courtesies of life were wanting. There was no hint of enthusiasm, no whisper of affection; no token of any loving regard. Not even was it a stately formality–all was as empty as it was cold. Yet do not put down this man as a hypocrite or a knave. Not at all. We overdo the character of the Pharisee, and so we destroy it altogether. This man is just a fair type of a great many religious people to-day–people who are quite willing to extend a kind of patronage to the claims of Jesus Christ, but who never put themselves much out of the way for Him. They give their heart and energy to their business–for that no care, no toil, nothing is grudged. They give their enthusiasm to politics, if they live in the city; if they live in the country they share it with their horses and guns. They keep their money for themselves. For religion they are willing to expend an occasional hour on Sunday, and a vet more occasional subscription. Alas! that our Blessed Redeemer, the King of Heaven, should find still so cold a welcome and so scanty an entertainment in many a house to-day! With such people there may be a degree of orthodoxy on which they pride them selves, but what is much more rigid and essential is a certain refinement of taste, which is really the only religion of many; there is, too, a certain standard of morality, less important, however, than the standard of taste; and for everybody who does not come up to their standard either of manners or morals, there is a stoning to death with hard judgments–and an equal condemnation for those who venture to go beyond their standard. Look at it. It is religion without any love to God and without any love to man. It is religion without any deep sense of indebtedness, and without any glad devotion. There it is: religion without any deep sense of sin, and so without any glad sense of forgiveness; religion without any need, and so without riches; religion without a Saviour, and so without any love. This man knew of a law which demanded a certain degree of goodness: that was exactly the goodness which he himself lived up to. And good people like himself, of course, should go to heaven for ever and ever. And bad people like this woman should go–elsewhere; and he went on his way quite comfortable and contented with an arrangement altogether so advantageous to himself. Look at this man carefully; and see in him a peril that besets all of us who are brought up in religious forms and observances. It is religion without the Holy Spirit of God, who is come to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come; to make these the great and awful realities, by which the world is tested and all things are esteemed, for without that Holy Spirit who is come to shed the love of God abroad in the heart, God is but a name; religion is but a form; sin is but a notion. Now LET US TURN TO THE UNINVITED VISITOR, The Eastern custom of hospitality meant very literally open house. The curiosity with which the people followed Jesus everywhere would be sure to follow Him here, and though He has entered into the house He cannot be hid. And yet of all heresies the most persistent and most deadly is that of which the Church makes but little ado. It is this–that Jesus Christ is come into the world to save good people who dontthink they need any saving; and if real sinners come to Him–dreadful sinners: black sinners–it is a presumption and an intrusion which good people cannot tolerate. SEE HERE THE RIGHT CHARACTER, IN THE RIGHT PLACE, SEEKING THE RIGHT THING, IN THE RIGHT WAY. A sinner at the feet of Jesus–here is a sight that all heaven shall come forth to rejoice over; and they shall go back to celebrate it in the sweetest music that even angels ever sang. She is a sinner–it is the only certificate of character that Jesus wanted. The only thing for which He came, the only work for which He had qualified Himself, had to do with sinners. She is ignorant, said Simon, within himself. The people that knoweth not the law is accursed. What does this wretched woman understand of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? What appreciation can she have of its lofty promises and high glory? She knew that she was a sinner and in that she knew more than Simon knew; and knew all that she needed to know. A sinner at His feet. Oh, blessed hiding-place! A refuge sure and safe, in His shadow, within reach of that Hand, there, where all the heart may pour forth its sorrow and the story of its sin, where all His love may look its benediction, and may touch with healing power. Coming in the right way. She just cast herself upon His love and help. Having no hope but in Him, feeling that the torrents swept and surged about her, but that Hand held her and was lifting her up, and should set her feet upon the rock. She came unto Him and found the rest that she sought. The hold of the past was loosed and broken; its record was blotted out and forgotten. The touch of that gracious Hand healed the broken heart. His words fell like the very music of heaven upon her soul. Thy sins are forgiven thee. And there came a new life, fresh, sweet, pure, beautiful, like the life of a little child. This is Jesus, our Saviour, who speaks to us this day. Come unto Me, and I will give you rest. But the story is not finished yet. There with the sobbing woman down at His feet, with that gracious
Hand laid on the bent head–that Hand whose touch healed the broken heart–Jesus became her Advocate and Defender. The silence was broken as Jesus looked up and said, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. With what rich blessing must every word have fallen upon her–what gentle courtesy and tender grace was His! (M. G. Pearse.)

The woman that was a sinner

Here are two silver bells, let us ring them; their notes are heavenly–O for ears to hear their rich, clear melody! The first note is grace, and the second tone is love.

I. GRACE, the most costly of spikenard: this story literally drips with it, like those Oriental trees which bleed perfume.

1. First, grace is here glorified in its object. She was a sinner–a sinner not in the flippant, unmeaning, every-day sense of the term, but a sinner in the blacker, filthier, and more obnoxious sense. Grace has pitched upon the most unlikely cases in order to show itself to be grace; it has found a dwelling-place for itself in the most unworthy heart, that its freeness might be the better seen.

2. Grace is greatly magnified in its fruits. Who would have thought that a woman who had yielded her members to be servants of unrighteousness, to her shame and confusion, should have now become, what if I call her a maid of honour to the King of kings?–one of Christs most favoured servitors? This woman, apart from grace, had remained black and defiled still to her dying day, but the grace of God wrought a wondrous transformation, removing the impudence of her face, the flattery from her lips, the finery from her dress, and the lust from her heart. Eyes which were full of adultery, were now founts of repentance; lips which were doors of lascivious speech, now yield holy kisses–the profligate was a penitent, the castaway a new creature. All the actions which are attributed to this woman illustrate the transforming power of Divine grace. Note the womans humility. She had once possessed a brazen face, and knew no bashfulness, but now she stands behind the Saviour.

3. I would have you remark, in the third place, that grace is seen by attentive eyes in our Lords acceptance of what this chosen vessel had to bring. Jesus knew her sin. Oh, that Jesus should ever accept anything of me, that He should be willing to accept my tears, willing to receive my prayers and my praises!

4. Further, grace is displayed in this narrative when you see our Lord Jesus Christ become the defender of the penitent. Everywhere grace is the object of human cavil: men snap at it like evening wolves. Some object to grace in its perpetuity, they struggle against persevering grace; but others, like this Simon, struggle against the bounty of grace.

5. Once more, my brethren, the grace of God is seen in this narrative in the bestowal of yet richer favours. Great grace saved her, rich grace encouraged her, unbounded grace gave her a Divine assurance of forgiveness. Go in peace.

II. Love.

1. Its source. There is no such thing as mere natural love to God. The only true love which can burn in the human breast towards the Lord, is that which the Holy Ghost Himself kindles.

2. Its secondary cause is faith. The fiftieth verse tells us, Thy faith hath saved thee. Our souls do not begin with loving Christ, but the first lesson is to trust. Many penitents attempt this difficult task; they aspire to reach the stair-head without treading the steps; they would needs be at the pinnacle of the temple before they have crossed the threshold. Grace is the source of love, but faith is the agent by which love is brought to us.

3. The food of love is a sense of sin, and a grateful sense of forgiveness. The service this woman rendered to our Lord was perfectly voluntary. No one suggested it, much less pressed it upon her. Her service to Jesus was personal. She did it all herself, and all to Him. Do you notice how many times the pronoun occurs in our text? She stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. She served Christ Himself. Forgetfulness of the personality of Christ takes away the very vitality of our religion. How much better will you teach, this afternoon, in your Sabbath-school class, if you teach your children for Christ! The womans service showed her love in that it was fervent. There was so much affection in it–nothing conventional; no following chilly propriety, no hesitating inquiry for precedents. Why did she kiss His feet? Was it not a superfluity? O for more of this guileless piety, which hurls decorum and regulation to the winds. This womans love is a lesson to us in the opportunity which she seized. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The woman that was a sinner

I. THE PERSON DESCRIBED.

1. She was a sinner. This applies to all.

2. A notorious sinner.

3. A mourning and deeply penitent sinner.

II. THE COURSE WHICH SHE ADOPTED.

1. Strong desires after the Saviour.

2. Deep humility and lowliness of mind.

3. Deep contrition.

4. True and hearty affection to Christ.

5. Liberality and devotedness to Christ.

6. An after-life worthy of the profession she now made. She attended Christ in many of His journeys, &c.

III. THE PUBLIC TESTAMENT SHE RECEIVED. She had honoured Jesus; and He now honours her, by testifying of her.

1. He testified to her forgiveness.

2. He testified to her faith as the instrumental cause.

3. He testified to the greatness of her love.

4. He testified to His approval and acceptance of her.

Application. Learn:

1. The condescension of Christ.

2. The riches of His grace.

3. His power and willingness to save the chief of sinners.

4. The true way of coming to Christ.

5. The effects of true love to Him. (J. Burns D. D.)

The penitent citizen

1. Her humility. She takes her stand at the feet of Christ, esteeming the lowest place too good for her, so vile an abject,

2. Bashfulness and shame. She cloth not boldly face Christ, but gets behind Him; being conscious of her sins, which thus placed her deservedly.

3. Sorrow. The rock is now turned into a water-pool, and the flint into a river of waters: she weeps, and in such abundance, as that she washeth Christs feet with those streams of penitence.

4. Revenge. That hair which she had so often gently combed, and cunningly broidered against the glass, and then spread forth as a net to catch her amorous companions withal, she now employs in the wiping those feet, which she had with her tears washed.

5. Love; manifested in kissing Christs feet, acknowledging thereby that she tasted of the comfort that was in Him. O how gladly will one who hath escaped drowning kiss the shore!

6. Bounty. She pours a precious and costly ointment upon those feet she had thus washed and kissed. Every way she approved herself a perfect penitent. And therefore no marvel (the great prize coming) if the trumpets sound; the news of this rare convert is proclaimed with an Ecce, Behold a woman. (N. Rogers.)

Jesus attracting sinners

Travelling along a country road in a hot summers day, you may have noticed the people before you turn aside at a certain point, and gather around something that was yet hidden from you. You knew at once that it was a clear, cold spring that drew them all together there. Each of them wanted something which that spring could supply. Or you have seen iron filings leap up and cling to the poles of a magnet when it was brought near to them. The attraction of the magnet drew them to itself. So sinners were drawn to Jesus; they felt that in Him was all fulness, and that He could supply their need. (American Sunday School Times.)

Love produces repentance

From this incident we see what it is that produces true repentance. If you were going out into the open air on a frosty day, and were taking a lump of ice, you might pound it with a pestle, but it would still continue ice. You might break it into ten thousand atoms, but so long as you continue in that wintry atmosphere, every fragment, however small, will still be frozen. But come within. Bring in the ice beside your own bright and blazing fire, and soon in that genial glow the waters flow. A man may try to make himself contrite; he may search out his sins and set them before him, and dwell on all their enormity, and still feel no true repentance. Though pounded with penances in the mortar of fasts and macerations, his heart continues hard and icy still. And as long as you keep in that legal atmosphere it cannot thaw. There may be elaborate confession, a got-up sort of penitence, a voluntary humility, but there is no godly sorrow. But come to Jesus with His words of grace and truth. From the cold winter night of the ascetic, come into the summer of the Great Evangelist. Let that flinty frozen spirit bask a little in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Listen for a little to those words which melted this sinner into a penitent–which broke her alabaster box and brimmed over in tears of ecstatic sorrow and self-condemning devotion: for, finding that you too have much forgiven, you also will love much. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)

Self-righteous murmuring

When the prodigal son returned home, that respectable elder brother of his was the only one who begrudged his welcome. So this punctilious Pharisee murmured at the woman who anointed Jesus feet. It is told of a noted geologist that once, when travelling over a new district, he hired an ignorant countryman to carry the specimens of the different rocks which he had collected, to his inn. The countrymen afterwards, conscious of his own superior knowledge, used to tell of the poor mad gentleman who went around gathering stones. The Pharisee, clad in his own self-righteousness, has the same difficulty regarding the mission of Jesus; he cannot see how Jesus stoops to even the outcast. He does not see the hidden jewel of the soul; he forgets that the physician must lay his hand upon the loath some sore, if he would heal it. (American Sunday School Times.)

An unfeeling religionist

There is a story in the Bustan of the famous Persian poet Saadi, which seems an echo of this evangelical history. Jesus, while on earth, was once entertained in the cell of a dervish, or monk, of eminent reputation for sanctity. In the same city dwelt a youth, sunk in every sin, whose heart was so black that Satan himself shrank back from it in horror. This last presently appeared before the cell of the monk, and, as if smitten by the very presence of the Divine prophet, began to lament deeply the sin and misery of his life past, and, shedding abundant tears, to implore pardon and grace. The monk indignantly interrupted him, demanding how he dared to appear in his presence, and in that of Gods holy prophet; assured him that for him it was in vain to seek forgiveness; and to prove how inexorably he considered his lot was fixed for hell, exclaimed: My God, grant me but one thing–that I may stand far from this man in the judgment day! On this Jesus spoke: It shall be even so; the prayer of both is granted. This sinner has sought mercy and grace, and has not sought them in vain. His sins are forgiven: his place shall be in Paradise at the last day. But this monk has prayed that he may never stand near this sinner. His prayer, too, is granted: hell shall be his place; for there this sinner shall never come. (Trench.)

The nun and the penitent

One of the legends of Ballycastle preserves a touching story. It is of a holy nun whose frail sister had repented her evil ways and sought sanctuary at the convent. It was winter; the shelter she claimed was granted, but the sinless sister refused to remain under the same roof with the repentant sinner. She left the threshold, and proceeded to pray in the open air; but looking towards the convent, she was startled by perceiving a brilliant light issue from one of the cells, where she knew that neither taper nor fire could have been burning. She proceeded to her sisters bed–for it was in that room the light was shining–just in time to receive her last sigh of repentance. The light had vanished, but the recluse received it as a sign from heaven that the offender had been pardoned, and learned thenceforward to be more merciful m judging, and more Christlike in forgiving. (S. C. Hall.)

Influence of Christs love

A pious man relates the following incident: One day I passed a shed where I saw several men at work loosening a waggon whose wheels had frozen into the ice. One of the men went to work with axe and hammer, and with much labour loosened one of the wheels, not, however, without doing considerable injury to it. Suddenly, the woman of the house came near, with a pailful of hot water, and poured it on the spokes. The wheels were now quickly loosened, and the loud praises of those standing near were bestowed on the woman. I thought: I will note this! The warming influence of Christs love loosens the icy bands around a sinful heart sooner than the axe of carnal power or dogmatic opposition.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 36. One of the Pharisees] Called Simon, Lu 7:40. This account is considered by many critics and commentators to be the same with that in Mt 26:6, c., Mr 14:3 and Joh 12:3. This subject is considered pretty much at large in the notes on Mt 26:6, &c., to which the reader is requested to refer.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This was no small civility from a Pharisee, for the Pharisees were of all others, in the generality of them, the most desperate and implacable enemies of our Saviour. But God hath his number amongst all nations, and all sorts and orders of men. Our Saviour, as was said before, was of a free and open converse, and never refused any opportunity offered him to do good. We may soberly eat and drink with sinners pursuing such designs.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And one of the Pharisees,…. Whose name was Simon, Lu 7:40

Desired that he would eat with him; take a meal with him, either a dinner or a supper: this he did under a disguise of respect, and show of affection to him; though very likely with a design upon him to ensnare him, or take some advantage against him if he could; for it is certain, that he did not treat him with those civilities and ceremonies commonly used to guests; see Lu 7:44.

And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat: he made no hesitation about it, but at once accepted of his invitation, though he knew both the man and his intentions; having nothing to fear from him, and being willing to carry it courteously to all men, and give proof of what he had just now said of himself, Lu 7:34.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christ in the House of the Pharisee.

      36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.   37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,   38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.   39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.   40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.   41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.   42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?   43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.   44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.   45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.   46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.   47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.   48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.   49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?   50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

      When and where this passage of story happened does not appear; this evangelist does not observe order of time in his narrative so much as the other evangelists do; but it comes in here, upon occasion of Christ’s being reproached as a friend to publicans and sinners, to show that it was only for their good, and to bring them to repentance, that he conversed with them; and that those whom he admitted hear him were reformed, or in a hopeful way to be so. Who this woman was that here testified so great an affection to Christ does not appear; it is commonly said to be Mary Magdalene, but I find no ground in scripture for it: she is described (Luk 8:2; Mar 16:9) to be one out of whom Christ had cast seven devils; but that is not mentioned here, and therefore it is probable that it was not she. Now observe here,

      I. The civil entertainment which a Pharisee gave to Christ, and his gracious acceptance of that entertainment (v. 36): One of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him, either because he thought it would be a reputation to him to have such a guest at his table or because his company would be an entertainment to him and his family and friends. It appears that this Pharisee did not believe in Christ, for he will not own him to be a prophet (v. 39), and yet our Lord Jesus accepted his invitation, went into his house, and sat down to meat, that they might see he took the same liberty with Pharisees that he did with publicans, in hopes of doing them good. And those may venture further into the society of such as are prejudiced against Christ, and his religion, who have wisdom and grace sufficient to instruct and argue with them, than others may.

      II. The great respect which a poor penitent sinner showed him, when he was at meat in the Pharisee’s house. It was a woman in the city that was a sinner, a Gentile, a harlot, I doubt, known to be so, and infamous. She knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, and, having been converted from her wicked course of life by his preaching, she came to acknowledge her obligations to him, having no opportunity of doing it in any other way than by washing his feet, and anointing them with some sweet ointment that she brought with her for that purpose. The way of sitting at table then was such that their feet were partly behind them. Now this woman did not look Christ in the face, but came behind him, and did the part of a maid-servant, whose office it was to wash the feet of the guests (1 Sam. xxv. 41) and to prepare the ointments.

      Now in what this good woman did, we may observe,

      1. Her deep humiliation for sin. She stood behind him weeping; her eyes had been the inlets and outlets of sin, and now she makes them fountains of tears. Her face is now foul with weeping, which perhaps used to be covered with paints. Her hair now made a towel of, which before had been plaited and adorned. We have reason to think that she had before sorrowed for sin; but, now that she had an opportunity of coming into the presence of Christ, the wound bled afresh and her sorrow was renewed. Note, It well becomes penitents, upon all their approaches to Christ, to renew their godly sorrow and shame for sin, when he is pacified, Ezek. xvi. 63.

      2. Her strong affection to the Lord Jesus. This was what our Lord Jesus took special notice of, that she loved much,Luk 7:42; Luk 7:47. She washed his feet, in token of her ready submission to the meanest office in which she might do him honour. Nay, she washed them with her tears, tears of joy; she was in a transport, to find herself so near her Saviour, whom her soul loved. She kissed his feet, as one unworthy of the kisses of his mouth, which the spouse coveted, Cant. i. 2. It was a kiss of adoration as well as affection. She wiped them with her hair, as one entirely devoted to his honour. Her eyes shall yield water to wash them, and her hair be a towel to wipe them; and she anointed his feet with the ointment, owning him hereby to be the Messiah, the Anointed. She anointed his feet in token of her consent to God’s design in anointing his head with the oil of gladness. Note, All true penitents have a dear love to the Lord Jesus.

      III. The offence which the Pharisee took at Christ, for admitting the respect which this poor penitent paid him (v. 39): He said within himself (little thinking that Christ knew what he thought), This man, if he were a prophet, would then have so much knowledge as to perceive that this woman is a sinner, is a Gentile, is a woman of ill fame, and so much sanctity as therefore not to suffer her to come so near him; for can one of such a character approach a prophet, and his heart not rise at it? See how apt proud and narrow souls are to think that others should be as haughty and censorious as themselves. Simon, if she had touched him, would have said, Stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou (Isa. lxv. 5); and he thought Christ should say so too.

      IV. Christ’s justification of the woman in what she did to him, and of himself in admitting it. Christ knew what the Pharisee spoke within himself, and made answer to it: Simon, I have something to say unto thee, v. 40. Though he was kindly entertained at his table, yet even there he reproved him for what he saw amiss in him, and would not suffer sin upon him. Those whom Christ hath something against he hath something to say to, for his Spirit shall reprove. Simon is willing to give him the hearing: He saith, Master, say on. Though he could not believe him to be a prophet (because he was not so nice and precise as he was), yet he can compliment him with the title of Master, among those that cry Lord, Lord, but do not the things which he saith. Now Christ, in his answer to the Pharisee, reasons thus:–It is true this woman has been a sinner: he knows it; but she is a pardoned sinner, which supposes her to be a penitent sinner. What she did to him was an expression of her great love to her Saviour, by whom her sins were forgiven. If she was pardoned, who had been so great a sinner, it might reasonably be expected that she should love her Saviour more than others, and should give greater proofs of it than others; and if this was the fruit of her love, and flowing from a sense of the pardon of her sin, it became him to accept of it, and it ill became the Pharisee to be offended at it. Now Christ has a further intention in this. The Pharisee doubted whether he was a prophet or no, nay, he did in effect deny it; but Christ shows that he was more than a prophet, for he is one that has power on earth to forgive sins, and to whom are due the affections and thankful acknowledgments of penitent pardoned sinners. Now, in his answer,

      1. He by a parable forces Simon to acknowledge that the greater sinner this woman had been the greater love she ought to show to Jesus Christ when her sins were pardoned, v. 41-43. A man had two debtors that were both insolvent, but one of them owed him ten times more than the other. He very freely forgave them both, and did not take the advantage of the law against them, did not order them and their children to be sold, or deliver them to the tormentors. Now they were both sensible of the great kindness they had received; but which of them will love him most? Certainly, saith the Pharisee, he to whom he forgave most; and herein he rightly judged. Now we, being obliged to forgive, as we are and hope to be forgiven, may hence learn the duty between debtor and creditor.

      (1.) The debtor, if he have any thing to pay, ought to make satisfaction to his creditor. No man can reckon any thing his own or have any comfortable enjoyment of it, but that which is so when all his debts are paid.

      (2.) If God in his providence have disabled the debtor to pay his debt, the creditor ought not to be severe with him, nor to go to the utmost rigour of the law with him, but freely to forgive him. Summum jus est summa injuria–The law stretched into rigour becomes unjust. Let the unmerciful creditor read that parable, Matt. xviii. 23, c., and tremble for they shall have judgment without mercy that show no mercy.

      (3.) The debtor that has found his creditors merciful ought to be very grateful to them; and, if he cannot otherwise recompense them, ought to love them. Some insolvent debtors, instead of being grateful, are spiteful, to their creditors that lose by them, and cannot give them a good word, only because they complain, whereas losers may have leave to speak. But this parable speaks of God as the Creator (or rather of the Lord Jesus himself, for he it is that forgives, and is beloved by, the debtor) and sinners are the debtors: and so we may learn here, [1.] That sin is a debt, and sinners are debtors to God Almighty. As creatures, we owe a debt, a debt of obedience to the precept of the law, and, for non-payment of that, as sinners, we become liable to the penalty. We have not paid our rent; nay, we have wasted our Lord’s goods, and so we become debtors. God has an action against us for the injury we have done him, and the omission of our duty to him. [2.] That some are deeper in debt to God, by reason of sin, than others are: One owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. The Pharisee was the less debtor, yet he a debtor too, which was more than he thought himself, but rather that God was his debtor, Luk 18:10; Luk 18:11. This woman, that had been a scandalous notorious sinner, was the greater debtor. Some sinners are in themselves greater debtors than others, and some sinners, by reason of divers aggravating circumstances, greater debtors; as those that have sinned most openly and scandalously, that have sinned against greater light and knowledge, more convictions and warnings, and more mercies and means. [3.] That, whether our debt be more or less, it is more than we are able to pay: They had nothing to pay, nothing at all to make a composition with; for the debt is great, and we have nothing at all to pay it with. Silver and gold will not pay our debt, nor will sacrifice and offering, no, not thousands of rams. No righteousness of our own will pay it, no, not our repentance and obedience for the future; for it is what we are already bound to, and it is God that works it within us. [4.] That the God of heaven is ready to forgive, frankly to forgive, poor sinners, upon gospel terms, though their debt be ever so great. If we repent, and believe in Christ, our iniquity shall not be our ruin, it shall not be laid to our charge. God has proclaimed his name gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive sin; and, his Son having purchased pardon for penitent believers, his gospel promises it to them, and his Spirit seals it and gives them the comfort of it. [5.] That those who have their sins pardoned are obliged to love him that pardoned them; and the more is forgiven them, the more they should love him. The greater sinners any have been before their conversion, the greater saints they should be after, the more they should study to do for God, and the more their hearts should be enlarged in obedience. When a persecuting Saul became a preaching Paul he laboured more abundantly.

      2. He applies this parable to the different temper and conduct of the Pharisee and the sinner towards Christ. Though the Pharisee would not allow Christ to be a prophet, Christ seems ready to allow him to be in a justified state, and that he was one forgiven, though to him less was forgiven. He did indeed show some love to Christ, in inviting him to his house, but nothing to what this poor woman showed. “Observe,” saith Christ to him, “she is one that has much forgiven her, and therefore, according to thine own judgment, it might be expected that she should love much more than thou dost, and so it appears. Seest thou this woman? v. 44. Thou lookest upon her with contempt, but consider how much kinder a friend she is to me than thou art; should I then accept thy kindness, and refuse hers?” (1.) “Thou didst not so much as order a basin of water to be brought, to wash my feet in, when I came in, wearied and dirtied with my walk, which would have been some refreshment to me; but she has done much more: she has washed my feet with tears, tears of affection to me, tears of affliction for sin, and has wiped them with the hairs of her head, in token of her great love to me.” (2.) “Thou didst not so much as kiss my cheek” (which was a usual expression of a hearty and affectionate welcome to a friend); “but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet (v. 45), thereby expressing both a humble and an affectionate love.” (3.) “Thou didst not provide me a little common oil, as usual, to anoint my head with; but she has bestowed a box of precious ointment upon my feet (v. 46), so far has she outdone thee.” The reason why some people blame the pains and expense of zealous Christians, in religion, is because they are not willing themselves to come up to it, but resolve to rest in a cheap and easy religion.

      3. He silenced the Pharisee’s cavil: I say unto thee, Simon, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, v. 47. He owns that she had been guilty of many sins: “But they are forgiven her, and therefore it is no way unbecoming in me to accept her kindness. They are forgiven, for she loved much.” It should be rendered, therefore she loved much; for it is plain, by the tenour of Christ’s discourse, that the loving much was not the cause, but the effect, of her pardon, and of her comfortable sense of it; for we love God because he first loved us; he did not forgive us because we first loved him. “But to whom little is forgiven, as is to thee, the same loveth little, as thou dost.” Hereby he intimates to the Pharisee that his love to Christ was so little that he had reason to question whether he loved him at all in sincerity; and, consequently, whether indeed his sin, though comparatively little, were forgiven him. Instead of grudging greater sinners the mercy they find with Christ, upon their repentance, we should be stirred up by their example to examine ourselves whether we be indeed forgiven, and do love Christ.

      4. He silenced her fears, who probably was discouraged by the Pharisee’s conduct, and yet would not so far yield to the discouragement as to fly off. (1.) Christ said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven, v. 48. Note, The more we express our sorrow for sin, and our love to Christ, the clearer evidence we have of the forgiveness of our sins; for it is by the experience of a work of grace wrought in us that we obtain the assurance of an act of grace wrought for us. How well was she paid for her pains and cost, when she was dismissed with this word from Christ, Thy sins are forgiven! and what an effectual prevention would this be of her return to sin again! (2.) Though there were those present who quarrelled with Christ, in their own minds, for presuming to forgive sin, and to pronounce sinners absolved (v. 49), as those had done (Matt. ix. 3), yet he stood to what he had said; for as he had there proved that he had power to forgive sin, by curing the man sick of the palsy, and therefore would not here take notice of the cavil, so he would now show that he had pleasure in forgiving sin, and it was his delight; he loves to speak pardon and peace to penitents: He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, v. 50. This would confirm and double her comfort in the forgiveness of her sin, that she was justified by her faith. All these expressions of sorrow for sin, and love to Christ, were the effects and products of faith; and therefore, as faith of all graces doth most honour God, so Christ doth of all graces put most honour upon faith. Note, They who know that their faith hath saved them may go in peace, may go on their way rejoicing.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

That he would eat with him ( ‘ ). Second aorist active subjunctive. The use of after (see also Lu 16:27) is on the border between the pure object clause and the indirect question (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1046) and the pure final clause. Luke has two other instances of Pharisees who invited Jesus to meals (Luke 11:37; Luke 14:1) and he alone gives them. This is the Gospel of Hospitality (Ragg). Jesus would dine with a Pharisee or with a publican (Luke 5:29; Mark 2:15; Matt 9:10) and even invited himself to be the guest of Zaccheus (Lu 9:5). This Pharisee was not as hostile as the leaders in Jerusalem. It is not necessary to think this Pharisee had any sinister motive in his invitation though he was not overly friendly (Plummer).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

JESUS IN THE PHARISEE’S HOUSE V. 36-40

1) “And one of the Pharisees desired him,” (erota de tis auton ton Pharisaion) “And a certain one of the Pharisees requested him,” perhaps out of curiosity, extended an invitation to Him, That Pharisee was Simon, Luk 7:40; Luk 7:43-44; Not just any Simon, for nine different persons are called Simon in the New Testament.

2) “That he would eat with him.” (hina phage met autou) “in order that he would eat or dine with him,” as a Pharisee, much as the tax-gather, Matthew, who later became an apostle had done, Luk 5:27-35. This Simon is likely not the same as that one of Mar 14:3.

3) “And he went into the Pharisee’s house,” (kai eiselthon eis ton oikon tou Pharisaiou) “And he entered into the residence of the Pharisee,” accepting his hospitality, a thing the Pharisees repeatedly criticized, when He ate with Sinners, Luk 7:30; Luk 7:34. After all the Pharisees were also sinners, Mat 5:20.

4) “And sat down to meat.” (kateklithe) “And he reclined, as the guests did, for a meal,” on his side, with His head toward the table and His feet extended outward, away from the food, making it convenient for the anointing of the feet, Luk 7:38. Jesus often accepted an invitation to a meal from a Pharisee, Luk 14:1. While Simon did invite and receive Jesus into his home, he did not extend Him any special honor at all, not even washing His feet, or giving Him a towel and water to wash His own, Luk 7:44.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

36. And one of the Pharisees requested him. This narrative shows the captious disposition, not only to take, but to seek out, offenses, which was manifested by those who did not know the office of Christ. A Pharisee invites Christ; from which we infer, that he was not one of those who furiously and violently opposed, nor of those who haughtily despised his doctrine. But whatever might be his mildness, he is presently offended when he sees Christ bestow a gracious reception on a woman who, in his opinion, ought not to have been permitted to approach or to converse with him; and, accordingly, disowns him as a prophet, because he does not acknowledge him to be the Mediator, whose peculiar office it was to bring miserable sinners into a state of reconciliation with God. It was something, no doubt, to bestow on Christ the honor due to a prophet; but he ought also to have inquired for what purpose he was sent, what he brought, and what commission he had received from the Father. Overlooking the grace of reconciliation, which was the main feature to be looked for in Christ, the Pharisee concluded that he was not a prophet And, certainly, had it not been that through the grace of Christ this woman had obtained the forgiveness of her sins, and a new righteousness, she ought to have been rejected.

Simon’s mistake lies only in this: Not considering that Christ came to save what was lost, he rashly concludes that Christ does not distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy. That we may not share in this dislike, let us learn, first, that Christ was given as a Deliverer to miserable and lost men, (239) and to restore them from death to life. Secondly, let every man examine himself and his life, and then we will not wonder that others are admitted along with us, for no one will dare to place himself above others. It is hypocrisy alone that leads men to be careless about themselves, (240) and haughtily to despise others.

(239) “ Que Christ a este donne pour liberateur au genre humain, miserable et perdu;” — “that Christ was given as a deliverer to the human race, miserable and lost.”

(240) “ Qui fait que les hommes se me cognoissent;” — “which makes men forget themselves.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk. 7:36. One of the Pharisees.The invitation given by one of the Pharisees to Jesus would seem to belong to an early period of His ministry, before the enmity of that party against our Lord had grown intense. A certain coldness or ungraciousness seems to mark the conduct of this Pharisee in spite of his proffer of hospitality, as shown in the omission of acts of courtesy ordinarily rendered by host to guest. He may not have made up his mind about the Divine mission of Jesus, and may have given the invitation with a view of forming a definite opinion on the matter after intercourse with Him. Sat down.Lit. reclined. The guests lay on couches with their heads towards the table in the centre and their feet towards the side of the room. This gave opportunity for the anointing of the feet that took place on this occasion.

Luk. 7:37. A woman, etc.A better reading (followed by the R.V.) is, and, behold, a woman which was in the city, a sinner. This lays greater stress upon her notoriety as a person of abandoned character. There is no ground whatever for identifying her with Mary Magdalene, as is done in the heading of this chapter and in Christian art. Mary Magdalene was delivered by Jesus from the state of demoniacal possession; but there is no reason for believing that there was any connection between that state and a vicious life. In Eastern houses, even at the present time, it is not uncommon for strangers to enter at the hour of meals, and to take part in conversation with the guests at table. Alabaster box.Rather, alabaster cruse (R.V.), or flask.

Luk. 7:38. His feet.The sandals were put off on entering the room, and so the feet were bare. Her purpose, doubtless, was to anoint His feet; but her tears began to fall ere she began her task, and so she first wiped away her tears from His feet with her hair, then kissed His feet and anointed them. Weeping.No doubt at the contrast between His holiness and her sinfulness. Kissed.Lit. kissed earnestly.

Luk. 7:39. If He were a prophet.The question as to whether Jesus was a prophet sent from God was evidently pressing upon the mind of Simon. He decides it in the negative; he was sure a prophet would in virtue of his supernatural insight have known who and what manner of woman it was that touched him, and that he would instinctively have repelled a sinner.

Luk. 7:40. I have somewhat, etc.A courteous mode of bespeaking attention. Master.. I.e. Teacher, or Rabbi.

Luk. 7:41. Five hundred pence fifty.About 15 12s. 6d. and 1 11s. 3d. of our money.

Luk. 7:42. Frankly forgave.There is only one word in the originalremitted, but it involves the idea of free grace and favour.

Luk. 7:44. Turned.The woman was standing behind Him. Water for My feet.The feet defiled on dusty roads, being only partially covered with sandals. It was customary to bring water to wash the feet of guests: see Joh. 13:5.

Luk. 7:44-46.Observe the contrasts between the commonplace courtesies Simon had omitted and the extraordinary acts of reverence and devotion the woman bad done: water and towel contrasted with her tears and her hair, the kiss of welcome and the kisses lavished by her upon His feet, anointing-oil for the head and the precious ointment she poured upon His feet.

Luk. 7:47. For she loved much.Not, because she loved much, as though her love was the cause of her forgiveness. This sense is directly opposed to the parable (Luk. 7:42), which represents the debtors as unable to pay, and the forgiveness as free; to the next clause, which plainly makes the forgiveness the ground of the love, not the reverse; and also to Luk. 7:50, which represents faith, not love, as the antecedent of forgiveness, on the side of the person forgiven. The clause is to be explained: since she loved much, i.e. her sins which are many are forgiven (as you may conclude from your own judgment, that much forgiveness produces much love), since she loved much (as these manifestations indicate) (Popular Commentary).

Luk. 7:48. Thy sins are forgiven.Her faith had virtually secured forgiveness, but her conscience still needed assurance of the fact, and this assurance Christ now gives.

Luk. 7:49. Forgiveth sins also.Rather, even forgiveth sins (R.V.).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 7:36-50

The Pharisees Mistake.The picture of this sinful woman, with Christ and the Pharisee on either hand, is another of those instances which show the Gospel to be a book for all time. The two ways of dealing with sin are still to be met withthe hard repulsion of formal righteousness, and the sympathy of Divine love. Sympathy has wonderful eyes, but nothing is so blind as spiritual pride. Let us look at the mistake this Pharisee made

I. As it regarded Christ.He could not read Christs nature, and undervalued it. He imagined that Christs accessibility to this woman arose from want of knowledge, when it came from the greatness of His compassion. The forbearance of Christ had its source, not in ignorance, but in the deep, far-reaching vision of infinite Love, which wills not the death of any sinner, but that he should turn and live, and which made Him ready not only to rescue the lost and wipe away their tears, but to pour out His own soul unto the death to save them. But every man reads another by the heart in his own bosom; and the hard, self-righteous Pharisee is utterly unable to comprehend Him who does not break the bruised reed, and who has a joy greater than all the angels of heaven over one sinner that repenteth. As the heavens are high above the earth, so are Gods thoughts higher than mans thoughts. He mistook also Christs way of rescuing from sin. If it entered into the Pharisees thought at all to rescue from sin, it would be by keeping the sinner back from him, thanking God, and even feeling a selfish kind of thankfulness, that he was not like him. The sinner must be made fully sensible of his exclusion from the sympathy of all good men, and no door of access can be opened till purity is restored. Any other way would seem encouragement to transgression. Christs way is the very reverse of this. His way was to come from an infinite height into this world, that He might be near sinners, able to touch them and ready to be touched. It was to take their nature upon Him in the very likeness of sinful flesh, that they might feel Him closer still, and that He might not be ashamed to call them brethren. It was to become sin for them, though He knew no sinthat He might bear it, first by pity, then by sacrifice, and at last by pardon. And now He carries out His plan in one of its applications when He draws the sinner near Him, and suffers her to clasp His feet that she may feel she is in contact with Gods infinite and saving mercy.

II. As it regarded the woman.The Pharisee thought that as a sinner she was to be despised. He saw only what was repulsive in her, and had he confined his view to the sin his feeling had right with it. But he included the sinner. It was a look of pride without any pity; and pride, above all spiritual pride, without pity is as cold and blind as the polar ice. Such pride could not see a human soul with infinite destinies, though degraded, a precious gem incrusted with miry clay, yet capable of reflecting the brightest rays of the Divine glory. Surely we ought to feel that in every fellow-man, however degraded, there is a kindred and immortal nature which can never be cut off in this world from the possibility of the highest rise. Should not the thought of this community of nature melt our hearts when we look upon poor outcast humanity? and shall we ever think ourselves more pure than the Son of God, and seek to shake ourselves free from its touch? The Pharisee did not see that a new life had entered into the womans heart. A man who is so blind as not to perceive the deep capacity of the old nature will not discover the dawning tokens of the new. Was it nothing to find her pressing close to Christ, clinging to His feet, bathing them with weeping? The outward signs were before him, if he had known how to read them, of the greatest change that can befall a human soul. These sobs and tears, and this irrepressible emotion, are the cries of the new creature in Christ Jesus, which must find its way to Him who is its life and joy. Penitence was there, too deep for words, the broken and contrite heart which God will not despise, a loathing of sin which this Pharisee cannot understand, and a glowing love that made his frown forgotten in the irresistible attraction to a Saviours feet.

III. As it regarded himself.The Pharisee showed that he did not know his own heart. Had he been better acquainted with it, he would have found sufficient there for dissatisfaction. If not committing the sins which he condemned, he might have known that he had the seeds of them in his nature. If he was keeping them down by inward struggle, this should have made him lenient; and if cherishing the love of them, he was a publican wearing a cloak. Every unrenewed heart has the fire of corruption smouldering, though it may not show the flame. The grace of God alone can extinguish the fire of any one sin, and even then the man is a brand plucked from the burning, ready to be rekindled, and therefore bound to humility. The man who is saved from sin by love is softened by the love which saves him; but the man who is kept from sin only by pride is made more hard. He may be as near the sin in his real heart as ever, but he maintains a false outward character, and builds an unsafe barrier in his nature against open sin by being very severe upon sinners. This is the reason why a mere external reformation brings in vanity and pride and all uncharitableness, sins which, if not so disreputable in the sight of men, are as hateful in the view of God. He did not see that in condemning this woman he was rejecting the salvation of Christ. If he could have established his point that it was unworthy of the Saviour to hold intercourse with sinners, what hope would there have been for him? Publican and Pharisee, open transgressor and moral formalist, can only enter heaven by the same gate of free unconditional mercy. Nay, had the Pharisee seen it, he was further from the kingdom of God than she with all her sins about her, and it was not so wonderful that Christ should permit this poor woman to touch His feet as that He should sit down as a guest at the Pharisees table. This, too, was in the way of His work, to bring in a contrite sinner with Him, and touch, if it might be, the hard, self-righteous heart. If the Pharisee had known himself and who it was that spoke to him, he would have taken his place beside her he despised. Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof. He would have rejoiced in her reception as the ground of hope for himself, and as a proof that Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him. Let us trust that he learned this lesson.Ker.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 7:36-50

Luk. 7:36-50. In the house of Simon.The love in religion makes it valuable. Religion without love is valueless. In this guest-chamber of Simons we see

I. A want of love.(l) In the host.

(2) In the reception.

II. An abundance of love.On the part of one who was no guest. How does she show her love?

(1) Openly,
(2) humbly,
(3) generously.

III. The reason of love.She had been forgiven. Forgiveness produces love.

IV. The reward of love.The assurance of forgiveness. The remission of sins. The gift of peace.Spence.

Three Portraits.

I. The penitent sinner.

1. Her sorrow.
2. Her faith.
3. Her love.

II. The proud Pharisee.

III. The Divine Saviour.Stock.

Forgiveness and Love.Let those who cry out that there is no originality in the Gospels find a parallel to this story in any of the religions or philosophies of the world. Pardon for a notorious sinner was an unheard-of thing, and is so still outside of the Bible. Even the Pharisees of Christs day did not believe in it. But this was Christs very mission. All need forgiveness; and if we think we have been forgiven little, it only shows our little sense of sin.Hastings.

The Greater the Forgiveness, the Greater the Love.That Jesus called the sinful because He expected converts from that class to make the best citizens, we learn from this parable viewed in connection with its historical setting. On this occasion also He was on His defence for His sympathetic relations with social reprobates, and the gist of His apology wasthe greater the forgiveness, the greater the love, and therefore the better the citizen, the test of good citizenship being devotion. Christianity believes in the possibility of the last becoming first, of the greatest sinner becoming the greatest saint. Jesus hints at this, To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little, suggesting the correlative doctrine, that to whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much; in other words, that from among the children of passion, prone to err, may come, when their energies are properly directed, the most devoted and effective citizens and servants of the Divine kingdom. It seems a bold and hazardous assertion, but it is one, nevertheless, which the history of the Church has fully justified.Bruce.

Forgiveness the Cause and Measure of Love.

I. The outpouring of love which has grasped forgiveness.

II. The snarl of self-righteousness which has never been down into the depths.

III. The vindication, by forgiving love, of forgiven love.Maclaren.

Luk. 7:36. Wisdom justified of her Children.The incident related in this section is an illustration of the truth of the principle laid down in Luk. 7:35. But wisdom is justified of all her children. It tells of one who was attracted by the graciousness of Christ, which gave offence to many of the Pharisees, and whose penitence was rewarded by the forgiveness of her sins.

One of the Pharisees desired Him.The state of this Pharisees feelings towards Christ is revealed in Luk. 7:39. There was a conflict in his mind between reverence for Jesus as a possible prophet and prejudice against Him on account of some of His modes of procedure. He seems, too, to have received some benefit from Christ (Luk. 7:42), and to have loved Him on that account, though his love was far from ardent (Luk. 7:47). Probably his character and conduct are painted too black in popular sermons upon this incident. Jesus speaks to him in such a friendly manner that we can scarcely believe that Simon cherished any malevolent feelings towards Him.

He went into the Pharisees house.The action of Jesus in acceding to the request to eat with the Pharisee is an illustration of the method followed by Him, as contrasted with that followed by the Baptist (Luk. 7:34). We often read of His receiving invitations of this kind, but never of His refusing. He showed the same genial, kindly willingness to enter into social intercourse with Pharisees, as in the case of publicans and sinners.

Luk. 7:37. A sinner.The special sin of inchastity is implied in the designation. She was a sinner; up to this time (in Pharisaic language) she had been so; and she was still a sinner before the eyes of the world, although before God the sanctifying change had already begun to take place, through repentance, forgiveness, and love in return for forgiveness (Stier).

A Typical Case of Penitence.Her name is not given, so she may be thought of as a typical case of penitence: each one who reads the story may think of himself or herself as standing in her place. She came to anoint Jesus in token of her gratitude to Him as her Saviour. Love does not need to be instructed how to express itself; it is skilful in finding out appropriate methods. Cf. Luk. 17:15; Luk. 19:35-37.

Luk. 7:38. Stood at His feet weeping.As she stood behind Jesus her tears began to flow, perhaps involuntarily; they bedewed His feet; with her hair dishevelled in token of grief she wiped His feet, and finding she was not repulsed, she kissed them over and over again (Luk. 7:45), and anointed them with the ointment she had brought. Her eyes, which once longed after earthly joys, now shed forth penitential tears; her hair, which she once displayed for idle ornament, is now used to wipe the feet of Christ; her lips, which once uttered vain things, now kiss those holy feet; the costly ointment, with which she once perfumed her body, is now offered to God (Wordsworth). See Rom. 6:19, As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Why she came to Christ.The purpose of her coming was

(1) to show her love for Christ;
(2) to testify her sorrow for sin; and

(3) to obtain forgiveness. Her penitence was public, as her sin had been. Others sought bodily health from Christ; but we do not read of another who came to obtain from Him pardon of sin. Hers was a striking example of faith, love, and penitence, and she received a special reward. It would appear from a comparison of this chapter with Matthew 11 that Jesus had just issued the gracious invitation, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Luk. 7:28-29). Perhaps it was these words that gave her courage to act as she did.

Public Acknowledgment of Penitence.A public acknowledgment of repentance and faith in Christ in some cases, as in this, is a trying ordeal: there is

(1) the opposition of evil associates to be overcometheir solicitations, attempts to dissuade, and their mockery to be resisted; and
(2) the contempt and distrust of those who have been upright and virtuous to be encountered, and their confidence to be won. This latter trial is the harder to be borne.

A Theme for Artists and Poets.The scene so exquisitely described by St. Luke has inspired both painters and poets, and given them a subject excelling most others in human and religious interest. The sonnet by Hartley Coleridge is well known:

She sat and wept beside His feet. The weight
Of sin oppressed her heart; for all the blame
And the poor malice of the worldly shame
To her were past, extinct, and out of date:
Only the sin remainedthe leprous state.
She would be melted by the heat of love,
By fires far fiercer than are blown to prove
And purge the silver ore adulterate.
She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair
Still wiped the feet she was so blest to touch;
And He wiped off the soiling of despair
From her sweet soul, because she loved so much.

Dante G. Rossetti, who was both a poet and a painter, has taken the same subject and handled it with great power, though he follows the opinion that the woman was Mary Magdalene. In the drawing by which he has illustrated the incident, Mary has left a procession of revellers, and is ascending by a sudden impulse the steps of the house where she sees Christ. Her lover has followed her, and is trying to turn her back. The poet represents her as saying:

Oh, loose me! Seest thou not my Bridegrooms face

That draws me to Him? For His feet my kiss,

My hair, my tears He craves to-day: and oh!

What words can tell what other day and place

Shall see me clasp those blood-stained feet of His?

He needs me, calls me, loves me: let me go!

Nature of Repentance.Repentance as exemplified by this woman is characterised

(1) by deep grief and self-loathing;
(2) by wisdom in applying to the true source of forgiveness;
(3) by love to the Saviour; and
(4) by courage in braving the scorn of others and in overcoming false shame.

Luk. 7:39. If He were a prophet.An ordinary prophet might be unacquainted with the previous character and conduct of the woman; but such a prophet as the people took Jesus to be, and as He gave Himself out to be, could not. So far Simon was right in his surmise. To Simon it appeared clear

(1) that such a prophet would have known, and
(2) would have repulsed, one so sinful. He made three mistakes:
(1) he imagined that the holy must necessarily shun all intercourse with the sinful;
(2) that this woman was still a sinner; and

(3) that he himself was holy. The attitude he took up was that described in Isa. 65:5, Stand by thyself: come not near to me; for I am holier than thouan attitude and language hateful to God as smoke in the nostrils. The Pharisee, in fact, mentally put the Lord into this dilemmaeither He does not know the true character of this woman, in which case He lacks that discernment of spirits which pertains to a true prophet; or, if He knows, and yet endures her touch, and is willing to accept a service at such hands, He lacks that holiness which is no less the note of a prophet of God: such, therefore, in either case He cannot be (Trench.)

Which touched Him.Touchingthis is all that the Pharisee fixes on: his offence is merely technical and ceremonial.Alford.

A Third Alternative.The Pharisee omitted a third alternativeviz. that Jesus both knew what the woman was or had been, and permitted her action; and that it was possible for Him to justify His procedure.

Luk. 7:40-43. Important Truths and Warnings.This parable and the narrative in which it is found contain truths which we are very apt to neglect, and suggest warning of which we stand in constant need.

I. For observe, first, that flagrant sinners are much more likely to discover that they are sinners than moralists and ritualists.

II. Observe, secondly, that the much and the little of sin are for the most part measures of conscience, not of iniquity.

III. Observe, thirdly, that Christ does not teach us to run into sin, but to hate hypocrisythe worst of sins.

IV. Finally, Christ specially warns us against forming those hard judgments of our brethren which of all men the unco guid are most apt to form.Cox.

Luk. 7:40. I have somewhat to say unto thee.Christ adopts the same mode of rebuke as that made use of by Nathan to David. He tells an apologue, and asks a question which leads to Simons pronouncing judgment against himself (cf. 2Sa. 12:1-7). Jesus answers himi.e. answers his thoughts, which were revealed by his very looks.

Luk. 7:41. Five hundred pence and fiftyWe must beware of understanding by the two debtors persons who differed from each other in positive sinfulnessthe one, say, with five hundred accumulated offences, the other with but fifty. They were persons with differing consciousness of sinthe one of whom knew that his guilt was very heinous, the other having no such impression of himself. As a matter of fact it often happens that the debtor owing five hundred pence is in outward conduct more blameless than the other; for those who strive to serve God faithfully have an acuter sense of their sinfulness than others who make no such endeavour. In the present case the debtor owing the five hundred pence (the woman) was more guilty than the one owing fifty (Simon). Sense of guilt is a feeling we may all experience: our actual guilt or the number of our offences is known only to God.

The Aim of the Parable.The aim of the parable was

(1) to explain the strange behaviour of the woman,
(2) to turn the tables on the fault-finder,
(3) to defend the course of conduct which excited the Pharisees sensoriousness.

Luk. 7:42. Frankly forgave them both.Forgiveness is the free gift of God. It is not the womans love that wins forgiveness; but that love springs from the consciousness of having been forgiven.

Luk. 7:43. I suppose.There is a touch of superciliousness in Simons reply, I suppose. His phrase implies that he thought the question one easily answered, and did not perceive how the decision he gave condemned himself. In like manner there is a strain of sarcasm in the words of JesusThou hast rightly judged. It is a phrase used by Socrates when he has entangled his adversary in discussion.

Luk. 7:44-46. I entered into thine house.Christ contrasts the love manifested by the penitent woman with the coldness and discourtesy of him who thought himself her superior. In the one case there was exceptional and almost extravagant manifestation of devotion, in the other an omission of the ordinary civilities shown by hosts to guests.

1. The woman washed His feet with tears (the most priceless of waters, the blood of the heart), and wiped them with her hair; Simon had not offered the customary water and towel for washing and wiping the feet of guests.
2. The Pharisee had given no kiss of welcome, but she had passionately and often kissed His very feet.
3. Simon had not given even common oil for the head, but she had anointed His feet with precious ointment.

Dignity and Humility.The Lord Jesus receives the expressions of love and honour with equal dignity and humility; He would have suffered Himself to be kissed even by the cold-hearted Simon, as He does not withdraw His feet from the tears of the woman who was a sinner. He is so humble in His majesty, and so majestic in His humility, thatshall we say like a child or like a sovereign?He complains before a whole company of men, who were watching His words, that certain marks of respect had been culpably withheld from Him; and every one must be made to feel that He does this, not for His own sake, but for the sake of men.Stier.

The Rebuke of Simons Under-breeding.There was something deeper than humour here, but humour there also was. Spoken in semi-public, how it must have taken down the rich and patronising Pharisee to have it flashed in upon him that the seeming-humble carpenter and peasant of Nazareth knew what a gentleman meant, and who was not a gentleman. And not only so, but it was inevitable that the odious comparison to her advantage with the woman would draw down on Simon alike the observation and laughter of all who heard.Grosart.

The Explanation of Simons Discourtesy.If we should say that Simon thought that he was a gentleman, and that our Lord was not, we run the risk of offending our own sense of propriety; but we are probably not far from the truth. Simon treated our Lord with personal rudeness just because He was poor. And our Lord felt it, and called attention to it plainly and pointedly.Winterbotham.

The Pharisee Unconscious of Sinfulness.The Saviour might come into that house of the Phariseeand no signs of peculiar honour shall greet or repay His presenceno water for His feetno anointing of oilno reverent kiss of welcome. This is natural, for Simon feels himself no sinner, nor counts it, therefore, any great thing to be privileged to entertain the sinners Friend.Vaughan.

Simon made to reprove Himself.Jesus with tact first asks leave to speak, when He has to administer reproof, puts that reproof into a parable, and makes Simon thus administer his own reproof.Blaikie.

Luk. 7:47. Love and Forgiveness.We have here three persons who represent for us the Divine love that comes forth amongst sinners, and the twofold form in which that love is received.

I. Christ here stands as a manifestation of the Divine love towards mankind.

1. This love is not at all dependent upon our merits or desertsHe frankly forgave them both.

2. It is not turned away by our sins: the self-righteous man had contempt for the sinner, the holy Saviour had love.

3. It manifests itself first in the form of forgivenessonly on this ground can there be union between the loving-kindness of God and the emptiness and sinfulness of our hearts.
4. It demands service: that rendered by the woman is accepted, Simon is reminded of his omissions.

II. The woman here stands as a representative of the penitent lovingly recognising the Divine love.

1. All true love to God is preceded in the heart by a sense of sin and an assurance of pardon. Gratitude to God as the Giver of blessings can scarcely be called love, if there be not along with it a recognition of His holiness and mercy towards the penitent.
2. Love is the gate of knowledgeit led her to truer knowledge of Christ than the Pharisee possessed, and it revealed to her her own state.
3. Love is the source of all obedience. Love prompted her expressions of devotion to Christ, love justified them, His love interpreted them and accepted them.

III. Simon here stands as a representative of the unloving and self-righteous man, all ignorant of the love of Christ. He is a fair specimen of his class: respectable in life, rigid in morality, unquestionable in orthodoxy; intelligent and learned, high up among the ranks of Israel. Yet the want of love made his morality and orthodoxy dead and dry encumbrances. The Pharisee was contented with himself; and so there was no sense of sin in him, therefore there was no penitent recognition of Christ as forgiving and loving him, therefore there was no love to Christ. Hence there was neither light nor heat in his soul; his knowledge was barren notions, and his laborious obedience to the law led him to a fatal self-righteousness.Maclaren.

Luk. 7:47. For she loved much.The difficulty in connection with the interpretation of this verse all depends upon the meaning to be given to the word forfor she loved much. Does this mean she has been forgiven because she loved much? To hold that it does would violate the statement in Luk. 7:42, that the debtor had nothing wherewith to pay his debti.e. no ground on which he could claim forgiveness. For here means that Jesus is arguing from the effect to the cause: her great love shows that she is conscious of having been forgiven a great debt. It is the same kind of statement as if we were to sayThe sun must have shone, for the day is bright. The majesty of Jesus is displayed in the manner in which He accepts the adoration and love of the penitent, and in the exercise of the Divine prerogative of forgiving sins which He does not hesitate to employ. The great lesson is commended to all who are penitent to show their gratitude by loving much.

Luk. 7:48. Be of good comfort.By simple decree given as He sat at the table He blotted out the record of this womans sins; His knowledge of her sincere penitence being absolute, and His authority to act in Gods name supreme.

Luk. 7:49. Who is this that forgiveth sins also?The astonishment shown by those who were present, at the claim to forgive sin, was most natural, for the majority of those there evidently hesitated to regard Him as the penitent woman did. We need not credit them with malignant unbelief: they were amazed at a claim which doubtless many of them soon came to see was fully justified. The answer to their question would have been, It is the Son of man (cf. Luk. 5:24).

Luk. 7:50. Thy faith hath saved thee.Thy faith which anticipated pardon from Me, and brought thee to Me with public signs of penitence and love, hath saved thee. Christ mercifully ascribes to faith those benefits which are due to Himself as the efficient and meritorious cause, and are apprehended by the hand of faith as the instrument on our part by which they are supplied.Wordsworth.

Go in peace.Lit. into peacethe state of mind to which she might now look forward. Four great blessings were therefore bestowed by Jesus upon this penitent:

1. He accepted the expressions she gave of love and devotion;
2. He approved her conduct and defended her cause;
3. He assured her of forgiveness;
4. He dismissed her with a word of benediction. The whole incident is one calculated to comfort the penitent, and to assure them of the love of Christ for them in spite of their deep unworthiness. Yet we need to keep in mind that there is a higher blessing attaching to those who are consecrated in life to Christ from the first than can be known by those who have sunk deeply in the mire of sin. None need, therefore, think lightly of the evil courses from which this woman was redeemed. Though the love of the reclaimed profligate may be and is intense of its kind (and how touching and beautiful its manifestations are, as here!), yet that kind is not so high or complete as the sacrifice of the whole lifethe bud, blossom, and fruitto His service to whom we were in baptism dedicated (Alford).

Peace with Pardon.Saved! This poor, shame-soiled, sin-ruined thing that the Pharisee would have thrust out of his house into the streetsaved! No return to the old life. An heir of heaven. Christ touched the sinful soul, and it was transformed into beauty. The woman has been in glory for eighteen centuries. This is what Christ can do, will do, for all who creep to His feet in penitence and faith. Peace came with the forgiveness. No peace till forgiven. No peace for uncancelled sin. But when Christ has forgiven, we should be at peace. What is there to fear now or ever? With our Kings pardon we need not be afraid.Miller.

Saved.The cheering word meant much. The expression saved is not to be restricted to the one blessing of forgiveness of sins, though that is specially included, as it was expressly mentioned just before. Jesus meant to say that faith would do, had already done in principle, for the sinful woman, all that needed to be done in order to a complete moral rescue.Bruce.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Butlers Comments

SECTION 5

The Self-Satisfied (Luk. 7:36-50)

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees house, and took his place at table. 37And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisees house,. brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38and 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. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, 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. 40And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, What is it, Teacher? 41A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more? 43Simon answered, The one I suppose, to whom he forgave more. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. 44Then 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. 45You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little. 48And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. 49Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, Who is this, who even forgives sins? 50And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

Luk. 7:36-39 Condemning: Although Jesus despised the attitudes of most of the Pharisees, He never refused an opportunity to try to convert one. While He was in Capernaum, a Pharisee of that city invited Jesus to dine with him. Along with making a great show about their religious practices (Mat. 6:1-18) the Pharisees enjoyed making a great show of their wealth and position by inviting certain select famous and popular people to dine with them. They would never invite the poor, starving, am-haretz (people of the land) whom they classified as sinners who did not know anything (see Joh. 7:48-49). Often men of such attitudes would allow the poor and common people to stand off at a distance in the court-yard of their homes and like spectators, entertain themselves watching the rich and mighty dine.

As Jesus was reclining (Gr. kateklithe) (see comments on Luk. 5:29 ff) at dinner (probably evening meal), behold (surprise), a woman who was in the city, a sinner came and anointed His feet. The Greek idiom places emphasis on the fact that this woman had a reputation for being a city sinner. This usually meant prostitution. We do not know exactly what her sin was. The silence of the scripture probably is a caution to us that the precise nature of her sin should not be as important to us as the example of her grateful attitude. Jesus later indicates that the amount of ones debt, though significant in mans estimation, is not so in Gods since the debtors were both forgiven, regardless of the amount.

The womans actions, the context, and the use of the Greek perfect tense verb sesoken in Luk. 7:50 (has saved and is continuing to save you) indicates that Jesus may have encountered the woman before this incident and forgave her sins. That is why, when she heard Jesus was in Simons house, she came expressing in a highly emotional way her gratitude for having been forgiven by Jesus. She brought with her an alabaster (plaster of paris) jar (usually very beautifully decorated, expensive and delicate) filled with ointment (Gr. murou) myrrhimported and expensive. She stood at the foot of the couch weeping, and her tears fell on Jesus feet and made them wet. Quickly she knelt and kept wiping off (Gr. exemassen, imperfect) the tear drops with her long hair. It was a shame for a Jewish woman to let down her hair in public. That was only a custom of tradition and this woman would not let her gratitude to Jesus be hindered by the traditions of men. She began to kiss or embrace the feet of Jesus profusely (Gr. katephilei) and to rub the very expensive perfume from her alabaster jar on His feet. This woman gladly did the most humiliating, servile deed to Jesus that could customarily be done in that era while at the same time gladly rubbed on His feet the most expensive and precious thing she possessed.

All this made no impression on Simon, the Pharisee. His only concern was that Jesus was allowing the woman to touch Him at all. Simon thought to himself, If this fellow (not even the courtesy to use Jesus name in his thoughts) were a prophet (some ancient manuscripts have the prophet), he would have known who and what sort (Gr. potape, originally a word meaning of what country, thus Simon had already categorized her as alien to his own social, class and not to be associated with) of woman this is who is touching him, because she is a sinner. Why did Simon think such condemning things about this woman (and Jesus)? Because, as we shall see, he was self-righteous. He did not consider himself a sinnerhe owed no debt to Godfelt no need for grace and therefore had no gratitude in his heart.

Luk. 7:40-50 Condemned: Jesus answered the thought of Simons heart. Jesus did not have to wait for men to express what they thoughtHe could know supernaturally what men thought (cf. Joh. 2:23-25). Jesus used a favorite teaching vehicle, the parable, to try to expose to Simon the evil of his heart toward both Himself and the woman. Jesus parables were always true to life. He never told a parable that was divorced from reality. What He parabolized was always true whether of this life or the next (cf. Luk. 16:19 ff). He may have had two specific (but unnamed) debtors known to Him personally in mind as He told this parabolic account.

We are not certain about the modern worth of a denarius. Most commentators believe it was worth a days wages in Jesus time. Whatever the case, the real point of this true-to-life story is the graciousness of the creditor, and the attitude of the debtors. The disparity between the amounts owed is not really significant for neither could pay their debt. The one who loved the forgiving creditor the most was the one who realized how totally unable to pay he had been and how totally forgiven he was. The sheer power of the logic in Jesus parable forced Simon to give the correct answer or appear to be a fool. But Simons ego was not in touch with his mind for what he was forced to answer by logic he refused to answer in his heart. Simon had looked upon the woman as a great sinner and upon himself as no sinner. The woman knew she had been much in debt to God and when Jesus forgave her she loved muchwas deeply grateful, and showed it. Simon showed no gratefulness to Jesus because in his own estimation he had received no graciousness from God. Simon did not think he needed any grace! This attitude is extremely crucial. The apostle Paul makes ingratitude (Rom. 1:21) the fundamental source or reason behind the Gentile rejection of God and the terrible sinfulness of mankind described in subsequent verses. Ingratitude is the immediate child of pride and self-righteousness.

Although Simon answered with indifference, perhaps even flippancy, he answered correctly. He pronounced his own condemnation, whether he realized it or not. Jesus, turning toward the woman, but talking to Simon, said, Do you see this woman? Now Simon had seen the woman for he judged Jesus on the basis of having seen what the woman was doing. But Simon had seen the woman through his self-righteous perspective and not according to the truth which logic had just forced him to conclude. That is why Jesus so often referred to the Pharisees as blind (cf. Mat. 15:14; Mat. 23:16; Joh. 9:39-41). Simons self-righteousness not only blinded him to the womans motives, and to Jesus character, it also blinded him to the need to express the commonest courtesies toward a guest as Jesus graphically points out.

Simon, and many of his fellow Pharisees, fell into the ageless trap of the devil of measuring themselves by one another, and comparing themselves with one another, and being bereft of understanding which the apostle Paul outlines to the Corinthian church (2Co. 10:7-12). When we measure ourselves by other human beings we usually select those who are not as good as we are so we make ourselves look better. When we measure ourselves by one another we are always using imperfect standards and, always able to find ourselves better than our standards, we justify ourselves and declare ourselves able to stand on our own merits without need of the grace of God. Simon compared himself to the woman and he should have compared himself to God. We should all compare ourselves to Jesus and learn that we need His forgiving grace.

The perfect tense of the Greek verb apheontai (are forgiven) like the perfect tense of the verb sesoken (has saved Luk. 7:50) indicates that this had already occurred at some time past and that the fact remained true at the time Jesus spoke. As Applebury points out, her faith had saved her at some point in the past and the fact remained at the moment when He was speaking to her. Her faith, not her love was the cause of her being forgiven. Love follows forgiveness, just as in the story of the debtors. Actually, our love is in response to Godsour love is a rebounded love (cf. 1Jn. 4:19). Faith (trust) comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17) and then comes love. Feeling does not precede reason. Fact, testimony, faith, feelingin that order. When the testimony that God has forgiven our sins in Christ is believed, then we begin to have feelings of gratitude and love and adoration. As Alexander Campbell once put it, No one ever shed a tear over the crucified Christ where it was never heard!

Jesus statement, . . . go in peace was more than a mere dismissal. For a Hebrew the word peace (Shalom) means wholeness, integrity, well-being, goodness. He was admonishing her to continue in wholeness and integrity.

Although Simon the Pharisee had condemned the woman and questioned Jesus character for associating with her, he actually condemned himself. Whether he had a change of heart or not, we do not know. God does! Some Pharisees did! It is not impossible for a Pharisee to renounce self-righteousness and be forgiven (cf. Php. 3:4-16), and thus be saved.

STUDY STIMULATORS:

1.

What is a centurion and how does the one of Luk. 7:1-50 compare with others?

2.

How did the centurions experience as a soldier help him relate to Jesus?

3.

What was so unique about the centurions faith that Jesus would marvel at it?

4.

Since Jesus had compassion on the widow of Nain, why did He command her to cease weeping?

5.

Is this resurrection from the dead a myth or a real event? Prove it!

6.

Why do you think John the Baptist wanted to know if Jesus were the One?

7.

Why did Jesus consider it necessary to defend the ministry of John the Baptist?

8.

Why did the sinner woman weep upon Jesus feet and wipe them with her hair?

9.

What is the real point of the parable of the two debtors Jesus told Simon?

Appleburys Comments

The Anointing in the House of Simon
Scripture

Luk. 7:36-50 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he entered into the Pharisees house, and sat down to meat. 37 And behold, a woman who was in the city, a sinner; and when she knew that he was sitting at meat in the Pharisees house, she brought an alabaster cruse of ointment, 38 and standing behind 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 that had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Teacher, say on. 41 A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty. 42 When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44 And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon. Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath wetted my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little, 48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even forgiveth sins? 50 And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Comments

And one of the Pharisees.Luke mentions two other occasions when Jesus was a guest in the home of a Pharisee. One wonders why these Jewish leaders invited Him. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, but one who was interested in what Jesus had to say. The ones about whom Luke writes were openly antagonistic to Jesus.

This incident occurred at the height of Jesus popularity; the Pharisee may have used it as an occasion to evaluate the claims of the Prophet for himself. It is evident that Simon didnt believe Him to be a prophet and perhaps sought to vindicate his judgment on the issue.

And behold, a woman who was a sinner.We must be content to leave the woman unnamed as Luke does. All efforts to identify her with Mary Magdalene or any other known person of New Testament times are futile. Lukes designation, a woman of the city, a sinner, is all that the account requires. Not the name of the woman, but the lesson Jesus taught is what matters. The lesson is this: Christ does forgive sinners, and those who really understand His merciful forgiveness love Him greatly.

There is no indication that Luke intended this story to illustrate the thought of Luk. 7:35, Wisdom is justified of her children. It does show what the Pharisee thought of Jesus in contrast to the love shown toward Him by a sinner who found forgiveness because of His mercy.

when she knew that he was sitting at meat in the Pharisees house.Two things are evident: She must have known Jesus, and her love for the Savior prompted her to enter the Pharisees house to anoint His feet. What finer place to show her love for Him than in the house of one who needed to know Him? Was her weeping a sign of shame for a sinful life she was leading, or was it a tears of joy over having found Him who had forgiven her sins? The further development of the story gives us the answer to these questions.

This man, if he were a prophet.Simon was watching the woman as she washed Jesus feet with her tears and anointed His feet with precious ointment. He assumed that Jesus neither knew the woman nor what sort she was. Details are missing about the time and place of her having found forgiveness through Christ. There is no doubt, however, about this being the motivating force that prompted her to express her great love and appreciation for what had been done by Him for her. Being unaware of this, Simon was already passing judgment on Jesus. He was saying to himself, This man is no prophet; I knew it all along. No prophet would let a woman that is a sinner touch him.

And Jesus answering said unto him.Simon had not said a word, but Jesus knew what he was thinking. Probably his disgust could be seen in his face. His contempt for Jesus could scarcely be hidden.

Jesus said, Simon, I have something to say to you. The scorn of the proud Pharisee must have shown through his half-polite permission for Jesus to speak: Teacher, say it. Then Jesus told the little story of the two debtors and asked, Which of them will love more? It was a very simple story; anyone could answer the question. Simons answer shows that he was completely unaware of the identity of the One who had asked it. He didnt know that Jesus was the Prophet about whom Moses had written (Deu. 18:15); Act. 3:22).

Thou hast rightly judged.Although he answered with indifference, he answered correctly: The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more. Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? He had been quite sure of himself; he had judged her to be a sinner. Is it possible that the Pharisee was beginning to realize that he could have been mistaken? Was there something about the presence of this Teacher that was causing him to reexamine both the question and his answer?

Jesus began to point out the discourtesyif not the insultwith which Simon had treated Him. He contrasted it with the thing which the woman who was a sinner had done. Then he added, with words that must have stung this proud Pharisee, Her sins, her many sins, have been and remain forgiven.
The tense of the verb are forgiven indicates that this had already occurred at some past time and that the fact remained true at the time Jesus spoke. The point of Jesus parable shows the same thing: the debtors had been forgiven, even though one debt was so slight as to mean little or nothing.

for she loved much.According to Jesus story of the debtors, the love followed the forgiveness. Love led her to anoint the feet of her Lord.

Who is this that even forgives sins?They reasoned correctly when they said, Only God can forgive sins; but they were wrong when they assumed that Jesus was just a man and not God.

Thy faith hath saved thee.that is, her faith had saved her at some point in the past and the fact remained at the moment when He was speaking to her. Her faith, not her love, was the cause of her being forgiven. Love followed forgiveness, just as in the story of the debtors.

go in peace.More than just a dismissal, this is instruction to continue in the way of peace.

Summary

Four incidents of the ministry of Jesus are presented in this chapter. Two are of the healing ministry and two of the teaching ministry of the Lord. But the examples of healing were also used to teach; for teaching was primary in His ministry, miracles were worked to prove that He spoke from God.
Healing the centurions servant gave Jesus the opportunity to point out the meaning of faith. The soldier knew how to give orders, and he knew how to obey them. He believed that Jesus had the right to give the order and his servant would be healed. Jesus marveled that a Gentile saw what Israel failed to see, the real meaning of faith.
The compassion of Jesus was shown in the miracle of raising the widows son. People stood in awe when they saw it and glorified God saying, A great prophet has arisen among us; God has visited His people.
The disciples of John asked Jesus, at Johns suggestion, the burning question, Are you the one that is to come, or are we to look for another? Jesus answered by telling them to look at what He was doing. It was the fulfillment of the prophets description of the work of the Messiah.

Jesus spoke of the greatness of John, but pointed out that the least in the kingdom of God is greater than the greatest born of woman. But there was wisdom in Johns approach to the work he was to do, and there was also wisdom in what Jesus did, although many misunderstood both John and Jesus.
He taught the great lesson on love and forgiveness when He was a dinner guest in the house of Simon the Pharisee. The woman of the city, a sinner, had been forgiven at some time before this incident. Out of her great love for the Lord who had forgiven her sins, she entered the house of the Pharisee who didnt believe that He was the Prophet of God and before all the guests poured out the expression of her love on Him. Her sins were forgiven as shown by her love; but, as in Simons case, little appreciation for forgiveness is accompanied by little love.

Questions

1.

What does the New Testament say about the various Gentiles who were attracted to Jesus?

2.

What caused the centurion to appeal to Jesus?

3.

What was his reputation among the Jews?

4.

Why did he ask the elders of the Jews to speak for him?

5.

When and why did he decide that Jesus should not enter his house?

6.

How did he explain his reason for saying to Jesus, Say the word and my servant shall live?

7.

Why did Jesus marvel at what he said?

8.

What are the circumstances of the raising of the widows son?

9.

What was Jesus attitude toward the widowed mother?

10.

What are some of the Scriptures that give hope to the Christian in the face of death?

11.

What was the effect of the miracle on the people who witnessed it?

12.

What did John do when he heard about all these things?

13.

What question did Johns disciples ask Jesus? Why?

14.

How did Jesus answer?

15.

Why did some find an occasion of stumbling in Jesus?

16.

What questions did Jesus ask the people about John?

17.

How explain what Jesus said about the greatness of John in contrast to the least in the kingdom of God?

18.

What did Jesus mean by His reference to the games played by the children?

19.

Why did they call Jesus a friend of publican and sinners?

20.

How did He show the wisdom of His ministry and of Johns.

21.

Why did the Jewish leaders invite Jesus to their homes?

22.

What does John say about the attitude of Nicodemus toward Jesus?

23.

What was the name of the Pharisee in whose house the anointing took place?

24.

What are the facts about the woman who anointed Him?

25.

Why did she enter the Pharisees house?

26.

What was the Pharisee thinking while she was anointing the feet of Jesus?

27.

What story did Jesus tell the Pharisee?

28.

How did he treat it?

29.

What lesson did Jesus teach from it?

30.

What did He say about the womans sins?

31.

What had her dramatic demonstration of love proved?

32.

Why do some have only little love for the Lord?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(36) One of the Pharisees . . .We may reasonably infer that this was one of the better class of Pharisees who had a certain measure of respect for our Lords teaching, and was half-inclined (comp. Luk. 7:39) to acknowledge Him as a prophet. Of such St. John tells us (Joh. 12:42) there were many among the chief rulers. We find another example of the same kind in Luk. 11:37. Looking to the connection in which the narrative stands, it seems probable that the man was moved by the words that had just been spoken to show that he, at least, was among the children of wisdom, and did not take up the reproacha gluttonous man and a winebibber. There is something very suggestive in our Lords accepting the invitation. He did not seek such feasts, but neither would He refuse them, for there too there might be an opening for doing His Fathers work.

And sat down to meat.Literally, He lay down This was the usual position in the East (see Note on Mat. 26:20), and in this case we have to remember it in order to understand the narrative. We learn from Luk. 7:49 that there were other guests present. The Pharisee had probably invited his friends and rich neighbours, and thought that he conferred an honour on the Prophet of Nazareth by asking Him to meet them.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

41. THE WOMAN, vv. A SINNER, vv. PUBLICLY ASSURED BY JESUS AT MEAT IN THE PHARISEE’S HOUSE, Luk 7:36-50 .

(Given by Luke alone.)

This beautiful narrative is given by Luke without any assignment of place or time, so that harmonists are at liberty to exercise their discretion to assign it the most probable position. As Magdala is not far from Nain, some old commentators, and the Romanist writers generally, identify this female sinner with Mary Magdalene. But, first, there is no proof that Mary Magdalene was ever so a sinner as to render her company ritually unclean. Second, the first naming of her by Luke, a few verses ahead, indicates her not to have been hitherto mentioned. The identity of the two was certainly unsuspected by Luke. Third, she is so named, in company so honourable in rank, and with such evident priority to them, as to indicate her superiority over them. Fourth, the expulsion from her of demons does not prove either wickedness, degraded character, or low rank; and the noble females mentioned in company with her seem all to be connected with Jesus by gratitude for similar miracles of mercy. Lange and Van Oosterzee incline to revive the old identification. The English editor of Lange’s Life of Jesus says that “to deny this is one of the present fashions of interpreters.” But no plausible grounds are furnished by either for the revival of the obsolete contrary “fashion.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to a meal.’

The story begins with Jesus being invited to the house of ‘one of the Pharisees’. He appears to be on fairly good terms with Jesus, but it becomes quite apparent that while he would expect the necessary pouring of water over the hands to take place (without which he himself would not have eaten) he pays little attention to the courtesies which would be offered to an honoured guest. Here clearly was one who did not ‘love the most’. He no doubt felt that he was doing enough in allowing Jesus to sit with his honoured guests.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Demonstrates Forgiveness: The Pharisee and the Sinful Woman In Luk 7:36-50 we have the account of Jesus rebuking the Pharisee and forgiving the sinful woman. This story is used to emphasize the authority of God’s Word over the heart of man.

Jesus Exposes Their Hearts – In the story of the Pharisee and the sinful woman found in Luk 7:36-50, a Pharisee named Simon hosts Jesus Christ for supper in his own home. During the midst of this meal, a sinful woman makes her way into the house and begins to minister to Jesus. Rather than rebuking her, Jesus rebukes Simon.

It is interesting to note that Simon’s name is mentioned twice in this story, while the sinful woman’s name is left unknown. In preparing for this meal, this Pharisee had prepared his house by cleaning it. He had order the servants to cook a particular meal. Simon had probably invited a few additional guests. He may have organized some entertainment as well. He had prepared a place for Jesus to dine so that he would be served well. In other words, the Pharisee had served Jesus Christ in all outward appearances, but his heart was far from serving Him. In contrast, the sinful woman had nothing to offer Jesus but her thankfulness. She expressed her pure heart by washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing His feet and anointing them.

In God’s love for this Pharisee, He orchestrated a sinner, even a woman who held a secondary place in this Oriental society, to teach Simon about true service from the heart; for they both ministered unto Jesus. However, each one of her acts of service came from the depths of her heart, while the heart of the Pharisee was far from love and devotion and thankful to Jesus. Of these two people who served Jesus, the sinful woman became the recipient of Christ’s blessings, while the Pharisee was rewarded only with the praises of his friends, who enjoyed the supper and service. Thus, Jesus would one day call these Pharisees “whited sepulchers” because of their hypocrisy: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Mat 23:27. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

Joh 12:43, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

Luk 7:37 “And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner” – Comments The Greek literally reads, “and behold a woman which was a sinner in the city” John Nolland believes the phrase “in the city” (Luk 7:37) most likely means that she was well known, and he believes the word “sinner” means a prostitute. [202] She seems to have been a popular prostitute among the vile men of that city.

[202] John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34 , in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 35B (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), explanation on Luke 7:37.

“when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house” – Comments The question must be asked as to how this sinful woman had access to the home of the dignified Pharisee. Bonar offers a similar story of a group of Christians visiting Palestine and observing a similar gathering of villagers around the dinner table. [203] It has been my observation as well while visiting villagers in Africa that many curious people gather around visitors, looking in the windows and doors in curiosity.

[203] The authors of this expedition write, “At dinner we were still more interested in observing a custom of the country. In the room where we were received, besides the divan on which we sat, there were seats all round the walls. Many came in and took their place on those side-seats, uninvited and yet imchallengedWhile we sat at meat several persons came in, though uninvited, and seating themselves by the wall, joined in the conversation.” Andrew A. Bonar and Robert Murray McCheyne, Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of Scotland in 1839 (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1843), 68-69, 161.

“brought an alabaster box of ointment” – Comments Alabaster is a soft mineral consisting of “gypsum (sulfate of lime),” generally white although it varies in color, and used in the ancient world to make a number of articles, such as “vases, jars, saucers, bowls, lamps, and statues.” [204] Pliny gives us a number of locations that it was found throughout the ancient world. Pliny the elder tells us that ancient perfumes were valuable commodities and stored in vessels of lead or alabaster boxes because of their ability to preserve the perfumes from decay and corruption. He also mentions the practice of sprinkling perfumes on the feet of the wealthy. [205] An alabaster box of perfume is also mentioned by Claudius Aelian. [206] This woman probably could afford this luxury because of her trade as a prostitute, as did the strange woman described in Pro 7:10-23.

[204] R. F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison, and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, rev. ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), “Alabaster.”

[205] Regarding the storage of perfumes, Pliny writes, “Unguents keep best in boxes of alabasterunguents, too, improve with age; but the sun is apt to spoil them, for which reason they are usually stowed away in a shady place in vessels of lead” ( Natural History 13.3) Regarding the value of perfumes, Pliny writes, “These perfumes form the objects of a luxury which may be looked upon as being the most superfluous of any” ( Natural History 13.4) Regarding the sprinkling of the feet, Pliny writes, “We have known the very soles even of the feet to be sprinkled with perfumes; a refinement which was taught, it is said, by M. Otho to the Emperor Nero.” ( Natural History 13.4) Pliny also writes, “This stone is called ‘alabastrites’ by some, and is hollowed out into vessels for holding unguents, it having the reputation of preserving them from corruption better than anything else.” ( Natural History 36.8) See Pliny, The Natural History of Pliny, vol. 3, trans. John Bostock and H. T. Riley, in Bohn’s Classical Library, ed. Henry G. Bohn (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855), 166-167; Pliny, The Natural History of Pliny, vol. 6, trans. John Bostock and H. T. Riley, in Bohn’s Classical Library, ed. Henry G. Bohn (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1857), 329-330.

[206] Aelian writes, “On a time Venus came to him, desiring to pass over: he received her courteously, not knowing who she was, and with much care conveyed her whither she desired; for which the Goddess gave him an Alabaster Box of Ointment, which Phaon using, became the most beautiful of men, and the Wives of the Mitylenans fell in love with him.” ( Various History 12.18) See Thomas Stanley, trans., Claudius Aelianus His Various History (London: Thomas Dring, 1665, Thomas Basset, 1670, 1677) 212-257.

Pro 7:17, “I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.”

Luk 7:38  And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Luk 7:38 Comments Jesus was reclining on the floor, as was the custom of His day. We can imagine the house servants moving around the table serving food and drinks to the invited guests. Thus, it was not difficult for this sinful woman to make her way into the house and to the feet of Jesus, which were extended behind Him and begin her ministry to Him.

Luk 7:37-38 Comments The Anointing of Jesus’ Feet with Perfume – John records the story of Mary of Bethany anointing the feet of Jesus with costly perfume and wiping them with her hair (Joh 12:3). Luke records a similar incident when a sinful woman washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped them with her hair, then anointed his feet with perfume (Luk 7:37-38). Matthew and Mark record the incident of a woman pouring perfume on Jesus’ head (Mat 26:7, Mar 14:3).

Joh 12:3, “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”

Mat 26:7, “There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.”

Mar 14:3, “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.”

Richard Trench reflects a popular view that the Gospel accounts of the anointing of Christ by a woman record variations of the same event (Mat 26:7, Mar 14:3, Luk 7:37-38, Joh 12:3. [207] This view has its origin in the hermeneutical principle of approaching the four Gospels as a collection of the primarily same events, but from different perspectives by their respective authors. However, there is no justification in assuming that similar Gospel accounts are always the same event. I approach the four Gospels with the principle that each Evangelist offers a testimony of Jesus as the Son of God with different emphasis and each one chose events as their narrative material by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that fit their theme. For example, Jesus Christ visited many synagogues on the Sabbath and many have read from the book of Isaiah on numerous occasions, as recorded in Luk 4:14-30. Jesus may have cleansed the Temple on at least two occasions (Mat 21:12-17, Joh 2:12-22). Jesus could have preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) a number of times, so that the Sermon on the Plain records a separate account (Luk 6:17-49). For example, Mar 10:1 tells us that Jesus taught the people “again.” Today many travelling ministers of the Gospel in the field ministry repeat their sermons as they travel from church to church.

[207] Richard Trench says, “It may be taken as agreed on by all that the two earlier Evangelists and the last, in their several records of the anointing of Christ by a woman, refer to one and the same event (Matt. xxvi. 7; Markxiv. 3; John xii. 8).” See Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Parables of Our Lord (London: Kegan Paul, 1906), 297.

Mar 10:1, “And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.”

Luk 7:39 Comments The Gospel of Luke places emphasis upon the office and ministry of Jesus Christ as a Prophet. Jesus is referred to as a prophet five times in the Gospel of Luke (Luk 1:76; Luk 7:16; Luk 7:39; Luk 13:33; Luk 24:19). In contrast, Jesus is referred to a prophet by Matthew on two occasions (Mat 21:11; Mat 21:46), by John on two occasions (Joh 7:40; Joh 9:17), while Mark makes no such reference.

Luk 1:76, “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;”

Luk 7:16, “And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.”

Luk 7:39, “Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.”

Luk 13:33, “Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”

Luk 24:19, “And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The First Anointing of Jesus.

The anointing:

v. 36. And one of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with him. And He went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.

v. 37. And, “behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

v. 38. and stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Jesus was the friend of publicans and sinners, hut not in the derogatory sense in which His enemies used the word. The true nature of His relations to the, classes of people that were held in such contempt by the self-righteous Pharisees is shown in this story. One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to take dinner with him, and Jesus accepted, going into the house and reclining at the table. There is no mention of the preliminary usages and customs by which a host among the Jews honored his guest. Then a strange incident took place. A woman of the city, a notorious character, heard of Christ’s presence in the house of the Pharisee. She had been deceived by the apparent pleasures of sin, she had received gall and wormwood instead of the expected honey, and now she was, in desperation, looking down into the abyss of a life of shame. But the news of Jesus, the Savior of sinners, whose kindness to the lowly and outcast was heralded far and wide, had brought her to the realization of her position; she now felt the full weight of her corruption and misery. So she bought an alabaster vase of costly ointment and, coming into the house, she stood at the feet of Jesus, weeping so bitterly in the full consciousness of her sinfulness that her tears washed the feet of Jesus, and she could try them off with her hair. And she kissed His feet again and again and anointed them with her precious salve. It was an exhibition of overwhelming sorrow, combined with an almost pitiful clinging to the Lord as the only one in whom she could put her trust. And the tears of her sorrow, as one commentator has it, became tears of ineffable joy that Jesus did not spurn her, that she had a Savior with a heart full of loving sympathy and boundless grace for even the worst of sinners.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 7:36 . This narrative of the anointing is distinct from that given in Mat 26:6 ff.; Mar 14:3 ff.; Joh 12:1 ff. See on Mat 26:6 . The supposition that there was only one incident of the kind, can be indulged only at Luke’s expense. He must either himself have put aside the actual circumstances, and have added new circumstances (Hug, Gutacht . II. p. 98), which is in itself quite improbable, or he must have followed a tradition which had transferred the later incident into an earlier period; comp. Ewald, Bleek, Holtzmann, Schenkel, Weizscker; Schleiermacher also, according to whom Luke must have adopted a distorted narrative; and Hilgenfeld, according to whom he must have remodelled the older narrative on a Pauline basis. But the accounts of Mark and Matthew presuppose a tradition so constant as to time and place, that the supposed erroneous (Joh 12:1 ff.) dislocation of the tradition, conjoined with free remodelling, as well as its preference on the part of Luke, can commend itself only less than the hypothesis that he is relating an anointing which actually occurred earlier, and, on the other hand, has passed over the similar subsequent incident; hence it is the less to be conceived that Simon could have been the husband of Martha (Heugstenberg). Notwithstanding the fact that the rest of the evangelists relate an anointing, Baur has taken our narrative as an allegorical poem (see his Evang . p. 501), which, according to him, has its parallel in the section concerning the woman taken in adultery. Strauss sought to confuse together the two narratives of anointing and the account of the woman taken in adultery. According to Eichthal, II. p. 252, the narrative is an interpolation, and that the most pernicious of all from a moral point of view!

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

c. The Dinner In The House Of Simon The Pharisee (Luk 7:36-50)

(Gospel on St. Mary Magdalenes Day.)

36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he wentinto the Pharisees house, and sat down to meat [reclined at table]. 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner7 [or, a woman who in the city was a sinner], when she knew that Jesus sat at meat [was reclining at table] in the Pharisees house,brought an alabaster box [or, flask] of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash [moisten] his feet with tears, and did wipe them with thehairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden [invited] him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of womanthis is that toucheth him; for [that] she is a sinner. 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master [Teacher], sayon. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred42pence [denarii], and the other fifty. And [om., And, V. O.8] when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them [remitted it to] both. Tell me therefore, which ofthem will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom heforgave [remitted] most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed [moistened] my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head [om., of her head,V. O.9]. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came in, hath notceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hathanointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for [because, V. O.] she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven. the same loveth little.48, And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat [reclined at table] with him began to say within themselves,50Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And [But] he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

General Remarks.1. Chronology. Although Luke makes the narrative of the feast in Simons house follow immediately on the embassy of the disciples of John, yet it by no means results from this, that the one took place immediately after the other. It is not improbable that, among others, the discourses of the Saviour given in Matthew, Luk 11:20-30, preceded it. But at all events both occurrences belong to the history of the public life of the Saviour in Galilee shortly before the second passover (Joh 6:4).

2. Harmony. It is a question whether this anointing is the same which the three other Evangelists mention at the beginning of the history of the Passion. Although distinguished men have given an affirmative answer to this question (Schleiermacher, Strauss, De Wette, Ewald), we have no scruple, nevertheless, to attach ourselves to those who declare for the original diversity of the two narratives. For both accounts agree only in this, that in the two cases the host is named Simon, and that the woman who anoints the Saviour dries His feet with the hair of her head. But on what grounds it is impossible that two Simons may have lived, of whom one was a disciple in Galilee, who treated Jesus with distrust, and the other a recovered leper in Judea, who clave to Jesus with faithful affection, we comprehend as little as why those whose doubts arise from the agreement of the two names, leave us yet two Judases, two Simons, and two Jameses in the circle of the apostles. And as respects the other circumstances, it scarcely needs suggestion that two affectionate and thankful women, quite independently of each other, might have the thought occur to them of bringing the Saviour an homage of such a kind. Besides these, all the features of the case are different: In this, the host is an enemy, there a friend, of the Saviour; here it was an anointing from thankful love, there, at the same time, an anointing for death; here Jesus is censured by a Pharisee, there the woman by a disciple; here it is haughtiness, there it is selfishness, which is the source of this hostility; here the sinner is pronounced blessed, there the female disciple is honored with the highest distinction. A criticism which in these representations can see images with no solidity, dissolving into one another, because in them accidentally there are two hosts of the name of Simon, or some other similarities, would more easily become skilled in assigning titles and uniforms, than in distinguishing the highest delineations of character and exhibitions of peculiar dispositions in the higher region of the primitive Christian history or the Christian spiritual life. Lange, Leben Jesu. Even the conjecture (Neander) that the name Simon has through an incorrect tradition been transferred from the second host to the first, we consider as arbitrary as unnecessary. With greater justice it might perhaps be assumed that Mary of Bethany had knowledge of the act of the Galilean woman, and had therefore the earlier come to the thought of showing her love and her thankfulness to the Saviour in a similar manner. The endeavor to identify the two accounts with one another presupposes a view of the incorrectness of the evangelical tradition, to which we are in principle opposed.

Luk 7:36. And one of the Pharisees desired Him.Time and place are not particularly indicated. There is as little reason for ascribing the very invitation of the Pharisee to hostile intentions as for believing that it sprung from the good ground of esteem and affection. Perhaps pride itself impelled him to receive a Rabbi at his table, whose name was already upon so many tongues, and in respect to whom one did not know how high he might yet rise. And the Son of Man, who was come eating and drinking, yielded willingly to his invitation, although we may well suppose fie was not unaware (Joh 2:25) that it had sprung from an impure intent.

And reclined at table.It appears from the sequel, without having His feet washed or being anointed. Jesus lay supported on His left arm with His head turned towards the table, upon a pillow, and His feet were turned outward to where the attendants stood; moreover they were naked, as He had laid off His sandals. De Wette.

Luk 7:37. A woman who in the city was a sinner.The name of the town is not given. The conjecture that it was Jerusalem (Paulus) is quite as unfounded as many others. In any case, we are to seek the theatre of the event in Galilee. Sinner appears here to intimate especially an unchaste life, by which she stood in evil repute among her fellow townsmen. (See Luk 7:39.) Respecting the different ways in which a woman among the Jews might procure to herself the name , comp. Light-foot, ad loc.

Very early has this sinner been regarded as one and the same with Mary Magdalene, on which account the church has appointed this gospel for her memorial. See Winer, in voce, and Sepp, Leben Jesu, p. 281292, who has also collected the most noticeable legends in regard to her person. Undoubtedly the identity of the persons is not mathematically demonstrable, but much less can we designate the difficulties which have been raised against it as entirely unremovable, and we doubt whether the Catholic church in this point deserves the opposition which, as a rule, falls to her share from the most of modern expositors. Tradition, which was acquainted with the second anointing by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, would not also, without some special occasion, have given the name Mary to the woman first anointing. That Mary Magdalene is first mentioned, Luk 8:2, certainly does not prove that she could not before this have anointed the Saviour in Simons house. Perhaps she had belonged to the unhappy ones, out of whom Jesus, only a short time before, about the time of the visit of Johns disciples (Luk 7:21), had expelled unclean spirits. A sinner like Magdalene had certainly not been received in the ordinary way into the most intimate circle of friends, and assuredly one can scarcely imagine a more beautiful occasion for it than the act here recorded in Simons house. We may add that precisely such a behavior as that recorded of the woman in Simons house agrees entirely with what is known to us respecting the loving Magdalene (Joh 20:11-18), especially if she had only lately been healed of her terrible plague. But enough concerning a conjecture, which certainly cannot be fully proved, but which still less deserves to be rejected without further inquiry. Comp. Lange, Life of Christ, ad loc. [I do not see what occasion the author has to regard Mary Magdalene as an extraordinary sinner. As Trench has well observed in his work on Miracles, demoniac possession appears to have implied a peculiar deficiency of the energy of personal will in the afflicted, whether natural or induced by weakening disease, but by no means to have implied of course any peculiar criminality. Undoubtedly sin, and especially sins of voluptuousness, tend very greatly to weaken the moral and voluntary energies. But there are so many other causes that may effect the same result, that to bring such an imputation against Mary Magdalene on no other ground, appears to me, I confess, little better than a posthumous slander. Then the mention of Mary Magdalene immediately afterwards, Luk 8:2, in a manner that does not betray the faintest consciousness of her having been mentioned before, is certainly very little agreeable to this identification. Our Saviour, moreover, although He came to seek and to save the lost, and although to His inward view one saved sinner was even as another, appears in the choice of His intimate companions to have maintained a Divine decorum, such as breathes through all His words and acts, and which may not without reason have been supposed to be operative in this case.C. C. S.]

Luk 7:37. When she knew.The meals at which Jesus took part appear to have had a somewhat public character. The entrance stood open to all, not because they were invited with Him, but because the concourse could not be hindered.

An alabaster flask, .A very fine, mostly white species of gypsum, but not so hard as marble, and therefore not so serviceable for finely polished furniture. Unguenta optime servantur in alabastris, writes Pliny, xiii. 3, and to this notion apparently it is to be ascribed that they were accustomed to transport unguents and perfumes in alabaster flasks, which were sealed at the tops, and opened by breaking the long neck. Perhaps we are here to understand alabaster from Damascus and Syria, which was distinguished especially by its clearness, while the best Nard ointment was prepared at Tarsus in Cilicia. Comp. Friedlieb, Die Archol, der Leidensgeschichte, on Mat 26:6 seq.Moreover, among the ancients there prevailed elsewhere also the custom of kissing the feet of those to whom it was intended to display a very especial reverence, especially of the Rabbis (Wetstein), and the noting of the moment when the whole transaction began (), contributes not a little to heighten the vividness of the whole narrative.

Luk 7:38. And began to moisten His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head.The question spontaneously presents itself to us, what may have given occasion to all this burst of feeling in the homage rendered by the woman. Without doubt she had previously seen and heard the Lord, and, in whatever way it may have come to pass, had already received a great benefit from Jesus. We are most disposed to understand this as a bodily healing and benefit, certainly not worth less than the debt of five hundred denarii. For this mercy she will manifest to the Lord her thankful love. Perhaps He had, in order to put her to the proof, delivered her indeed from the malady which was the consequence of her sinful life, but as yet withheld the word of pardon and grace, of which she stood in most need. So there burns along with the flame of gratitude the secret longing after a higher, a spiritual salvation in her heart. The impure wishes to be declared pure, the fallen to be raised up, the sorrowing to be comforted, the thankful for recovery to be blest with yet greater fulness of grace. For a shorter or longer time she has already been looking for an opportunity to draw near to the Saviour without being thrust back by an incompassionate hand, and now when she hears He is a guest in Simons house, she is withheld as little by false shame as by fear of man from following the drawing of her heart.

Luk 7:39. Now when the Pharisee saw.Without doubt the first feeling of the Pharisee was that of displeasure that such a woman had ventured to pollute his pure threshold. But with that is next joined dissatisfaction and doubt in reference to his guest, who, as he sees, is well content to be touched by such hands. Without any organ by which he is able to place himself in the womans condition or to estimate the beauty of her action, he judges according to the logic of the natural man and of the Jew imprisoned in prejudices. The major term of the syllogism which, in secret, he forms to himself, is double. A prophet would, in the first place, know what is hidden, and know accordingly the history of this , and, secondly, shudder at the contact of that which is unholy. That the former may be true of Jesus and the latter not, does not even enter his mind. The minor and the conclusion from his point of view need no statement. Among the Jews the idea commonly prevailed that a prophet must know everything secret, and that in particular the Messiah must be at a loss for an answer to no question; therefore the ensnaring questions which even to the end of His life they continued to propose to Him; therefore also the inference of the disciples (Joh 16:29-30).As respects our Simon, moreover, it is scarcely to be doubted that he, how much soever he may have been , yet also gave vent to his displeasure by looks, gestures, and light murmurs. The Saviour, however, has no need of that to hear him, He already reads in Simons thoughts. He vindicates the honor of the woman and His own in a noble parable, which He presents in so striking, so powerful a manner that we scarcely know which we should most admire: the skill with which He causes the accuser to appear as witness against himself, or the moderation with which He still spares His host, inasmuch as He forbears any severer censure; whether the holy irony with which He explains Simons deficiency in love, or the lofty seriousness with which He gives him to feel that his sin is yet unforgiven.

Luk 7:41. A certain creditor.Under the image of the creditor the Lord depicts Himself, while, in the debtor that owed the more and the one that owed the less, we behold respectively the portrait of the sinner and of Simon. It results, therefore, from this, that the Saviour declares the action of the sinner to be a work of thankful love in consequence of a benefit received. It does not however necessarily follow from this that Simon also had been restored by a miracle from a sickness (Paulus, Kuinoel); the benefit bestowed on him (=50 denarii) was the honor of a visit from the Lord, the value of which, however, must have been exceedingly small in his eyes.

, a Roman silver coin, =1 drachma = 16 asses [about 7d. sterling, or 15 cents; 50 denarii =$7.50; 500 D. = $75.Luke 00: both sums worth then many times their present value.C. C. S.].

Luk 7:43. I suppose.The gravity of the Pharisee, before whom a problem is laid for solution, does not belie itself. With greater modesty than that with which he had just murmured in secret does he give his opinion, and is rewarded by the Saviour with an of holy irony, an which is about to turn itself immediately as a weapon against him.

Luk 7:44. Seest thou this woman?Apparently Simon had as much as possible avoided looking at her. At least he must, after the parable he had heard, have regarded her with quite different eyes, and have seen in a great sinner a great lover, and so far a great saint, if he compared her with himself, the proud egoist. But now the word of rebuke breaks as a flood over him. The great distinction which the Lord had rendered to Simon by His coming He brings at once, with the noblest sense of dignity, into view.I entered into thine house.The at the beginning of the address gives emphasis to the tone of reproach, of which Simon is made conscious in a threefold comparison of his behavior with that of the sinning woman. No washing of the feet, no kiss of welcome, no anointing has he, at the entrance of his Guest into his dwelling, had ready for Him. What Meyer, ad loc., in reference to the first adduces as an excuse, namely, that the washing of His feet had not been absolutely necessary, since the Saviour had not come directly from His journey, is to our apprehension not satisfactory; for if this neglect had been entirely unimportant or accidental, the Saviour would certainly not have brought it up to him. As opposed to his lovelessness and his avarice, the benevolence and bounteousness in the sinning womans exhibition of love strikes the eye so much the more. Simon gives no watershe her tears, aquarum preciosissimas (Bengel), and instead of a linen cloth, the thousand hairs of her head. Simon gives no kiss upon the mouth, she kisses much more humbly the feet, of the Lord; Simon gives no , but she something much more precious, . And this proof of her homage she presented to the Lord from the very time of his entrance, . (See the textual notes on Luk 7:45.) The reading , has perhaps arisen from the fact that the woman was supposed to have entered after Jesus, so that she could not well have manifested her love to Him from His very entrance. This difficulty, however, vanishes if we consider that the woman, seeking for an opportunity for her work of love, would probably have entered very soon after the Saviour; and thus at the same time the antithesis is most distinctly preserved between that which the two, Simon and the woman, had done at His entrance into the house.

Luk 7:47. Wherefore I say unto thee. We consider it forced and unnatural to regard as standing in a parenthesis (De Wette), and separated in some measure from . Better Meyer: On this account I say to thee; for the sake of these her exhibitions of love, I declare to thee: Forgiven are her sins, &c.

.According to the Roman Catholic exegetes, with whom, among others, De Wette also agrees, the words: Because she loved much, must indicate the proper cause, the antecedens of the forgiveness of the debt. The Romish church has here found a support for the doctrine of the meritoriousness of good works, and the Protestant polemics have undertaken to confute it by often in some measure doing violence to the text. To the unsuccessful attempts to escape from this difficulty must apparently be added the following: Her sins are forgiven her (this she knows, and) therefore has she exhibited much love; or this: Her sins are forgiven her, that she might love much, or that the Pharisee, from her thankfulness, might be well able to conclude that already much must have been forgiven her, &c. All these interpretations suffer shipwreck on the simple signification of the words, especially of , and the parable also, Luk 7:41-42, shows evidently that the Saviour received her work as a token of thankful love. Had the woman really already received entire assurance of forgiveness, and her rich love now been the proof of it, as it is asserted, then the assurance, Luk 7:48, would have been, at least in a good measure, superfluous. No, the progress of the case is this: The woman held herself, by a former benefit (bodily healing perhaps, but not as yet any full assurance of forgiveness), quite as much favored by Jesus as if a debt of five hundred denarii had been remitted to her. Out of thankfulness for this benefit she had come believingly to Jesus (Luk 7:50), and had shown to Him in her love the strength of her thankful faith, and now she receives, in such a temper of mind, not out of merit, but out of grace, the assurance of the forgiveness of sins. Simon, on the other hand, considers himself as little favored by the visit of Jesus as by the remission of a debt of fifty denarii; therefore also he has shown the Lord little love.But to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little,and because he had so little faith and love he could moreover have little (or no) part in the forgiveness which he did not even earnestly desire.However, the holiness of works seeks in vain a support in these words, for Jesus Himself says (Luk 7:50): Thy faith hath saved thee, and by this of itself makes known that her love had flowed from the fountain of faith. Because she believes and has manifested this her faith by love, therefore does forgiveness fall to her lot.We can hardly see that now any other difficulty remains to be removed, since at all events we read elsewhere also that love covers even the multitude of sins, and that mercy rejoiceth against judgment, 1Pe 4:8; Jam 2:13; Mat 25:34-40. That she has deserved forgiveness by her love, the Saviour is as far from saying as that she has deserved it through faith; but only through the faith which works by love (Gal 5:6), was she receptive for the benefit of forgiveness, which He immediately bestowed upon her purely out of grace. [Meyers explanation appears to me better: This does not contain the cause and therefore not the antecedent of the forgiveness. So Catholics interpret it, proving therewith their doctrine of the meritoriousness of works, and of late also De Wette, apprehending love to Christ as one with faith in Him; Olshausen, seeking to surmount the difficulty of the thought in his way, and interpreting love as receptive activity; Paulus, B. Crusius. The contrary is established, not by dogmatics (see the admirable remarks of Melanchthon, in the Apol. iii. 31 seq., p. 87 seq., ed. Rech.), but, as appears by the context, because this interpretation is entirely inconsistent with the lying at the basis, Luk 7:41-42, as well as with the immediately following , &c, if love does not appear as the consequence of forgiveness; the antecedent, that is, the subjective cause of forgiveness, is not Love, but Faith, as appears from Luk 7:50. According to the context, therefore, it is correct to interpret of the ground of knowledge; Forgiven are, &c, which is certain, since she has exhibited love in a high degree. Calov. Probabat Christus a posteriori.C. C. S.]

Luk 7:48. Thy sins are forgiven.With celestial love the Lord ascends a yet more and more exalted climax in His language. First has He shown that He receives the homage of the sinful woman without any scruple; then has He said to a third person what a privilege is meditated for her, one much more excellent than she had hitherto enjoyed, namely, the full certainty of the forgiveness of sins; finally this assurance is personally addressed to herself, and sealed in her heart through the peace of God that passeth all understanding. The word was uttered, it is true, in her presence, yet not to herself; the Lord, before this company, will not humble her more deeply, but on the contrary kindly raises her.

Luk 7:49. Began to say.Just as in Luk 5:21. It would appear almost inconceivable that the same censure should have been already repeated, if we forgot that a Pharisaic heart at all times remains the same; besides, these guests need not of course have been acquainted with that which had already taken place at the healing of the paralytic.

Luk 7:50. And He said.Not spoken at precisely the very instant when these thoughts were rising (Meyer), but probably because the Saviour heard the approach of the storm which would rise against the woman if she did not immediately withdraw herself. He gives her an intimation to leave the house before the peace which He had given her could be assailed or disturbed by any one.Faith helped the woman, inasmuch as it brought her soul into the disposition in which she could entreat and receive the most ardently desired of all benefits from the Lord. A similar word of comfort was received by another woman, Mar 5:34. Comp. also the words of Eli to Hannah, 1Sa 1:17.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The readiness with which the Saviour could accept an invitation so grudgingly given as that of this Simon, belongs undoubtedly to the self-denial of His ministering love. He wished especially not to repel the Pharisees any more than was absolutely necessary, and knew moreover that many an ear that elsewhere would be closed to formal preaching might perhaps catch up the word of life when He clothed it as table-talk in the forms of daily life. Here also He may have had a special reference to the training of His apostles, who, brought up in a simpler condition, had hitherto observed the dark side of Pharisaism more from a distance. Finally, He could, by His personal presence, best put to shame the calumnious reports which, without doubt, were spread abroad in His absence in reference to Him and His disciples. Worthy of notice, moreover, is it that when He trod this threshold a sinning woman also sees the door open to her, for whom, according to Pharisaic severity, the entrance would assuredly have been forbidden. . Where Christ appears the law loses its power, and grace bears the sceptre.

2. The whole narrative of the penitent sinner is a gospel within the gospel, as well in relation to the inward temper which the Lord demands of repentant sinners as also in respect to the salvation which His grace affords them. In this sense the whole narrative, which redounds to the honor of Lukes delicate taste, as physician and artist, deserves to be named an eternal history, and so far it is indifferent whether the chief character be Mary Magdalene or another. The chief matter is still her voice and her experience, which may be the share of every one among us. With justice did Gregory the Great write concerning this Pericope: As oft as I think upon this event, I am more disposed to weep over it than to preach upon it. It fits perfectly into the Pauline Gospel of Luke, which proclaims to us the justification of the humble sinner out of free grace.
3. The parable which the Lord presents to Simon for consideration is for this reason above all so remarkable, that on the one side it sets forth as well the self-righteous Simons as the unrighteous as debtors, and on the other hand strongly emphasizes the great benefit of the New Covenant, the blessing of the forgiveness of sins.

4. Whoever so understands the word of the Lord, Luk 7:47, as that the love of the woman was the meritorious cause of her pardon, such an one reverses the sense and the meaning of the parable, as if it taught that the two debtors had begun to love their creditor in an unequal measure, and that the creditor in consequence of this had remitted to them the debts of unequal amount, which then we should have to call: wishing to reap the fruit before the tree has been planted. For a debtor who is not in condition to pay will not love his creditor, but flee from him, and love awakes in his heart only when he, on good grounds, can believe that the debt at one stroke is remitted to him. So judges Luther also when he writes: The Papists bring up this declaration against our doctrine of faith, and say that forgiveness of sins is attained through love and not through faith; but that such is not the meaning is proved by the parable, which clearly shows that love follows from faith. To whom much is forgiven, says the Lord, the same loveth much; therefore if a man has forgiveness of sins, and believes it, there follows love; where one has it not, there is no love.

5. And He said to her, Thy sins are forgiven thee. If we will not assume that the sinner here received nothing more than she already possessed, we are then certainly necessitated to suppose that the certain assurance of the forgiveness of sins had not been bestowed upon her before this meeting with the Lord. The benefit for which she comes to testify her thankfulness to Him cannot therefore possibly have been this assurance.

6. Simon and the sinner, with respect to the Lord, are two admirable types of the Roman Catholic and of the Evangelical church. The former is as little as Simon free from the leaven of self-righteousness, and takes secret or open offence at every revelation, at every confession, of the free grace of the Saviour. Like the proud Pharisee, she makes void the commandment of God for the sake of her own notions, and is not perfect in love for the very reason that she does not regard love as a consequence but as a condition of the forgiveness of sins. Here holds good the declaration of John, 1Jn 4:17-18. The other, on the contrary, feels herself in many respects as polluted as the sinning woman at the table, but as one entirely unworthy she lies at the feet of the Lord, and does Him homage, not in order thereby to merit anything, but out of pure thankfulness that He has merited and earned all for her. So long as she has not yet entirely unlearned the significance of the word (Rom 3:24), the saying holds good for her: Thy faith hath saved thee; and she may go in peace. And this very faith will make her so much the richer in love and thankfulness, since she deeply feels that to her not fifty but five hundred denarii have been remitted out of grace. Thus does the gospel cherish and tend the fruit of obedience, which the law can indeed demand, yet cannot bring forth.

7. In order to understand the true relation between forgiveness and love, the parable Mat 18:23-35, deserves especially to be compared.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The dinner in Simons house a proof of the truth of the word of the Lord, Luk 5:31-32.Jesus ever ready to come wherever the sinner invites Him.Great sin, great repentance; great faith, great love.True and pretended, honor shown to the Lord in one and the same dwelling.The poverty of an unloving, the riches of a loving, heart.No sinning woman too bad to come to Jesus.Love and honor united in her homage.The steps upon which the Lord leads the sinner out of the depth upon the height: 1. He suffers her to approach Him; 2. He accepts her homage; 3. He assures her of the forgiveness of sins; 4. He causes her to go in peace.The steps upon which the Lord leads the Pharisee from the height into the depth: 1. He seats Himself at his table; 2. He casts a look into his heart; 3. He makes his lovelessness manifest; 4. He puts him to shame before the sinner, and places him far below her.Thankful love, how it is: 1. Richly attested, 2. unjustly censured, 3. powerfully vindicated, 4. blest a thousandfold.The inventiveness of love.The costliest thing not too costly for the Lord.Frugality ill applied where love is to be shown to the Highest.The blessed feeling of a heart that finally has pressed through to Jesus feet.Here at Jesus feet, yonder on Jesus heart.To every Simon has the Lord even yet something special to say.The table-talk of the Saviour tested according to the apostolic rule, Col 4:6.Christ beholds all other men stand in relation to Himself as debtors.Every one receives forgiveness for as many or as few sins as he himself feels and repents of.Thankful love cannot possibly precede the highest revelation of grace, but must necessarily follow it.The self-righteous one his own judge.One can judge rightly and yet condemn himself.Seest thou this woman? 1. A sinner, and yet a sanctified person; 2. a mourner, and yet one blessed; 3. one condemned, and yet one crowned for eternal life.The picture of the sinning woman in accord with the apostles confession respecting himself, 2Co 6:9-10.God forgives in order that we may hold Him dear.The penuriousness of disdain towards the Lord.What disdain neglects, penitence supplies.In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love, Gal 5:6.Set for the fall of one, for the rising of another.The deepest ground of want of love towards Christ and the natural spring of love to Him.Faith in the forgiveness of sins no dead letter, but an active principle of life.The assured certainty of the forgiveness of sins, 1. An indispensable, 2. an invaluable, 3. an attainable benefit.Who is this that forgiveth sins also?Even the secret thoughts of the heart known to the Saviour.Faith the only but also the certain way to deliver us.No going in peace without faith; no faith without going in peace.

Starke:J. Hall:He is a wise teacher who accommodates himself to be all things to all men that he may gain all, 1Co 9:22.The Christian, even a preacher, may indeed go to the festive meal, yet must he have regard of place, time, and occasion, to accomplish some good even there.The female sex has also a part in the kingdom of God, 1Pe 3:7.The soul which truly feels its sins counts nothing too good and too dear for Christ.Shamefacedness is both a sign and an effect of grace.Majus:Those converted to God give their members, which they have aforetime consecrated to sin, as instruments of righteousness, Rom 6:19.Who hath not himself repented knows not the heart of penitent sinners.Quesnel:Sweet mildness of Jesus: happy he that also deals thus when he will amend his neighbor.To convince and instruct one by questions is the best mode of teaching.Brentius:Sin a great and heavy debt, which we in and of ourselves cannot discharge.Nova Bibl. Tub.:When the veil of our prejudices is removed, our own heart condemns us.The penitent kisses continually the feet of the Lord Jesus.Even in the holiest place one has often evil thoughts.To forgive sins is Gods work alone, and therefore Jesus has by this also demonstrated His Godhead.Whom God and his conscience absolve from sin, he has no cause to be troubled at the blind judgment of the world.

Heubner:Tears of repentant sinners are precious to God.Pride has no sense of the love which God bestows on repentant sinners.God knows, like a careful creditor, just how much every one owes Him.What love to Jesus is, and how it arises.Jesus teaches us here how we should deal with fallen ones.Great sinners, great saints.Palmer:How love to Christ arises in a heart. It arises: 1. From the hope of attaining through Him forgiveness of sins; 2. from the certainty of having obtained forgiveness.Schleiermacher:Respecting the connection of forgiveness of sins with love, Pred. i p. 522.

Admirable work of art representing the Magdalene [or rather, this woman.C. C. S.], by Correggio, Battoni, and many others.

Footnotes:

[7]Luk 7:37.Agreeably to the most probable arrangement: immediately after . [Cod. Sin. places the words so.C. C. S.]

[8]Luk 7:42.Rec.: . is to be omitted. [Ins., Cod. Sin. and 15 other uncials; om., B., D., L., P.C. C. S.]

[9]Luk 7:44.Rec.: . [Om., ., A., B., D., Cod. Sin. al.C. C. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

(36) And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him: and he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. (37) And, behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. (38) And stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. (39) Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touched him: for she is a sinner. (40) And Jesus answering, said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee; and he saith, Master, say on. (41) There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. (42) And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? (43) Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most: and he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. (44) And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. (45) Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet . (46) My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. (47) Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (48) And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. (49) And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? (50) And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.

The interesting account which Luke hath recorded, concerning our Lord’s dining with a Pharisee, and which gave rise to the very beautiful history of this pardoned sinner, merits our particular attention, and the more so, as this is the only Evangelist who hath preserved the relation of it to the Church. I beg the Reader’s indulgence upon the subject.

And first, whatever motive this Pharisee had, of inviting Christ to eat with him, is not so material to regard, as it is to remark the gracious condescension of Jesus, in accepting so readily the invitation. Reader! do not fail to notice it down for constant use, in the memorandums of your heart, that if Jesus so promptly went at the first invitation to eat with a Pharisee, will he not, think you, readily come at the repeated requests of his people?

Turn to those sweet scriptures in confirmation, and then may you and I give that condescending Lord the frequent invitation to come and dwell with us, and make his abode with us. Isa 65:24 ; Rev 3:20-21 ; Isa 58:9 .

Secondly, Let us look at this poor woman. The Evangelist makes the Reader feel much interested in her history, from the manner in which he hath introduced the subject; And, behold! a woman in the city which was a sinner! Surely every conscious sinner, at the first hearing of such an one visiting Christ, cannot but feel anxious to know what reception she met with, and how she succeeded. So that at once, you and I, knowing that we are sinners, take part in all that concerned her in her approaching Jesus, and anxiously wait the event.

I pause however to observe, that according to my views of this woman’s history, I do not think, as some have done, that this woman was Mary Magdalene; for their circumstances do not correspond. Mary Magdalene no doubt was, like this woman, a sinner, for the Lord is said to have cast out of her seven devils. Mar 16:9 . but there is not a word of the kind said here, neither should it seem, according to the account before us, that this woman had ever had any interview before with Jesus. Moreover, the very name Mary Magdalene implies, that she was of Magdala, or if by Magdalene it be supposed was meant a loose woman, still this might be on account of the place, because Magdala was proverbial for women of no chastity. Whereas this transaction was in Galilee. Neither do I conceive, that this woman is the same with the sister of Lazarus, mentioned Joh 12:3 . for here this poor sinner lay at Christ’s feet, and washed them with her tears; but there, the Mary John speaks of, poured the ointment on Christ’s head. And the former is said to have been done in the house of this Pharisee; whereas the latter was in the house of Lazarus and his sisters. So that the history is not one and the same. Neither is this instance the same with that mentioned Mat 26:6-7 . for the event concerning this poor sinner in the Pharisee’s house, must have taken place a considerable time before Christ’s farewell supper; but that recorded by Matthew, and Mar 14:3 . was only the evening before Christ’s apprehension. I venture therefore to believe, though I do not presume to speak decidedly upon the subject, that this poor sinner was a different person from either of the Maries, noticed by the other Evangelists, and that she had never before had any interview with Jesus.

Let us now attend to what is related of her behaviour in her approaches to Jesus. Every circumstance which is said concerning her by the Evangelist, is expressive in proof of a real work of grace wrought upon her heart. And who shall say whether, as in the instance of Zaccheus, and that of the woman of Samaria, Christ’s eating with the Pharisee was not wholly intended on her account, and for the instruction of the Church, in all the future generations of it, by her history. See Luk 19:1-10 ; Joh 4:4-42 . I beg the Reader particularly to notice, amidst the several features of a true sorrow of soul for sin, in this woman’s behaviour; the self-loathing and abhorrence of her own filthiness, and the ardent love which her kisses expressed to the person of the Son of God! Reader! in all the marks of genuine repentance, depend upon it, these are the strongest. It is not our tears, nor our prayers, nor our attempted reform; no, nor our faith, considered as any act of our’s, which can bring any glory to God, or peace to ourselves. A broken and a contrite heart becomes a blessed effect from God’s grace there planted. But it is God’s grace and Christ’s blood which are the cause; and the change wrought by that grace and blood is the effect. everything is beautiful in order. Faith and repentance are precious fruits of the Holy Spirit. But Christ, and Christ alone, becomes the cause of salvation.

Our next view of this beautiful memoir, is to look at Simon the Pharisee. Though he invited Christ to his house, yet it is evident, from his suspicions of Christ’s character, that he had no high opinion of him in his heart. The gracious allowance of Jesus to this poor sinner wounded his pride. Had she touched the Pharisee’s garment, he would have thought himself defied. But Jesus the Son of God was pleased with the act. Reader! think of this. Jesus is glorified when his people are sanctified in him. His holiness suits their uncleanness. His riches their poverty.

But it is high time to look to Jesus, and observe his grace and mercy on this occasion. And first, I beg the Reader to take notice how plainly our dear Lord’s conduct towards the Pharisee, proved the Godhead of his person. The Pharisee had made it up in his mind, that if Jesus were a Prophet, he would have known who, and what manner of woman this was, for she was a sinner. Not that this knowledge belonged to the ordinary Prophets; but to Jesus, as the Lord God of the Prophets, it did belong, and his omniscience marked his character. Rev 22:6 . Hence therefore Jesus, by telling Simon what was in his heart, manifested his eternal power and Godhead. Reader! mark this first down in thine heart, or rather beg of God the Holy Ghost to do it for thee. Joh 16:13-14 ; 1Co 12:3 .

Next observe the very wise and gracious manner which the Lord Jesus adopted in manifesting himself as God, in pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin, and to make the wounded soul of this poor sinner to rejoice. Under the similitude of a beautiful figure, which the Pharisee might not immediately see through, the Lord Jesus taught, that the debtor of five hundred pence, or the debtor of fifty, when both unable to pay, were equally insolvent before God, the Almighty creditor; and that it must be an act of free grace to pardon either. Here Simon, with all his fancied righteousness, confessing, as he could not but do, that he had many infirmities, in the midst of all; and this poor sinner, with her conscious complete unworthiness, stood upon a level; and therefore if the Lord forgave both, both were debtors to his free bounty. And then when Jesus had extorted this confession from the proud self-righteous Pharisee, he proceeded to apply. And the Evangelist hath most beautifully set this forth, in terms so plain and evident, as can need no explanation.

One thing more I would beg the Reader particularly to notice, namely, the grace Christ manifested, and the authority he exercised in forgiving her sins. And this the Lord twice said, that there might be no possible mistake in a point of so much consequence. Oh! how truly blessed is the view! I beg the Reader to look to a similar passage on this ground, Mar 2:3-12 . Let the Reader observe how the Lord expresses himself to the woman, thy faith hath saved thee. And to the Pharisee concerning her. For she loved much. In both which expressions we are not to suppose Jesus meant, that either her faith, or her love, both which were the Lord’s gifts, could be her merit, or the cause of her pardon. These were from the workings of grace in her heart, so that the Lord’s love and mercy were the cause, and the workings in her heart the effect. And as her pardon was great, because her sins were great, her love and thankfulness were the more. Such are among the many precious things this lovely history furnisheth, to the praise of the Lord’s grace, the joy of poor sinners, and the casting down the pride of all Pharisees. And, Reader! think where that precious soul of her’s is now, amidst the spirits of just men made perfect, surrounding his throne in glory, who once lay at his feet when upon earth in tears. Blessedly Paul speaks to this subject, concerning those recovered by grace among the redeemed, from among men upon earth, when he saith, And such were some of you! but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, 1Co 6:11 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.

Ver. 36. Sat down to meat ] It was fit he should feast sometimes, that fared so hard mostly.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

36 50. ] ANOINTING OF JESUS’ FEET BY A PENITENT WOMAN. Peculiar to Luke . It is hardly possible to imagine that this history can relate to the same incident as that detailed Mat 26:6 ; Mar 14:3 ; Joh 12:3 ; although such an opinion has been entertained from the earliest times. Origen on Mat 26:6 ff., vol. iii. p. 892, mentions and controverts it. It has been held in modern times by Grotius, Schleiermacher, Ewald, and Hug: and recently by Bleek. But the only particular common to the two (unless indeed we account the name of the host to be such, which is hardly worth recounting), is the anointing itself; and even that is not strictly the same . The character of the woman , the description of the host , the sayings uttered , the time , all are different. And if the probability of this occurring twice is to be questioned, we may fairly say, that an action of this kind, which had been once commended by our Lord, was very likely to have been repeated , and especially at such a time as ‘six days before the last Passover,’ and by one anointing Him for His burial.

I may add, that there is not the least reason for supposing the woman in this incident to have been Mary Magdalene. The introduction of her as a new person so soon after (ch. Luk 8:2 ), and what is there stated of her, make the notion exceedingly improbable.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

36 38. ] The exact time and place are indeterminate the occasion of Luke’s inserting the history here may have been the . in Luk 7:34 . Wieseler places it at Nain , which certainly is the last that has been named: but it is more natural to suppose to refer only to before the city where the house was. Meyer thinks that the definite article points out Capernaum. The position of the words . in the amended text requires a different rendering from ‘a woman in the city which was a sinner.’ We must either render, ‘which was a sinner in the city,’ i.e. known as such in the place by public repute, carrying on a sinful occupation in the place, or (2) regard . . . as parenthetic, ‘a woman which was in the city, a sinner.’ The latter seems preferable.

, in the sense usually understood a prostitute: but, by the context, penitent .

is not however to be taken as a pluperfect. She was , even up to this time (see Luk 7:39 ), a prostitute (compare Augustine, Serm. xcix. (xxiii.) 2, vol. v. “Accessit ad Dominum immunda, ut rediret munda:” which cannot, as Wordsw., be explained away by what follows, “accessit confessa, ut rediret professa.” The latter was a matter of course, otherwise she would not have come at all) and this was the first manifestation of her penitence. “Quid mirum, tales ad Christum confugisse, cum et ad Johannis baptismum venerint?” Mat 21:32 (Grotius). It is possible, that the woman may have just heard the closing words of the discourse concerning John, Mat 11:28-30 ; but I would not press this, on account of the obvious want of sequence in this part of our Gospel. The behaviour of the woman certainly implies that she had heard our Lord, and been awakened by His teaching.

. . ] For the word, &c., see on Mat 26:7 . Our Lord would, after the ordinary custom of persons at table, be reclining on a couch, on the left side, turned towards the table, and His feet would be behind Him. She seems to have embraced His feet (see Mat 28:9 ), as it was also the Jews’ custom to do by way of honour and affection to their Rabbis (see Wetstein on this passage), and kissed them, and in doing so to have shed abundant tears, which, falling on them, she wiped off with her hair. It does not appear that this latter was an intentional part of her honouring our Lord: had it been, there would hardly have been an article before . As it stands, is the tears, implied in , the tears which she shed, not ‘ her tears ,’ which would be only. The ointment here has a peculiar interest, as being the offering by a penitent of that which had been an accessory in her unhallowed work of sin.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 7:36-50 . The sinful woman . This section, peculiar to Lk., one of the golden evangelic incidents we owe to him, is introduced here with much tact, as it serves to illustrate how Jesus came to be called the friend of publicans and sinners, and to be calumniated as such, and at the same time to show the true nature of the relations He sustained to these classes. It serves further to exhibit Jesus as One whose genial, gracious spirit could bridge gulfs of social cleavage, and make Him the friend, not of one class only, but of all classes, the friend of man , not merely of the degraded. Lk. would not have his readers imagine that Jesus dined only with such people as He met in Levi’s house. In Lk.’s pages Jesus dines with Pharisees also, here and on two other occasions. This is a distinctive feature in his portraiture of Jesus, characteristic of his irenical cosmopolitan disposition. It has often been maintained that this narrative is simply the story of Mary of Bethany remodelled so as to teach new lessons. But, as will appear, there are original features in it which, even in the judgment of Holtzmann (H. C.), make it probable that two incidents of the kind occurred.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luk 7:36-39 . The situation . .: when or who not indicated, probably not known, but of no consequence to the story; the point to be noted that one of the Pharisaic class was the inviter. : the class indicated a second time to make prominent the fact that Jesus did not hesitate to accept the invitation. Euthy. Zig. remarks: He did not refuse that He might not give excuse for saying that He ate with publicans and sinners and avoided the Pharisees ( ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 7:36-50

36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” 40And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41″A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” 43Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44Turning 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. 45You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luk 7:36-50 This account is similar to Mary of Bethany’s actions recorded in Mar 13:3-9; Mat 26:6-13; Joh 12:2-8. It is obvious that on further reflection, the account in Luke, though similar, is distinct from Mary of Bethany’s anointing mentioned in the other Gospels.

Luke often uses these meals given by Pharisees to communicate the gospel (cf. Luk 7:36; Luk 11:37; Luk 14:1).

Luk 7:36 “one of the Pharisees” Jesus ministered to all groups. He wanted to reach all people. See Special Topic: Pharisees at Luk 5:17.

“was requesting Him to dine with him” One wonders the motive of this request:

1. curiosity

2. spiritual hunger

3. being seen with Jesus

4. trying to find out something he could use against Him (cf. Luk 7:44-45)

These dinners were social events for the entire community. Although only invited guests ate, anyone was welcome to come and listen to the table conversation.

“reclining at the table” Luke is the only NT author to use this term kataklin (cf. Luk 7:36; Luk 9:14-15; Luk 14:8; Luk 24:30). Other NT writers use anakeimai.

The Jews of the first century did not use tables and chair as the Persians did (cf. Est 1:6; Est 7:8) and some Egyptians. Typically they would recline on their left elbow on pillows spread around horseshoe-shaped tables, usually three on a side.

Luk 7:37 “a woman in the city who was a sinner” The implication is that she was a local prostitute, however, this phrase is unspecific. To the Jewish leaders, anyone who did not keep all the expected rules and rituals of the Talmud was considered a sinner (e.g., shepherds, tanners). This city was in the north, possibly Capernaum. The other Gospels record an anointing by a woman at a Simon’s house, near Jerusalem. However, the other Gospels record a similar anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary Magdalene (cf. Mat 26:6; Mar 14:3; Joh 12:2).

“alabaster vial of perfume” Alabaster was a whitish yellow stone which was named for the town in Egypt (Alabastron) in which it was developed. The perfume was very expensive. Women often carried this as a dowry around their necks on a chain.

Luk 7:38 “and standing behind Him at His feet” At these social events others from the town who were not invited were welcome to come and sit along the walls, look in the windows and doors, and listen to the conversations. Remember that Jesus was reclining on his left elbow with His feet behind Him.

“and kept wiping them with the hair of her head” For a Jewish woman, to have her hair undone in public was a sign of social impropriety.

“kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume” This was a highly unusual act that seems to symbolize this woman’s joy over forgiveness and the deep sense of gratitude for Jesus’ attitude concerning people like herself (cf. Luk 7:35).

Luk 7:39 “If this man were a prophet” This is a second class conditional sentence. The form of this sentence shows that he did not believe Jesus was a prophet. This is a unique Greek construction which would be understood as “if this man were a prophet, which he is not, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, but he does not.” This Pharisee totally misunderstood Jesus and His motives, purposes, and actions.

The very early codex B, called Vaticanus because it was found in the Vatican library, has the definite article with “prophet.” This is obviously a theological attempt to link Jesus with “the Prophet” of Moses’ prophecy in Deu 18:15. This was a Messianic prediction. But from the context of Luke this Pharisee is not calling Jesus the Messiah, but a non-prophet!

A book that documents these theological variants is Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. Oxford, 1993.

Luk 7:40 “Simon” This was a common name. There are many examples in the NT of people named Simon:

1. Simon Peter, Mat 4:18

2. Simon the Canaanite, Mat 10:4; Act 1:13

3. Simon, Jesus’ half-brother, Mat 13:55

4. Simon the Leper, Mat 26:6; Mar 14:3

5. Simon the Cyrene, Mat 27:32

6. Simon the Pharisee, Luk 7:40

7. the father of Judas Iscariot, Joh 6:71

8. Simon Magnes, Act 8:5

9. Simon the Tanner, Act 9:43

The parallels in Matthew and Mark also place the dinner at the home of a man named Simon, but he is not called a Pharisee.

Luk 7:41 It is only in Luke that Jesus tells this parable to Simon. Matthew and Mark have a totally different reason for the woman’s actions (i.e., prepare Jesus for His upcoming death by anointing Him for burial).

“500 denarii” A denarius was a common coin of the period. It represented a day’s wage for a soldier or day-laborer (cf. Mat 20:2). See Special Topic: Coins in Use in Palestine in Jesus’ Day at Luk 15:8.

Luk 7:42 “So which of them will love him more” This account obviously deals with two kinds of people:

1. the self-righteous who thought they needed little or no forgiveness

2. the humble and repentant who knew they needed God’s forgiveness

This parable has much in common with the parable of the Pharisee and the sinner (cf. Luk 18:9-14).

Luk 7:44-47 There are several actions that Simon the Pharisee did not perform for Jesus that were expected of a host in Jewish culture:

1. he did not wash His feet when he entered, Luk 7:44

2. he did not give Him a kiss of greeting, Luk 7:45

3. he did not anoint Him with oil, Luk 7:46

Luk 7:47 “I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven” Jesus did not overlook this woman’s sins, but He forgave them. This pericope (gospel story) clearly shows the radically new covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38). Salvation is based on faith in Jesus, not personal achievement, merit, or performance (cf. Eph 2:8-9). This is the new covenant way of being accepted by God!

Theologians emphasize the word “love” and turn it into a new requirement for forgiveness and acceptance. Love is surely the by-product of a personal relationship with God through Christ, but it is not the criterion for acceptance. Acceptance is based on the finished and complete work of the Son. Humans must respond in repentance and faith, but they cannot add to or take away from this freely given salvation. A changed and changing life of love, obedience, and perseverance are evidence that we have met God in Christ. Believers are saved “unto good works” (cf. Eph 2:10), not “by good works” (cf. Rom 3:21-30)!

Luk 7:48 “Your sins have been forgiven” This is a perfect passive indicative. This must have been a tremendous shock to the Jews sitting there who knew that only God could forgive sins (cf. Luk 5:21-24).

Luk 7:50 “‘Your faith has saved you” This is a perfect active indicative. This woman’s expression of love was the result, not the means, of forgiveness. Faith in Christ is the key issue (cf. Luk 5:20; Luk 7:9; Luk 8:48; Luk 17:19; Luk 18:42).

“go in peace” This is a present middle (deponent) imperative (cf. Luk 8:48).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

And one, &c. Verses 36-50 peculiar to Luke. Not to be identified with Simon (Mar 14:3). All the circumstances are different.

Simon was one of the commonest names. There are nine mentioned in the N.T., and two among the Twelve.

desired = asked, or invited. App-134.

with = in company

with. Greek. meta. App-104.

sat down to meat = reclined [at table].

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

36-50.] ANOINTING OF JESUS FEET BY A PENITENT WOMAN. Peculiar to Luke. It is hardly possible to imagine that this history can relate to the same incident as that detailed Mat 26:6; Mar 14:3; Joh 12:3; although such an opinion has been entertained from the earliest times. Origen on Mat 26:6 ff., vol. iii. p. 892, mentions and controverts it. It has been held in modern times by Grotius, Schleiermacher, Ewald, and Hug: and recently by Bleek. But the only particular common to the two (unless indeed we account the name of the host to be such, which is hardly worth recounting), is the anointing itself; and even that is not strictly the same. The character of the woman,-the description of the host,-the sayings uttered,-the time,-all are different. And if the probability of this occurring twice is to be questioned, we may fairly say, that an action of this kind, which had been once commended by our Lord, was very likely to have been repeated, and especially at such a time as six days before the last Passover, and by one anointing Him for His burial.

I may add, that there is not the least reason for supposing the woman in this incident to have been Mary Magdalene. The introduction of her as a new person so soon after (ch. Luk 8:2), and what is there stated of her, make the notion exceedingly improbable.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 7:36. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisees house, and sat down to meat.

They sat according to the Eastern custom of sitting, which was rather lying at length, with the feet far out upon the couch or sofa.

Luk 7:37. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner,

In a particular sense, a sinner; one whose very trade was sin.

Luk 7:37-38. When she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment And stood at his feet behind him weeping.

As she could do, you see, without coming into the room, except for a few yards, especially if the Saviours feet were close against the door.

Luk 7:38. And began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

For water she gives her tears, for a towel, her hair; to heal the blisters of his weary pilgrimage, there are her soft lips for liniment; and then for ointment comes this precious salve.

Luk 7:39. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner.

She is a sinner, and does he let her touch him, and kiss his feet, and show such tokens of affection? What man must he be who allows a harlots kiss, even though it be upon his feet? Ah! poor foolish Pharisee! He judged according to the sight of the eye, or else he might have known that the best of men would never be angry at a harlots tears, for the tears of repentance, come from whatever heart they may, are always like diamonds in the esteem of thee who judges rightly.

Luk 7:40-42. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay,

And were, therefore, likely to be cast into prison, and to be sold as slaves.

Luk 7:42-43. He frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

There were no bonds, no promises of what they would do in the future, but he frankly forgave them both.

Luk 7:44. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,

And it was, therefore, thy duty to attend to me.

Luk 7:44. Thou gavest me no water for my feet:

Though that was the common custom.

Luk 7:44-45. But he hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kiss;

Which was the customary welcome to every honoured guest a kiss upon the cheek or upon the forehead.

Luk 7:45. But this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

She has done what thou oughtest to have done; she has done it better than thou couldest have done it; she has done it when there was no claim upon her to do it, except that she had been forgiven much, and, therefore, loved much.

Luk 7:46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint;

This, too, was the usual custom.

Luk 7:46-48. But this woman, hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Luk 7:36. , He lay down (sat down) to meat) without having first taken a look at the house, as guests given to curiosity are wont; also without having taken water or oil, Luk 7:44 (comp. ch. Luk 11:37), so as to admit (receive) to Himself the penitent woman the sooner, Luk 7:45.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Luk 7:36-50

14. JESUS ANOINTED BY A SINFUL WOMAN

Luk 7:36-50

36 And one of the Pharisees desired him-Luke gives the only record we have of this incident. He records two other incidences of Pharisees who invited Jesus to meals and he alone gives them. (Luk 11:37; Luk 14:1.) Jesus would dine with a Pharisee or with a publican (Mat 9:10; Mar 2:15 Luk 5:29), and he even invited himself to be the guest of Zaccheus who was a publican (Luk 19:5). In this account two characters are brought together; they are not only diverse, but strongly contrasted. Valuable lessons may be learned from these two opposite characters. Jesus accepted the invitation to eat with this Pharisee. This Pharisee seems not to have been as hostile toward Jesus as many other Pharisees were; there is no evidence that he invited Jesus to his table to do him harm.

37, 38 And behold, a woman who was in the city,-It is probable that this woman was from Capernaum. There has been much speculation as to who this woman was. Some have thought that she was Mary Magdalene, others that she was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus. In some respects this account is similar to the anointing of Jesus by Mary as narrated in Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3; and Joh 12:3, but this does not seem to be an account of the same event. The name of the Pharisee who entertained Jesus happens to be the same in both instances; however, the Simon of Bethany was a very different man from the one here mentioned. Nor can this woman, who seems to have been of a notoriously bad reputation, be identical with the Mary of Bethany who had sat at Jesus’ feet, and by her gentle confiding love and won so strong a hold upon his affections. (Luk 10:38-42.) These incidents must have been two distinct events.

and when she knew that he was sitting at meat-It was the custom at that time for the guests to remove the sandals before the meal and recline on the left elbow or side with the feet outward from the table. They did not have the custom of sitting in chairs as we have today. It was also customary for anyone to come into the house during a feast and sit and converse with those who were invited to the feast; the invited guests reclined at the table, while the uninvited guests sat around the wall. This woman brought an “alabaster cruse of ointment,” and anointed the feet of Jesus. It seems that she was standing behind his feet weeping, and was drawn irresistibly by gratitude to Jesus and “wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.” It was regarded among the Jews as a shameful thing for a woman to let down her hair in public but she made this sacrifice because of her affection for Jesus.

39 Now when the Pharisee that had bidden him-The emphasis is put here on “the Pharisee”; he had invited Jesus to come into his house and dine with him; Jesus had accepted the invitation and the penitent woman had approached Jesus and paid great honor and respect to him. The Pharisee had witnessed the whole affair and was “saying” “within himself” that Jesus was not a prophet as he claimed to be. Thoughts passed through his mind, or he reasoned with himself that Jesus could not be a prophet. He had already reached the conclusion that Jesus was not a prophet; if he had been one, as he claimed to be, he would have known “who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him.” This woman was regarded as a great sinner; she was notorious in person and character. Surely if Jesus had known who she was, the Pharisee reasoned, he would not have permitted her to have touched him. For a woman of such abandoned character to touch one was regarded as the highest species of defilement. The Pharisee thought that Jesus did not know her character, or he would never have permitted her to touch him, much less to remain at his feet kissing them and continuing to express her love for him by such demonstrations. His reasoning was fallacious.

40 And Jesus answering said unto him,-The Pharisee had concluded that Jesus was not a prophet, because he did not know the life and character of this woman; he had not spoken aloud on this point; he had only reasoned with himself. But Jesus now does the very thing which the Pharisee considered as a mark or characteristic of a prophet-he reads the mind of the Pharisee. Jesus spoke directly to him; he addressed him as “Simon,” and then stated emphatically that he had something to say to him. The Pharisee is very brief and emphatic in his reply; he said: “Teacher, say on.” Jesus answers the thoughts and doubts of Simon and shows that he knows about Simon’s thoughts and therefore knows all about this woman; there is a kind of Socratic irony in the speech of Jesus.

41, 42 A certain lender had two debtors:-A lender of money for interest is here meant as the original shows. The parable which Jesus now proposed for the instruction of this self-righteous Pharisee is based on well-known facts. This lender of money for interest “had two debtors”; the first one owed him “five hundred shillings,” while the second one only owed him “fifty.” The term used here is “denarius,” which was the chief silver coin of the Romans at this time, and of the value of about seventeen cents. It was the rate of wages for a day’s work. Five hundred would amount to about eighty-five dollars, while fifty would amount to eight dollars and fifty cents; hence expressed in our values one of these debtors owed eighty-five dollars and the other owed eight dollars and fifty cents.

When they had not wherewith to pay,-Neither one of these debtors could pay the lender the amount owed him; the lender, out of the kindness and generosity of his heart, released them of their indebtedness. Favor, kindness, benevolence, compassion, and sympathy are the sole basis of the act, all merit on the part of the recipient being excluded. After presenting this parable in its simplicity to the Pharisee, Jesus asked him: “Which of them therefore will love him most?” Jesus by this question forces the Pharisee to draw the only conclusion that was possible to draw from the parable, and then Jesus makes the application. The point of the parable then is the attitude of the two debtors toward the lender who forgave both of them.

43 Simon answered and said,-It seems that Simon began to see the point that Jesus was making; hence he said, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” The Pharisee’s reply indicates a descent from his lofty and arrogant tone to one of more humility. Simon saw how his answer would convict himself as he had perceived in part the drift of the illustration. Jesus did not leave him in doubt as to what he had said; he replied to Simon: “Thou hast rightly judged.” This was the end of the argument; there was nothing further to say. Leaving the matter thus as did Jesus made the point more emphatic.

44-46 And turning to the woman,-Jesus now directed Simon’s attention to the woman who had bestowed such gracious favors upon him. It seems that this was the first time that Jesus looked at the woman, and he asks the Pharisee to look at her , she was behind Jesus, hence he would have to turn to look at her. Jesus was an invited guest; the Pharisee had neglected some points of common and customary hospitality; the contrasts here made, scholars tell us, have the rhythm of Hebrew poetry; in each contrast the first word is the point of defect in Simon’s conduct toward Jesus. “Water,” “kiss,” and “oil” are the points of emphasis. The water which Simon had failed to give was supplied by the tears of the woman; the failure of Simon to show affection for his guest was supplied by the kisses of the woman; and the failure of Simon to honor his guest was supplied by the precious oil with which she anointed the feet of Jesus. Simon had failed as a host to anoint the head of Jesus, the nobler part, with ordinary oil, but the woman had anointed his feet with costly oil. This penitent, sinful woman had done far more for Jesus than had the Pharisee; it was expected of the Pharisee to show such acts of customary honor to Jesus as his guest, but it was not expected of this woman to bestow any acts of honor upon him.

47, 48 Wherefore I say unto thee,-Jesus now turns from Simon and speaks to the woman; this seems to be the first time that he has spoken to her. “Wherefore” introduces the conclusion which is drawn from what has been said. Jesus says, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.” Here Jesus shows that he knew her condition, and that the Pharisee had misjudged him and his ability to know the hearts of people. Jesus not only refers to her public and scandalous sins, but to all which she had ever committed. His forgiveness is most ample, covering the sins of a whole life. Jesus gave the reason for his forgiving her. “For she loved much” ‘is the assuring statement that Jesus made. All that she had done for Jesus showed her love for him; her coming to Jesus showed her consciousness of a need of a Savior; Jesus’ words to her showed that he was willing to save. Jesus then stated the conclusion from his parable by saying: “But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”

49, 50 And they that sat at meat with him-The friends of the Pharisee who sat at meat with Jesus began to reason with themselves and made inquiry of their own hearts as to who this man was. They thought that he was presumptuous to claim to forgive sins; they did not speak aloud or speak to each other, but they were unanimous in their conclusion that he was a presumptuous sinner. Perhaps their surprise was expressed in their faces. Jesus without answering them or their thoughts changed the form of his address to the woman, perhaps that she might not be misled into thinking that her acts of devotion were misjudged. Jesus said to her: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” This shows that Jesus knew the full condition of her heart; he knew her life; he knew her faith in him. Jesus ignored the old question which the Pharisaic mind raised about his claim to forgive sins; he had fully answered them, and had taught them an important lesson. They were not disposed to receive the lesson. There was a wide contrast in the faith of this woman and the lack of faith on the part of the Pharisee the width between these two is emphasized in the contrast between what the woman did for him and what the Pharisee had failed to do.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

the Forgiven Sinners Grateful Love

Luk 7:36-50

What a trio! Christ stands here as a manifestation of the divine love, as it comes among sinners. The love of God is not dependent on our merits; frankly, Luk 7:42, is freely. It is not turned away by our sins: she is a sinner. It ever manifests itself as the clearing of debts. But it demands recognition and service: thou gavest me no kiss.

The woman represents those who penitently and lovingly recognize the divine love. She was not forgiven because of her love; but her love was the sign that she had been forgiven and recognized it. What will not Gods love do! The tropical sun produces rare fruit. What Jesus did for her He can do for your many sins. Pardon will lead to much love, and love becomes the gate of knowledge and the source of obedience.

Simon, the Pharisee, stands for the unloving and self-righteous, who are ignorant of the love of God. They may be respectable in life, rigid in morality, unquestioned in orthodoxy, but what are these without love? See 1Co 13:1-13. Note the contrasts between thou and she, thy and her.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Christ And The Sinful Woman — Luk 7:36-50

And one of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with him. And He went into the Pharisees house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This Man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him. Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose he, to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And He turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace- Luk 7:36-50.

How God delights to emphasize His grace to great sinners! It was always a matter of distress to the Pharisees that the Lord Jesus showed such a deep interest in those who were despised and outcast because of their wicked lives. His heart went out to them. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I remember hearing a great evangelist say many years ago, Oh, how hard it is to find sinners; I would be willing to go any distance to find a sinner who recognizes his need of a Saviour. We read in Pro 20:6, Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? If you try to talk to most men about the Saviour and their need of Him, they will begin at once to tell you of their own merits. They try to make out a good case for themselves, covering their sins and insisting on their goodness.

In the Word of God, you will find that as long as people try to justify themselves, God cannot help them. But when they recognize their need and own their guilt, He can save them.

I have drawn attention before to the fact that in this Gospel we read of several instances where the Saviour dined out. Luke, who is presenting Jesus as the perfect Man, shows Him to us at the dinner-table. There is no place where a man relaxes and manifests his true character as when he is at the table with good friends around him and good food before him. Our Lord did not turn down invitations, even though He knew there was some ulterior motive in inviting Him. So here He accepted this Pharisees invitation and went to his house for dinner, and had hardly reclined at the table before this interesting situation took place.

We need to remember that it was not customary for the Jews to sit up at the table in chairs like we do. The table itself was generally in the shape of a horseshoe and the guests reclined at the outside of the table, on couches. One took his place and reclined, supporting himself on his right elbow, and served himself with his left hand. Thus, servants passing about could readily wash the feet, which were farthest from the table.

Right there outside the door, a poor woman is looking in. I have no question but a number of those in the house knew who she was. She had no character, was despised by everyone, and yet she wanted to see Jesus and to seek relief from her burden of sin. Her heart was distressed and she longed for deliverance and for cleansing. We look down, perhaps, on those in sin and say, Thank God we are not like them. But we little realize how close some of them are to the kingdom of heaven; closer than those who are self-righteous. She was an immoral woman. All down through the centuries respectable people have looked down on her kind as they looked down on her. But we need to remember that there never was a fallen woman unless some man had caused her wretched condition. He who is responsible for the poor womans condition is accepted as a member of good society, while she who has fallen is outside. Jesus said the publicans and harlots would go into the kingdom of heaven before the hard-hearted Pharisees.

I imagine this woman was thinking, If I could only get to Jesus, He would understand, He would know how to deal with me. Possibly, the servants were keeping their eyes on her. But she was waiting and watching and perhaps the moment the servants backs were turned, in she slipped and there she is down on her knees at the couch where Jesus exposed feet were. She burst into tears, and realizing her need of cleansing, she began to wash Jesus feet with her tears and to dry them with her beautiful hair. With that lovely hair, which perhaps had lured others into her house of shame, she was now wiping the feet of Jesus. Impulsively she began to kiss His feet. This annoyed the Pharisee. Jesus perceived the thoughts of this man. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This Man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him; for she is a sinner. I wonder how he knew so well. He knew her character. He knew the life she had lived. The Pharisee would have passed her by. Jesus did not shrink from her. He never does from any sinner. He did know what manner of woman she was who touched Him. But that was why He welcomed her. He came to redeem sinners. It rejoiced His heart when such came to Him in repentance.

He read every one of Simons thoughts, and He knew all her thoughts. She was thinking, I am not worthy to come here, and yet He will surely do something for me. Jesus turned to Simon and just as though Simon had spoken out, He answered him: Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And Simon said, Master, say on. Jesus answered, There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other, fifty. Five hundred pence does not mean very much to us if we think of it in our own pennies, but according to the standards of those days it meant a great deal of money. There are some men who realize that they are great sinners and have broken the law of God and they feel hopeless-these are the five-hundred-pence sinners. But there are others who say that they are not very wicked, they know they have not always obeyed the law of God, but did not intend to do wrong; they have failed here and there, but in the main they are very good. These are the fifty-pence sinners.

A Sunday School teacher was speaking to her class of two kinds of sin-sins of commission and omission, and we are responsible for both. She asked, What are sins of commission? The children replied, They are sins we commit. Then she inquired, What are sins of omission? One boy answered, They are sins we meant to commit, and forgot to. That is not it. But every time you fail to do the thing you know you should do, this is as truly sin as the evil things you did. The fifty-pence sinners have nothing to pay, nor have the five-hundred-pence sinners. Whether you realize it or not, whether you are a great sinner, or, as you imagine, you are not much of a sinner, the fact remains, that, There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. How could you make up for your sins? That lie you told! You can never undo it! That time you took the name of God in vain! You can never atone for the wrong you did to God, and His Name. That time you fell into some great moral evil! You can never make that right, either toward God or to the one with whom you sinned. You have nothing to pay. You owe so much and you have nothing with which to pay it and you cannot settle it. What are you going to do about it? Jesus went on to say, When they had nothing to pay, he (to whom they were indebted) frankly forgave them both. That is just a picture of the grace of God in Christ. Through the work of Jesus on Calvary, God is able to forgive every sinner who comes to Him in repentance.

A story is told of an eccentric Irish nobleman who some years ago became converted, and whose salvation was the wonder of the countryside. He was so filled with the sense of the grace of God that he began to go around preaching, and people called him the crazy nobleman. On one occasion he posted notices to this effect, that he would be in his office from ten to twelve on a given day, and he would be prepared to settle the debts of everyone of his tenants who would come to him. Some of the folks could not read it and would ask someone else to read it to them. Many would not believe it. So they talked about it, and the days went on and finally that certain day arrived, and the people went down to his office. At ten oclock sharp, the carriage pulled up in front of his office, and the nobleman got out and entered it with his secretary. Outside, the tenants talked among themselves as to whether he really meant it. They could hardly believe him. About half-past eleven oclock, an old man and his aged wife came hobbling along, and the old man had a number of bills in his hand, and he asked, Is it true that his lordship said he would pay our debts? They replied, Why dont you go in and try it? He was so anxious to be free of debt that he decided to do so. He and his wife went in to see if his lordship would pay their debts. Outside, people waited anxiously to see what would happen as he handed his bills to the landlord. His lordship told his secretary to total them up and give him a check. Oh, my lord, thank you so much! I am over eighty years old, and now my wife and I can die with our debts paid. Now we must go out and tell the rest. But the nobleman replied, You took my offer by faith and because you believed me your debts are paid. The rest must do the same. They outside waited and wondered why the old people did not come out. Finally twelve oclock struck, the door opened and the nobleman stepped out, and the old couple followed. The others asked the old man if he had his debts paid. He said, Yes. Then they all crowded about pleading to have theirs paid also. But the nobleman said, My friends, I gave you the opportunity to come, and I would have paid everything, but you would not believe me, so now you will have to pay them yourselves. He then used this illustration as a basis to preach the gospel to them. If you will not come to Christ, then there is no one to blame but yourselves if you have to face that dreadful accounting day of judgment.

And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. Jesus said, Yes, you have answered well. You are like that fifty-pence sinner, you did not think you had done much wrong, but when I came to your house, you did not do the things for Me that are done in ordinary homes. You did not have a servant wash My feet. But this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to wash My feet with her tears. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman hath not ceased to kiss My feet. Wherefore, I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. Why were they forgiven? Because she washed the feet of Jesus? Because she wiped them with her hair? No, not at all. She did these things because she came to Him in repentance and this was an expression of her love for Him.

And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. Who can forgive sins but God only? Who is this that forgiveth sins also? they questioned among themselves. They did not understand that He was God manifested in the flesh. Ignoring them, Jesus turned to the woman and said, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. I think I see her hurrying back to her home, and saying to herself, I must get everything cleaned up now. I must get those dirty pictures off the wall, and those vile books out of the place! Perhaps some one saw her and noticed the different expression on her face and the change in her demeanor, and inquired the reason. She would say, the old life was ended and a new life was beginning.

That is what Jesus does for sinners. If you have never trusted Him before, will you trust Him now? Take Him as your Saviour and you will hear Him say to you, Your sins, which were many, are all forgiven.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Chapter 42

A Woman Who Was A Sinner

It would not be possible for us to conceive of two people more completely opposite to one another than Simon the Pharisee and this woman who was a sinner. Without question, there are many good, profitable lessons which may be gleaned from this passage of scripture. We would be wise to lay them to heart. May God the Holy Spirit, who caused these words to be written, write the lessons of this passage on our hearts.

A Form Of Godliness

Many, like this proud Pharisee, have a form of godliness, who know nothing of Gods saving grace in Christ. Simon showed much outward respect for the Lord Jesus and his disciples. What could be more respectful? He had a large, extravagant dinner party in honour of our Saviour. Yet, he was utterly ignorant of Christ, his gospel and the grace of God. He had a form of godliness, but knew nothing of Gods saving power and grace. His proud heart was repulsed by the sight of this unnamed woman, who was a notorious sinner, entering his house and being so readily and openly received by the Son of God. He, like most religious people, talked about grace and forgiveness, but never experienced it. This proud Pharisee could not stomach the idea that he must enter into the kingdom of heaven upon the same ground and side by side with this wretched sinner. He was religious, but lost. He knew his doctrine, but not God. He was respectable, but not gracious. Do not be satisfied with religion. We must have Christ!

Sin A Debt

Learn this, too. Sin has made us all debtors, owing a debt we can never pay. By reason of our sin, we are all head over heels in debt to the law and justice of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our great Saviour, stepped in, paid our debt; and God, for Christs sake, has freely and fully forgiven us our debt! The forgiveness of sins is an act of strict, unbending justice. Yet, in our experience of it, it is a matter of absolute freeness, an act of grace, pure, free grace. Christ paid our debt; and upon the ground of justice satisfied, we are freely forgiven all our sins.

Our Motivation

A third lesson that is obvious in this portion of scripture is the fact that the great mainspring and driving force of service to Christ is that love and gratitude which arises from a sense of great forgiveness.

How I wish I could drive this point home to the hearts of all who attempt to rouse men and women up to live for and serve Christ. The mainspring and driving force of true Christianity, the motive and inspiration for all devotion and service to Christ, that which compels and constrains believers to live in this world for the glory of God is grace experienced, forgiveness known and felt in the very soul of a man, and the deep gratitude to and love for Christ which arises from the experience of Gods free, sovereign, saving grace in our Saviour. Believers are motivated by grace, gratitude and love, not by the threat of law, the promise of reward, or the hope of recognition (2Co 5:14-15; 2Co 8:9).

Who Was This Woman?

This woman, who was a sinner, is here held before us in the Book of God as an example for all who would honour Christ to follow. Yet, wisely and graciously, the Holy Spirit tells us absolutely nothing about this woman except these things. She was a sinner. She was a sinner who trusted Christ. She was a forgiven sinner, forgiven of all her sins. She was a grateful sinner. She was a sinner who loved Christ much.

What Did This Woman Do?

Behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment (Luk 7:37-38).

This saved sinner made it her business to know where the Saviour was and came to him there. She brought with her an alabaster box of ointment. She came with a sacrifice of faith, with which she sought to honour her Redeemer. She stood in humiliation at the Saviours feet, behind him. She wept. She wept because she was full of sorrow, knowing that the Lord Jesus must suffer and die upon the cursed tree to put away her sin. She wept with loving gratitude because of his great love for her soul. She washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. She tenderly kissed the Saviours feet, with lips of love, devotion and adoration. She anointed his feet in faith in anticipation of his death. In a word, as the Lord Jesus himself put it, she did what she could (Mar 14:3-9). Blessed are they to whom God the Holy Spirit gives such grace!

What Was Her Motive?

Why did this woman do what she did? How can such an act be explained? What would inspire a poor person to make such a great, extravagant (in the eyes of men) sacrifice? She had owed much. She had been forgiven much. And she loved much.

What Was The Result?

What was the result of this womans love for Christ and her devotion and service to him?

She was scorned by Simon the Pharisee, ridiculed by Judas and misunderstood by her fellow disciples. Few there are who understand devotion, whole-hearted devotion to Christ. But she had not come to Simons house to be honoured. She had come there to honour God her Saviour; and honouring him, she was honoured by him (1Sa 2:30).

This one who honoured her Lord was highly honoured by her Lord. When she was ridiculed and scorned, the Son of God came to her defence (Luk 7:47). He said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me (Mar 14:6). The Master assured her, before her judges and slanderers, that he had forgiven her of all her sins. Thy sins are forgiven (Luk 7:48). Then her Saviour assured her of her faith and spoke peace to her heart (Luk 7:50).

The only way to inspire consecration and devotion to Christ is to preach Christ. The only way to promote good works is to preach free grace (Tit 3:4-9). The soul that has experienced redemption, forgiveness and saving grace is inspired by the knowledge of Gods mercy, love and grace in Christ to love him and seek his glory. We love him, because he first loved us (1Jn 4:19).

Let all who read this portion of holy scripture be reminded and tell sinners everywhere that the Lord Jesus Christ is a great Saviour, merciful, gracious, compassionate and able and ready to save the very chief of sinners.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

one: Mat 26:6, etc. Mar 14:3-9, Joh 11:2-16

And he: Luk 7:34, Luk 11:37, Luk 14:1

Reciprocal: Mat 11:19 – came

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The Woman Who Was a Sinner

Luk 7:36-50

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

There was a great gulf between the Pharisees and the publicans. The Pharisees professed a piety, that, in their own estimation, lifted them far above the publicans. The publicans seemed to accept this challenge, and as a rule they hid themselves away as though they were the basest of men.

We remember how the Pharisee prayed within himself; parading his self-righteousness and self-superiority; while the publican stood afar off, beating upon his breast, and saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

With this in mind there are a few things we wish to suggest before the contrasts of our study proper are brought out.

1. With God there is no difference, for all have sinned. The Jew may boast himself of his spiritual superiority, and set himself over against the Gentile; but God says to the Jew; “Thou that makest thy boast of the Law, through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God?”

The Gentile may acknowledge his guilt, however, he is no more guilty than the Jew. The truth is, “There is none righteous, no, not one; * * there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way.”

The truth is that before God the whole world stands guilty, and therefore condemned. Every mouth is stopped, and all boasting cf human righteousness is excluded.

2. With God death hath passed upon all men. Some men may imagine themselves good enough for life eternal; but God says that the wages of sin is death, and that death hath passed upon all men; in that all have sinned.

If the sinner wants to know what way leads to hell, we reply; “It is the way in which he is traveling.” Hell is the end of every sinning son of Adam, inasmuch as every son is a sinner.

3. Salvation is offered only upon the basis of Christ’s finished work. We said that all had sinned, and therefore, that all were hell-ward bound. This the Bible plainly asserts, for, “The wages of sin is death,” and, “The wicked shall be cast into hell.”

Had righteousness been possible through the keeping of the Law, verily, righteousness had come by the Law.

What man could not do, God did do, by sending Jesus Christ down from Heaven to become man’s substitute. Christ was made sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

I. A PHARISEE’S DESIRE (Luk 7:36)

We are struck by this statement-“One of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with him.” We may be too quick to judge, but we feel justified by the general reputation of the Pharisees, and by the record of this particular Pharisee which follows in our study story, to say that this “would-be-host” had unholy motives in his inviting Christ to dine with him.

In this Pharisee, however, we believe that we have an inside view to many Pharisaical people of our own days.

1. Pharisees delighted in personal recognition. They sought the prominent places, the first seats at the feast. They delighted in doing things which attracted men unto themselves. They paraded their works in order that they might be seen of men. They delighted in enlarging the borders of their garments, inasmuch as these garments, supposedly, manifested the breadth of their piety. They desired to make broad their phylacteries, that they might obtain the praises of men.

The very essence of Pharisaical character, was a desire to be called “Rabbi,” “Rabbi.” They knew nothing of humbling themselves; but they were experts in self-exaltation. They might devour widows’ houses in private; but they covered their rascality with the pretense of a long prayer.

2. Pharisees demanded of others what they never did themselves. They bound heavy burdens upon men, grievous to be borne. These they placed on men’s shoulders, but they, themselves, would not move them with one of their fingers. They took the position of lords over what they called the common people. Their whole life was a living lie. They were like whited sepulchers which were beautiful without; but within were full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, they outwardly appeared righteous unto men; but within they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

II. THE SINNER SEEKING THE SAVIOUR (Luk 7:37-38)

It does not seem the natural thing for a woman, who was a sinner, to be seeking the Saviour. She, who was corrupted and undone in her sin, came to the One who knew no sin, and who did no sin.

Does it surprise you? Darkness was seeking the light; uncleanness was seeking the clean; impurity was seeking the pure; the unholy was seeking the holy. So it was.

The Holy Spirit had been dealing with this woman. She was still a sinner; but she was a sinner, whose eyes God had opened. She was a sinner; but she was a sinner whose will God had broken. She came to Jesus, because He drew her to Him with the cords of Heavenly love. She wept, because her spirit was full of contrition; she washed His feet with her tears, because she longed to have her sins washed away; she wiped His feet with the hair of her head, because she felt herself unworthy and base. She kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment, because she loved much, and sought to exalt Him as Lord of her life.

We wonder how many, who read these words, are willing to join this woman in worshiping and loving Christ?

III. SIMON’S CRITICISM OF THE SAVIOUR (Luk 7:39)

1. A twofold criticism. In Luk 7:39 we read that the Pharisee spake within himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a Prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: for she is a sinner.”

Simon made two criticisms. He criticized the sinner for seeking the Saviour-he said with a slur; “She is a sinner.” He also criticized the Saviour for seeking the sinner-he said, “This Man, if He were a Prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is.”

2. The inner vision of Simon’s heart. Simon had no real love for Christ. His invitation to the Lord to dine with him carried with it no conviction as to Christ’s Deity, no confession of Christ’s omniscience. It was altogether out of place for the host to dishonor his Guest.

How often do people express an outward show of fealty to Christ when their innermost soul rejects Him as Saviour, and as Lord, and as Coming King! There are still many who, with their lips, boast great things, while their hearts are far from the Lord. These people come as the saints come. They bend the knee, and they bow the head, as the saints do; they hear God’s Words, but they will not do them: with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after covetousness.

IV. CHRIST’S CRITICISM OF SIMON (Luk 7:40-43)

Jesus, understanding what Simon had in his heart, said; “I have somewhat to say unto thee.” Christ then told Simon the story of the two debtors: the one who owed much, and the other who owed little; the one who was forgiven much, and the one who was forgiven little. Then He said to Simon, “Which of them will love Him most?” Simon admitted, “I suppose that he, to whom He forgave most.”

Christ thus outlined before Simon the perfidy of his own heart: showing him how he had loved but a little. Simon had not even given his Guest any water for His feet; he had given Him no kiss; he had anointed His head with no oil.

1. The longing of Christ’s heart was for love, not entertainment. The question which the Lord asked Simon was a question not of who served most, but of who loved most. Simon had done much in the way of serving. He had offered Christ the hospitality of his home. The woman, perhaps, had no home to offer. There was one thing, however, that Simon had not done. He had not lavished upon his Lord, the love of his heart.

We wonder if Christ is not saying of many of us what He said of the Church at Ephesus,-“Thou hast left thy first love.” The Church at Ephesus was filled with deeds; it was loyalty personified. Ephesus could not bear evil men; Ephesus had tried those who had falsely said they were apostles, and had found them liars. Ephesus had done much by the way of labor, and had even labored in the Name of the Master; yet, Ephesus had left her first love.

2. Christ observed in Simon the lack of those fine qualities which manifest the genuineness and sincerity of love. Simon was an adept at doing big things, and showy things. We can almost see him taking Christ through his mansion. We can also see Christ sitting at Simon’s table-a table spread with every bounty. We can imagine the servants flitting this way and that, as they waited upon the guests.

Simon, however, utterly failed in those tenderer and finer courtesies which marked affection. Do you remember the poor woman who cast in her two mites? The Lord said that she had given more than all of the rich, who, out of their abundance, had cast in much. He whom we serve is ever watchful for the deeper and keener manifestation of love.

V. CHRIST’S COMMENDATION OF THE WOMAN (Luk 7:44-46)

1. The Lord knew the sinfulness of the woman who wept at His feet. Simon had said of Christ; “This Man, if He were a Prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: for she is a sinner.” Simon somehow or other felt that Christ had been contaminated by this woman who was a sinner. The Lord Jesus, however, had come into the world to seek and to save that which was lost, He had no pity for sin; but He died for the sinner. He had no fellowship with unrighteousness; but He was ready to save the unrighteous.

2. The Lord knew the sincerity of the woman who wept at His feet. Simon thought of her merely as unclean; Jesus thought of her as one desiring to be made clean. Jesus knew that the kisses upon His feet, and the tears that fell there, were kisses and tears of contrition. She who wiped His feet with the hairs of her head, was sobbing out the woes of her heart.

3. The Lord knew the yearnings of the woman who wept at His feet. She was there as a suppliant seeking mercy. She was there as a sinner seeking salvation. She was there confessing her wrong, admitting her iniquity, and longing to be forgiven. This is all seen in the fact that she fell at Jesus’ feet.

We ask each of you this question: Are you, with Simon, sitting erect at the table claiming a more or less equality with the Lord, and doing but little more than passing the compliments of the day with Him? or, are you, with this woman, prostrate at His feet confessing your sins?

VI. THE SALVATION OF THE SINNER (Luk 7:47-50)

We have now come to that beautiful part of our study,-the forgiveness of one who has sinned much.

1. Christ, in forgiving this woman, proclaimed Himself as God. Upon one occasion when Christ had forgiven the man who had been let down through the roof, the Pharisees cried out; “Who can forgive sins but God?” The Lord replied; “Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?” Then Christ uttered those memorable words: “But that we may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, He saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”

2. Christ, in forgiving this woman, proved Himself a Saviour from sin. The people who sat at meat with Christ began to say within themselves, “Who is this that forgiveth sins also?”

Even now we can see the Lord, as, with hands extended, He cried to sobbing seeking souls; “Come unto Me, * * and I will give you rest.”

3. Christ, in forgiving this woman, showed the human basis upon which salvation is obtained. Verse fifty says; “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

We now see what it was that drew the woman from her haunts of sin, into Simon’s House. We see what laid her low at the Master’s feet, washing His feet with her tears, and wiping them with the hairs of her head. We see what caused her to cease not, in kissing His feet; and why she anointed His feet with ointment. We see why she loved much-it was her faith. She believed that Christ was a Saviour.

The Lord Jesus saw behind her every act, the motive which prompted the act. He said to the woman, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” It was not her tears; it was not her humility; it was not her ointment; it was not her love; it was her faith.

4. Christ, in forgiving this woman, demonstrated the result of salvation. Christ said unto the woman, “Go in peace.”

“There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” How then could this one, who was wicked, go in peace? She could go in peace, because she had received salvation; she had salvation, because she had faith.

The Holy Spirit has said, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace.”

AN ILLUSTRATION

The story is told, that, two years after hostilities had ceased, following the Civil War, some college professors, in hunting specimens, ran across two soldiers hiding out in the mountains of the Carolinas. When they asked about the progress of the war, the professors told them that peace had been declared two years before. Peace had been declared, why then should these deserters not have peace?

Christ has made peace by His Blood, let us then have peace through faith in His finished work. It is just as foolish for the sinner to hide away from God when God has made peace through the Blood of the Cross, as it was for these two men to hide in the Blue Ridge Mountains after peace was made.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

6

The Pharisees were a sect of the Jews who were prominent in the time of Christ. See a description of them in the comments at Mat 16:12.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

THE deeply interesting narrative contained in these verses, is only found in the Gospel of Luke. In order to see the full beauty of the story, we should read, in connection with it, the eleventh chapter of Matthew. We shall then discover the striking fact, that the woman whose conduct is here recorded, most likely owed her conversion to the well-known words, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” That wondrous invitation, in all human probability, was the saving of her soul, and gave her that sense of peace for which we see her so grateful.-A full offer of free pardon is generally God’s chosen instrument for bringing the chief of sinners to repentance.

We see in this passage that men may show some outward respect to Christ, and yet remain unconverted. The Pharisee before us is a case in point. He showed our Lord Jesus Christ more respect than many did. He even “desired Him that He would eat with him.” Yet all this time he was profoundly ignorant of the nature of Christ’s Gospel. His proud heart secretly revolted at the sight of a poor contrite sinner being allowed to wash our Lord’s feet. And even the hospitality he showed appears to have been cold and niggardly. Our Lord Himself says, “Thou gavest me no water for my feet; thou gavest me no kiss; my head with oil thou didst not anoint.” In short, in all that the Pharisee did, there was one great defect. There was outward civility, but there was no heart-love.

We shall do well to remember the case of this Pharisee. It is quite possible to have a decent form of religion, and yet to know nothing of the Gospel of Christ,-to treat Christianity with respect, and yet to be utterly blind about its cardinal doctrines,-to behave with great correctness and propriety at Church, and yet to hate justification by faith, and salvation by grace, with a deadly hatred. Do we really feel affection toward the Lord Jesus? Can we say, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee”? Have we cordially embraced His whole Gospel? Are we willing to enter heaven side by side with the chief of sinners, and to owe all our hopes to free grace?-These are questions which we ought to consider. If we cannot answer them satisfactorily, we are in no respect better than Simon the Pharisee; and our Lord might say to us, “I have somewhat to say unto thee.”

We see, in the next place, in this passage, that grateful love is the secret of doing much for Christ. The penitent woman, in the story before us, showed far more honor to our Lord than the Pharisee had done. She “stood at His feet behind Him weeping.” She “washed His feet with tears.” She “wiped them with the hairs of her head.” She “kissed His feet, and anointed them with costly ointment.” No stronger proofs of reverence and respect could she have given, and the secret of her giving such proofs, was love. She loved our Lord, and she thought nothing too much to do for Him. She felt deeply grateful to our Lord, and she thought no mark of gratitude too costly to bestow on Him.

More “doing” for Christ is the universal demand of all the Churches. It is the one point on which all are agreed. All desire to see among Christians, more good works, more self-denial, more practical obedience to Christ’s commands. But what will produce these things? Nothing, nothing but love. There never will be more done for Christ till there is more hearty love to Christ Himself. The fear of punishment, the desire of reward, the sense of duty, are all useful arguments, in their way, to persuade men to holiness. But they are all weak and powerless, until a man loves Christ. Once let that mighty principle get hold of a man, and you will see his whole life changed.

Let us never forget this. However much the world may sneer at “feelings” in religion, and however false or unhealthy religious feelings may sometimes be, the great truth still remains behind, that feeling is the secret of doing. The heart must be engaged for Christ, or the hands will soon hang down. The affections must be enlisted into His service, or our obedience will soon stand still. It will always be the loving workman who will do most in the Lord’s vineyard.

We see, lastly, in this passage, that a sense of having our sins forgiven is the mainspring and life-blood of love to Christ. This, beyond doubt, was the lesson which our Lord wished Simon the Pharisee to learn, when He told him the story of the two debtors. “One owed his creditor five hundred pence, and the other fifty.” Both had “nothing to pay,” and both were forgiven freely. And then came the searching question: “Which of them will love him most?” Here was the true explanation, our Lord told Simon, of the deep love which the penitent woman before Him had displayed. Her many tears, her deep affection, her public reverence, her action in anointing His feet, were all traceable to one cause. She had been much forgiven, and so she loved much. Her love was the effect of her forgiveness,-not the cause,-the consequence of her forgiveness, not the condition,-the result of her forgiveness, not the reason,-the fruit of her forgiveness, not the root. Would the Pharisee know why this woman showed so much love? It was because she felt much forgiven. Would he know why he himself had shown his guest so little love? It was because he felt under no obligation,-had no consciousness of having obtained forgiveness,-had no sense of debt to Christ.

Forever let the mighty principle laid down by our Lord in this passage, abide in our memories, and sink down into our hearts. It is one of the great corner-stones of the whole Gospel. It is one of the master-keys to unlock the secrets of the kingdom of God. The only way to make men holy, is to teach and preach free and full forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The secret of being holy ourselves, is to know and feel that Christ has pardoned our sins. Peace with God is the only root that will bear the fruit of holiness.

Forgiveness must go before sanctification. We shall do nothing till we are reconciled to God. This is the first step in religion. We must work from life, and not for life. Our best works before we are justified are little better than splendid sins. We must live by faith in the Son of God, and then, and not till then, we shall walk in His ways. The heart which has experienced the pardoning love of Christ, is the heart which loves Christ, and strives to glorify Him.

Let us leave the passage with a deep sense of our Lord Jesus Christ’s amazing mercy and compassion to the chief of sinners. Let us see in his kindness to the woman, of whom we have been reading, an encouragement to any one, however bad he may be, to come to Him for pardon and forgiveness. That word of His shall never be broken, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” Never, never need any one despair of salvation, if he will only come to Christ.

Let us ask ourselves, in conclusion, What we are doing for Christ’s glory? What kind of lives are we living? What proof are we making of our love to Him who loved us, and died for our sins? These are serious questions. If we cannot answer them satisfactorily, we may well doubt whether we are forgiven. The hope of forgiveness which is not accompanied by love in the life is no hope at all. The man whose sins are really cleansed away will always show by his ways that he loves the Savior who cleansed them.

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Notes-

v36.-[And one of the Pharisees desired him.] We know nothing of this Pharisee, except his name, Simon. There is no proof that he was the same as “Simon the leper,” mentioned in Mar 14:3. He certainly was not Simon Peter, or Simon Zelotes.

We are not told the place at which the circumstances here recorded took place. It is highly probable that it was Nain, where the widow’s son was raised.

Our Lord had just been saying, that He was called “the friend of publicans and sinners.” Luke proceeds at once to show that He was so indeed, and was not ashamed of the name.

[He went into the Pharisee’s house.] Our Lord’s conduct in eating at the Pharisee’s table, is quoted by some Christians in defence of the practice of keeping up intimacy with unconverted people, and going to dinner parties and entertainments at their houses.

Those who use such an argument would do well to remember our Lord’s behaviour on this occasion. He carried his “Father’s business” with Him to the Pharisee’s table. He testified against the Pharisee’s besetting sin. He explained to the Pharisee the nature of free forgiveness of sins, and the secret of true love to Himself. He declared the saving nature of faith. If Christians who argue in favour of intimacy with unconverted people, will visit their houses in the spirit of our Lord, and speak and behave as He did, let them by all means continue the practice. But do they speak and behave at the tables of their unconverted acquaintances, as Jesus did at Simon’s table? This is a question they would do well to answer.

Bucer’s note on this point is worth reading.

[Sat down to meat.] The Greek word so translated, means literally “reclined,” according to the custom of the country. It is important to note this, in order to understand the remaining part of the passage.

v37.-[And behold a woman in the city.] The questions, who this woman was, and at what time in our Lord’s ministry the transactions here described took place, have occasioned much discussion, and called forth much variety of opinion among commentators. On one point only almost all are agreed: She had been a notorious sinner against the seventh commandment.

The Romish writers, Maldonatus and Cornelius Lapide maintain strongly that this woman was Mary Magdalene, and that the anointing here recorded is the same as that which took place at Bethany, and is described by Matthew, Mark, and John. Both these opinions seem untenable.

There is not the slightest evidence in Scripture that the “woman who was a sinner” was Mary Magdalene. Chemnitius says there is no authority for the opinion but tradition, and that this tradition began with Gregory the First, and was unsupported by the earlier fathers, Chrysostom, Origen, Ambrose, and Jerome. There is no evidence that Mary Magdalene was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and lived at Bethany. Above all, there is not the least proof in Scripture that Mary Magdalene had ever been “a woman that was a sinner” against the seventh commandment.

On the other hand, there is strong internal evidence that the event here recorded by Luke, took place at an entirely different time and place from that recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John. Granting that Luke does not always relate events in regular chronological order, it seems asking too much to suppose that an event which all the other evangelists agree in placing at the end of our Lord’s life on earth, should be so entirely dragged out of its place by Luke as to be brought in at this early period of His ministry. Moreover, the expressions which Luke reports in this passage, appear very unlikely to have been used at the end of our Lord’s ministry, and at the house of friends in Bethany. The question, “who is this that forgiveth sins also?” sounds like a question that would be asked at a comparatively early period of his ministry, and not like one that men would ask at the end of three years, and just before His death.

The true account I believe to be, that the events here recorded by Luke are entirely distinct from those recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John, and that the woman here mentioned is one whose name is, for wise and kind reasons, withheld from the Church. This is the view maintained by the great majority of all Protestant commentators.

It is a curious fact, that John Bunyan, in his famous sermon called “The Jerusalem sinner saved,” maintains the strange view that the woman here described by Luke was Mary the sister of Martha, though he confesses that he got the picturesque story he founds on it, from a book which he saw twenty-four years before. For once the good man seems to have made a mistake.

[Which was a sinner.] It is a common remark, that the Greek words so translated, mean “which used to be, in time past, a sinner.” I confess it appears to me doubtful, whether the Greek word for “was,” will bear so strong a meaning. How lately this woman had been living in sin, we do not know, but it is highly probable, almost up to the very day when the events here related took place. In short, she “was” even then, by common report, a sinner. But it is evident that she had already repented of her sin, and was already ashamed of it, and this in consequence of our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching and preaching. If this was not so there would be no meaning in the fact that “when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house,” she brought her box of ointment, and anointed Him. In short, however recent her conversion, she came to the Pharisee’s house a penitent and a believer.

[Sat at meat.] The Greek word here differs from the one in the preceding verse. It means literally, “is lying down at meat.”

v38.-[Stood at his feet behind him.] To understand this we must remember that in the country where our Lord Jesus ministered, people did not sit down at meals, as we do in modern times, but reclined, or lay at full length on couches, with their feet stretched out behind them. It would thus be easy for this woman to do what she did to our Lord’s feet.

In addition to this, we must remember that houses in the hot climate, where our Lord was, were very different from houses among ourselves. It was common to have large openings down to the floor, and almost to live, as it were, under a veranda, for the sake of coolness. This necessarily entailed great publicity in the entertainment given, and accounts for the ease with which this woman seems to have found her way into the place where our Lord was.

[Anointed them.] Ointments and oils were used in eastern countries to an extent we can hardly understand. The excessive heat of the climate made it almost necessary, to preserve the skin from cracking. See Psa 104:15.

v39.-[This man.] There is probably something contemptuous and scornful in this expression. It is much the same as “this fellow,” like Act 18:13.

[Would have known.] Burgon remarks, “The discernment of spirits was accounted the mark of a true prophet; and such knowledge was recognized as the very note of Messiah, as the confession of Nathanael, and the woman of Samaria show.” Messiah was to be “of quick understanding.” See Isa 11:3-4. Joh 1:49, and Joh 4:29.

v40.-[Jesus answering said.] This expression shows the divine knowledge of hearts and thoughts which our Lord possessed. He taught Simon that He not only knew who the woman behind Him was, but that He also knew what was going on in Simon’s mind. He was “a prophet,” and in the highest sense.

v42.-[He frankly forgave them both.] Let us observe that the debt was not forgiven because the debtors loved their creditor, but out of free grace, mercy and compassion. And the love of the debtors was the consequence of their debts being forgiven. A right understanding of this is the clue to the whole passage.

v47.-[Her sins…are forgiven; for she loved much.] To explain these words as meaning that the woman’s sins were forgiven, because she loved much, is to contradict flatly the whole lesson of the six preceding verses. “For” must be taken as “wherefore,” and, according to Pearce and Hammond, may fairly be so taken. Our Lord’s meaning must manifestly be: “Her love is a proof of her forgiveness. She is a person whose many sins are forgiven.

The proof of it is, that she shows much love, and the lesson of my parable, according to thine own confession, is this, that much forgiveness produces much love.” Even Stella, the Spanish Commentator, Roman Catholic as he is, allows that this is the true sense of the passage.

Lightfoot remarks, that our Lord does not say, “She hath washed my feet and anointed them, and therefore her sins are forgiven,” but, “therefore I say unto thee,” or “for this cause I declare unto thee that her sins are forgiven.” Her sins were forgiven before, but now, after this love that she has shown, I publicly declare unto thee her forgiveness.

v48.-[Thy sins are forgiven.] We are not, of course, to suppose that these words mean that the woman’s sins were now forgiven for the first time. Such an interpretation would overthrow again all the doctrine of the story of the two debtors. The woman was really forgiven before she came to Christ. But she now received a public and authoritative declaration of it before many witnesses, as a reward for her open expression of love and gratitude. Before, she had hope through grace. Now, she received the assurance of hope.

v49.-[Who is this that forgiveth sins?] Let it be noted once more, that this expression is the language that would naturally be used by persons who were strangers to our Lord, and heard and saw Him for the first time. It is exceedingly unlikely that such an expression would have been used at Bethany, a few days before His crucifixion, in the company of Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus.

v50.-[Thy faith hath saved thee.] Let it be observed that it is not said, “thy love hath saved thee.” Here, as in every other part of the New Testament, faith is put forward as the key to salvation. By faith, the woman received our Lord’s invitation, “come unto me and I will give you rest.” By faith, she embraced that invitation, and embracing it, cast off the sins under which she had been so long labouring and heavy-laden. By faith, she boldly came to the Pharisee’s house, and confessed by her conduct that she had found rest in Christ. Her faith worked by love, and bore precious fruit. But it was not love but faith that saved her soul.

[Go in peace.] This was a phrase which was a common valediction among the Jews, like our “goodbye” or “God be with you.” Poole thinks that our Lord specially referred to that “peace” which is the fruit of faith, described in Rom 5:1. He paraphrases the expression thus: “Go thy way, a blessed and happy woman, and in the view and sense of thine own blessedness, be not troubled at the censures and reflections of supercilious persons, who may despise and overlook thee because thou hast been a great sinner.”

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Luk 7:36. One of the Pharisees. Simon (Luk 7:40).

That he would eat with him. There is no evidence of an improper motive. With all his scruples, the Pharisee shows no hostility. Pride may indeed have entered. Our Lord, who came eating and drinking (Luk 7:34), accepted the invitation.

Sat down to meat. As always, reclined at table, the head toward the table, the body supported by the left arm and the feet turned outward. The sandals were usually removed before eating.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The Pharisee’s civility and our Saviour’s courtesy: the Pharisee invites Christ to eat with him; Christ readily accepts the invitation, never refusing any opportunity for doing good. There is a duty of civil courtesy which we owe to the worst of men: none are so bad but we may soberly eat and drink with them; only let us take care, that if our converse do not make them better, their example may not make us worse.

Observe, 2. What an opportunity our Saviour lays hold upon in the Pharisee’s house of doing good to a sinful woman; who coming to Christ bowed down in a sorrowful sight and sense of her sins, finds an hearty welcome to him, and is dismissed with comfort from him. The history runs thus: Behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner, that is, a Gentile, say some; a remarkable, notorious, and infamous sinner, say others; probably, a lewd, unclean woman: she is led in with a note of admiration, Behold a woman that was a sinner!

Learn, that to see a sensual and notorious sinner, out of true remorse of conscience to seek unto a Saviour, is a rare and wonderful sight.

Observe farther, it is not said, “behold, a woman that sinned,” but, Behold, a woman that was a sinner. One action does not denominate a person a sinner, but a habit and trade of sin.

Again, it is said, Behold, a woman in the city: the place where she acted her lewdness added to the heinousness of her sin, it was in the city; the more public the offence, the greater the scandal. Sin is sin, though in the desert, where no eye sees it; but the offence is aggravated by the number and multitude of beholders.

Yet observable it is, that there is no mention made, either of the woman’s name, or of the city’s name; and it is both presumption and injuriousness for any to name her, whose name God has been pleased to conceal; for this is not the same woman that anointed Christ’s feet. Mat 26:6-12

That was in Bethany, this in Galilee; that in the house of Simon the leper, this of Simon the Pharisee.

Observe, 3. The behavior and demeanor of this poor woman; she appears in the poster of a penitent: She stood at Christ’s feet behind him, weeping.

Where note, 1. The great change wrought in this sinful woman, and the evident effects of it: her eyes, which had been formerly lamps of fire by lust, are now a holy fountain of penitential tears; her hair, which she had used as a net to catch her fond and foolish lovers, does now become a towel for her Saviour’s feet.

Verily, such a heart, as has once felt the sting and smart of sin, will make plentiful expressions of the greatness of its sorrow.

Again, 2. She sits behind Christ and weeps: this proceeded, no doubt, from a holy bashfulness; she that was wont to look boldly in the face of her lovers, dares not now behold the face of her Saviour; she that was wont to end her alluring beams forth into the eyes of her wanton lovers, now casts her dejected eyes down upon the earth.

And behold the plenty of her tears, they flow in such abundance that she washes Christ’s feet with them. She began to wash his feet, says the text, but we read not when she ended; never were our Saviour’s feet bedewed with more precious liquor than this of remorseful tears. Thus does a holy penitent account no office too mean that is done to the honor of its Saviour.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 7:36-38. And one of the Pharisees, &c. When Jesus had finished the preceding observations on the ministry of John, the obstinacy of the scribes and Pharisees, and the conduct of all the true lovers of wisdom, a Pharisee named Simon, who, it seems, was a man of a better disposition than the generality of his sect, invited him to dinner. And he went into the Pharisees house He accepted the invitation, and went with him; and sat down to meat Without taking any notice of the omission of some usual ceremonies of respect, which so great a guest might well have expected. And behold a woman which was a sinner This character given of her renders it probable that she had formerly been a harlot. But her conduct on this occasion proves that she was now awakened to a sense of her sin and folly. She is said to have lived in the city, namely, Capernaum, which is often described in that general way. It may be necessary to observe here, that the following is a very different story from that of Mary of Bethany anointing Christs head a little before his death. See Mat 26:6, &c. Neither was this woman, as many have supposed, the person who, in the gospel, is called Mary Magdalene, an opinion for which there appears to be no reason, excepting that Mary Magdalene is mentioned by Luke in the next chapter, as our Lords attendant, and one out of whom he had cast seven devils. See note on Luk 8:2. When she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house Probably she was acquainted at his house, for, it appears, she got easy access even into the room where the company was sitting; brought an alabaster box of ointment With a design to testify her respect and reverence for Jesus, who had shown himself to be her compassionate Saviour. And stood at his feet behind weeping Being come into the room, she placed herself behind Jesus, and from a deep conviction of her many sins, and of the obligations she lay under to him for bringing her to a sense of them, she shed tears in such abundance, that they trickled down on his feet, which were then bare. It must be observed, that neither the Jews nor Romans wore stockings, and as for their shoes or sandals, they always put them off when they took meat: for they did not sit on chairs at meals as we do, but lay on couches covered with stuffs, the quality whereof was suitable to the circumstances of the entertainer. On these couches they placed themselves on their sides, and supported their heads with one arm bent at the elbow, and resting on the couch; with the other they took their food, and were supported at the back by cushions. Their feet of course were accessible to one who came behind the couch. And began to wash (, to water)

his feet with tears, and wipe them with the hairs of her head We are not to imagine that she came with a purpose thus to wash and wipe the feet of Christ; but probably hearing that the Pharisee, who invited Jesus to dinner, had neglected the usual civility of anointing the head of his divine guest, she was willing to supply the defect, bringing for that purpose the alabaster box of ointment; and as she stood near Jesus she was so melted with his discourse, that she shed such a flood of tears as wetted his feet; and observing this, she wiped them with her hair, which she now wore flowing loose about her shoulders, as mourners commonly did; and then, not thinking herself worthy to anoint his head, poured out the liquid perfume on his feet, and thereby showed at once, both great love and great humility. In this view, all appears natural and unaffected. It is well known that long hair was esteemed a great ornament in the female dress, and women of loose character used to nourish and plait it, and to set it out with garlands and flowers.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vers. 36-39. The Offence.

We are still in that epoch of transition, when the rupture between our Lord and the Pharisees, although already far advanced, was not complete. A member of this party could still invite Him without difficulty. It has been supposed that this invitation was given with a hostile intention. But this Pharisee’s own reflection, Luk 7:39, shows his moral state. He was hesitating between the holy impression which Jesus made upon him, and the antipathy which his caste felt against Him. Jesus speaks to him in a tone so friendly and familiar, that it is difficult to suppose him animated by malevolent feelings. Further, Luk 7:42 proves unanswerably that he had received some spiritual benefit from Jesus, and that he felt a certain amount of gratitude towards Him; and Luk 7:47 says expressly that he loved Jesus, although feebly.

The entrance of the woman that was a sinner into such society was an act of great courage, for she might expect to be ignominiously sent away. The power of a gratitude that knew no bounds for a priceless benefit which she had received from the Saviour can alone explain her conduct. Luk 7:42 shows what this benefit was. It was the pardon of her numerous and fearful sins. Was it on hearing Him preach, or in a private interview, or through one of those looks of Jesus which for broken hearts were like a ray from heaven…? She had received from Him the joy of salvation; and the perfume which she brought with her was the emblem of her ardent gratitude for this unspeakable gift. If we adopt the Alex. reading, the sense is: A woman who was a sinner in that city, that is to say, who practised in that very city her shameful profession. The received reading: There was in the city a woman that was a sinner, is less harsh., a sinner, in the same superlative sense in which the Jews thought they might apply this epithet to the Gentiles (Gal 2:15). denotes any kind of odoriferous vegetable essence, particularly that of the myrtle.

As it was the custom when at table to recline upon a couch, the feet being directed backwards, and without their sandals, there was nothing to prevent this woman from coming up to Jesus and anointing His feet. But just when she was preparing to pay Him this homage, she burst into tears at remembrance of her faults. Her tears streamed down upon the Saviour’s feet, and having no cloth to wipe them, she promptly loosed her hair, and with that supplied its place. In order to duly appreciate this act, we must remember that among the Jews it was one of the greatest humiliations for a woman to be seen in public with her hair down.

The , who (Luk 7:39), refers to the name and family, and the , what, to the character and conduct.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

XLVI.

JESUS’ FEET ANOINTED IN THE HOUSE

OF A PHARISEE.

(Galilee.)

cLUKE VII. 36-50.

c36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. [We learn from Luk 7:40 that the Pharisee’s name was Simon. Because the feast at Bethany was given in the house of Simon the leper, and because Jesus was anointed there also, some have been led to think that Luke is here describing this supper. See Mat 26:6-13, Mar 14:3-9, Joh 12:1-8. But Simon the leper was not Simon the Pharisee. The name Simon was one of the most common among the Jewish people. It was the Greek form of the Hebrew Simeon. The New Testament mentions nine and Josephus twenty Simons, and there must have been thousands of them in Palestine at that time. The anointing at Bethany was therefore a different occasion from this.] And he entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. [Literally, reclined at meat. The old Jewish method of eating was to sit cross-legged on the floor or on a divan, but the Persians, Greeks and Romans reclined on couches, and the Jews, after the exile, borrowed this custom. We are not told in plain terms why the Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him. The envy and cunning which characterized his sect leads us to be, perhaps, unduly suspicious that his motives were evil. The narrative, however, shows that his motives were somewhat akin to those of Nicodemus. He wished to investigate the character and claims of Jesus, and was influenced more by curiosity than by hostility–for [290] all Pharisees were not equally bitter ( Joh 7:45-52). But he desired to avoid in any way compromising himself, so he invited Jesus to his house, but carefully omitted all the ordinary courtesies and attentions which would have been paid to an honored guest. Jesus accepted the invitation, for it was his custom to dine both with Pharisees and publicans, that he might reach all classes.] 37 And behold, a woman who was in the city, a sinner; and when she knew that he was sitting at meat in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster cruse of ointment. [Because the definite article “the” is used before the word “city,” Meyer says it was Capernaum, and because Nain is the last city mentioned, Wiesler says it was Nain, but it is not certain what city it was. Older commentators say it was Magdala, because they hold the unwarranted medieval tradition that the sinner was Mary Magdalene, i. e., Mary of Magdala. No trustworthy source has ever been found for this tradition, and there are two good reasons for saying that this was not Mary Magdalene: 1. She is introduced soon after ( Luk 8:2) as a new character and also as a woman of wealth and consequence. See also Mat 27:55. 2. Jesus had delivered her from the possession of seven demons. But there is no connection between sin and demon-possession. The former implies a disregard for the accepted rules of religious conduct, while the latter implies no sinfulness at all. This affliction was never spoken of as a reproach, but only as a misfortune. The cruse which she brought with her was called “an alabaster.” Orientals are very fond of ointments and use them upon the face and hair with profusion. They were scented with sweet-smelling vegetable essence, especially that extracted from the myrtle. Originally the small vases, jars or broad-mouthed bottles, in which the ointment was stored, were carved from alabaster, a variety of gypsum, white, semi-transparent and costly. Afterwards other material was used, but the name “alabaster” was still applied to such cruses. That used by Mary of Bethany was probably the highest grade ointment in the highest priced cruse ( Joh 12:3). The context here [291] leaves us free to suppose that both the cruse and the unguent were of a cheaper kind], 38 and standing behind 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. [To see this scene we must picture Jesus stretched upon the couch and reclining on his left elbow. The woman stood at the foot of the couch behind his feet. His feet were bare; for every guest on entering left his sandals outside the door. The woman, feeling strongly the contrast between the sinlessness of Jesus and her own stained life, could not control her emotions. “The tears,” says Brom, “poured down in a flood upon his naked feet, as she bent down to kiss them; and deeming them rather fouled than washed by this, she hastened to wipe them off with the only towel she had, the long tresses of her own hair. She thus placed her glory at his feet ( 1Co 11:15), after which she put the ointment upon them.”] 39 Now when the Pharisee that had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner. [Public opinion said that Jesus was a prophet ( Luk 7:16), and Simon, from the Pharisee’s standpoint, feared that it might be so; and therefore no doubt felt great satisfaction in obtaining this evidence which he accepted as disproving the claims of Jesus. He judged that if Jesus had been a prophet he would have both known and repelled this woman. He would have known her because discerning of spirits was part of the prophetic office–especially the Messianic office ( Isa 11:2-4, 1Ki 14:6, 2Ki 1:1-3, 2Ki 5:26, 2Ki 5:). Comp. Joh 2:25. He would have repelled her because, according to the Pharisaic tradition, her very touch would have rendered him unclean. The Pharisees, according to later Jewish writings, forbade women to stand nearer to them than four cubits, despite the warning of God ( Isa 65:5). Thus reasoning, Simon concluded that Jesus had neither the knowledge nor the holiness which are essential to a prophet. His narrow mind did not [292] grasp the truth that it was as wonderful condescension for Christ to sit at his board as it was to permit this sinner to touch him.] 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Teacher, say on. [Jesus heard Simon’s thoughts and answered them. Simon called Jesus “Teacher,” little thinking how fully Jesus was about to vindicate the justice of the title, thus given him in compliment.] 41 A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty. [The denarius or shilling was a silver coin issued by Rome which contained nearly seventeen cents’ worth of that precious metal. The two debts, therefore, represented respectively about seventy-five dollars, and seven dollars and fifty cents. But at that time a denarius was a day’s wages for a laboring man ( Mat 20:2, Mat 20:4, Mat 20:12, Mat 20:13), so that the debt is properly translated into our language as if one owed five hundred and the other fifty days of labor.] 42 When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. [In this brief parable God represents the lender, and the woman the big and Simon the little debtor. Simon was (in his own estimation) ten times better off than the woman; yet they were each in an equally hopeless case–having nothing with which to pay; and each in an equally favored case–being offered God’s free forgiveness. Forgiveness is expressed in the past tense in the parable, but merely as part of the drapery and not for the purpose of declaring Simon’s forgiveness. It indicates no more than that Jesus was equally willing to forgive both. But the Pharisee did not seek his forgiveness, and the absence of all love in him proved that he did not have it.] Which of them therefore will love him most? [It was Jesus’ custom to thus often draw his verdicts from the very lips of the parties concerned– Luk 10:36, Luk 10:37, Mat 21:40, Mat 21:41.] 43 Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. [The “suppose” of Simon betrays a touch of supercilious irony, showing that the Pharisee thought the question very trivial. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. [Simon’s words were more [293] than an answer. They were a judgment as well. Like Nathan with David ( 2Sa 12:1-7), Jesus had concealed Simon’s conduct under the vestments of a parable, and had thus led him to unwittingly pronounce sentence against himself. Simon, the little debtor, was a debtor still; having no acts of gratitude to plead in evidence of his acquittal. From this point the words of Jesus take up the conduct of Simon which we should here picture to ourselves. “We must imagine the guests arriving; Simon receiving them with all courtesy, and embracing each in turn; slaves ready to was the dust of the road from their sandaled feet, and to pour sweet olive oil over their heads to soften the parched skin. See Gen 18:4, Gen 19:2, Gen 24:32, Rth 3:3, 1Sa 25:41; Psa 23:5, Psa 141:5, Ecc 9:8, Dan 10:3, Amo 6:6, Mat 6:17. But there is one of the guests not thus treated. He is but a poor man, invited as an act of condescending patronage. No kiss is offered him; no slave waits upon him; of course a mechanic can not need the luxuries others are accustomed to!”] 44 And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? [Simon is to look upon the woman as one whose actions stood in contrast to his own.] I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath wetted my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. [Jesus here draws the first contrast. In the East, where the feet without stockings are placed in sandals instead of shoes, water becomes essential to one who would enter a house. The guest should be afforded an opportunity to wash the dust from his feet, not only for comfort’s sake, but also that he might not be humiliated by soiling the carpets on which he walked, and the cushions on which he reclined. The trifling courtesy Simon had omitted; but the woman had amply supplied his omission, bathing the Lord’s feet in what Bengel well calls “the most priceless of waters.”] 45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. [We have here the second contrast. A kiss was the ordinary salutation of respect in the East. Sometimes the hand was [294] kissed, and sometimes the cheek ( 2Sa 15:5, 2Sa 19:39, Mat 26:49, Act 20:37, Rom 16:16). We may note incidentally that we have no record of a kiss upon the cheek of Jesus save that given by Judas. The woman had graced the feet of Jesus with those honors which Simon had withheld from his cheek.] 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she hath anointed my feet with ointment. [Anointing was a mark of honor which was usually bestowed upon distinguished guests ( Amo 6:6, Psa 23:5, Psa 141:5). To anoint the feet was regarded as extreme luxury (Pliny H.N. xiii. 4). In this third case Jesus makes a double comparison. To anoint the feet was more honored than to anoint the head, and the ointment was a more valuable and worthy offering than the mere oil which ordinary courtesy would have proffered.] 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. [Her love was the result, and not the cause, of her forgiveness. Our sins are not forgiven because we love God, but we love God because they are forgiven ( 1Jo 4:19). Such is the inference of the parable, and such the teaching of the entire New Testament. We search the story in vain for any token of love on the part of Simon.] 48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even forgiveth sins? [They were naturally surprised at this marvelous assumption of authority, but in the light of what had just been said they did not dare to express themselves. Ignorance of Christ’s person and office caused them to thus question him. It is easy to stumble in the dark. We are not told that Simon joined in asking this question.] 50 And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. [Jesus did not rebuke his questioners, because the process of forgiveness was something which could not be demonstrated to their comprehension, and hence their error could not be made clear. Jesus attributed her forgiveness to her faith. “Peace” was the Hebrew and “grace” [295] was the Greek salutation. It is here used as a farewell, and means “Go in the abiding enjoyment of peace.” Several valuable lessons are taught by this incident. 1. That the sense of guiltiness may differ in degree, but nevertheless the absolute inability of man to atone for sin is common to all. 2. As sin is against Christ, to Christ belongs the right and power to forgive it. 3. That conventional respectability, having no such flagrant and open sins as are condemned by the public, is not conscious of its awful need. 4. That those who have wandered far enough to have felt the world’s censure realize most fully the goodness of God in pardoning them, and hence are moved to greater expressions of gratitude than are given by the self-righteous. But we must not draw the conclusion that sin produces love, or that much sin produces much love, and that therefore much sin is a good thing. The blessing which we seek is not proportioned to the quantity of the sins; but is proportioned to the quantity of sinful sense which we feel. We all have sin enough to destroy our souls, but many of us fail to love God as we should, through an insufficient sense of sinfulness.]

[FFG 290-296]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

CHAPTER 23.

GRATITUDE OF THE FALLEN WOMAN WHOM JESUS HAD SAVED

Luk 7:36-50. A certain one of the Pharisees asked Him that He may eat with him; and coming into the house of the Pharisee, He sat down at the table. And, behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, learning that He is dining in the house of the Pharisee, breaking an alabaster box of myrrh, and standing behind by His feet, weeping, began to wash His feet with her tears; and she continued to wipe them with the hairs of her head, and to kiss His feet copiously, and anoint them with the myrrh. As Jesus lived in Capernaum, where this incident transpired, this poor fallen woman had heard Him preaching, and been gloriously converted. How do you know she was fallen? Amartolos, translated sinner, so indicates, and the narrative corroborates. This tender-hearted young convert, keeping close on the track of Jesus, learns that He is to dine with this Pharisee, and, I trow, slips in, with the crowd of His disciples, unobserved by the host, who would evidently have rejected her if she had come alone and thus been recognized. The dining couches in those days were so arranged that the left side was next to the table, and the feet turned away. Hence she had access to His feet while He was eating; her grateful heart, so inundated with the gushing impetuosity of heaven-born love, that when she kisses His feet, her grateful tears spontaneously pour down on them to such an extent that, feeling that they somewhat pollute them, she proceeds to purify them by wiping away the tears with her long, flowing hair, and at the same time the gushing impetuosity of first love constrains her to repeatedly and copiously kiss His feet, and anoint them with the myrrh, which doubtless she had used in her evil life, and was very valuable, as it is not indigenous in Palestine, but transported from Arabia Felix. And the Pharisee, who had called Him, spoke within himself, saying, If this man were a prophet, He would know who and what sort the woman is who touches Him, because she is a sinner. Jesus responding, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to thee; and he says, Master, speak. There were two debtors to a certain creditor; the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And they, not having wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Therefore, which one of them, tell me, will love him the more? Simon responding, said, I apprehend, the one to whom he forgave the more. And He said to him, You judged correctly. And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I came into thy house, and thou gavest Me no water for my feet; but she washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss; but she, from the time I came in, did not cease copiously kissing My feet. Thou didst not anoint My head with oil; but she has anointed My feet with myrrh. Therefore, I say unto thee, That her sins, which are many, are forgiven, because she loved much; but the one to whom little is forgiven, loveth little. And He said to her, Thy sins are forgiven. In that summerland the most of the people go barefoot. Shoes are not now used by the natives, but sandals, which are dropped off at the door, the host meeting the guests with water to wash their feet before entering the house. The olive oil, in that country so abundant, is a substitute for butter, lard, light, and lubrication generally, and used on the hair of the head. The Oriental kiss is still common. These courtesies had been neglected on that occasion, and our Lord reminds His host that this woman has supplied them all. He now brings up a very clear illustration, explaining her incorrigible, gushing gratitude, which she had so copiously demonstrated regardless of all criticism. Does it not follow from this illustration that great sinners will have greater love when they get saved? It certainly does, considering love in the sense of gratitude. But we must remember that there are other phases of spiritual interest besides gratitude, which is certainly the salient point in this illustration. It is doubtful whether the losses sustained in intellectual obscuration and obtundification, and the deep degradation of the moral faculties, are ever entirely regained. As finite beings are all progressive, and the time occupied in recovering lost ground might otherwise be devoted to unimpeded progress, it certainly follows as a logical sequence that there is, in the ultimatum, greater availability and grander possibilities awaiting the person who has never debased the affections in low debaucheries and gross sensualities, nor dwarfed his intellect by dragging it down to the depths of brutality, and blackened it with the hellish horrors of demoniacal passions. Besides, there is an awful risk to run on the other side. While one prodigal gets home, a hundred die at the hog-pen; and while one fallen woman is gloriously saved, as in this case, many never escape from the lasso of Satan. And those sitting along with him began to say among themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? And He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. Even at this date, as our Savior had not openly declared His Messiahship among the Jews, His disciples probably in the main looked upon Him as the greatest prophet God had ever sent to Israel, remembering that Elijah and Elisha had wrought many miracles, and even raised quite a number of people from the dead. The Jews were orthodox on the sin question, and always ready to certify that the forgiveness of sins was the province of God alone. Our Saviors affirmation, setting forth the human conditions of salvation, is exceedingly clear in the unmistakable declaration, Thy faith hath saved thee. No Bible reader can deny the great, fundamental doctrine of salvation through faith alone without flatly contradicting the Savior. If anything else had been the condition of that womans salvation, rest assured, Jesus would have specified it. Justifying faith involves repentance as a necessary and preparatory antecedent, requisite to put the sinner on believing ground for pardon, just as faith for sanctification involves a thorough and complete consecration, an indispensable prerequisite to put you on believing ground for sanctification.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 7:6-50. The Anointing of Jesus.Lk. only; perhaps based on the incident (though not to be identified with it) recorded in Mar 14:3-9*, Mat 26:6-13*, and introduced here in illustration of Jesus friend ship with sinners (Luk 7:34). Simon the leper is here Simon the Pharisee; the abandoned woman enters uninvited and no one is astonished. Her tears forestall her intention, she even makes the sacrifice of letting down her hair in public. Note mg. in Luk 7:37. There is affection here, dignified reverence in Mark 14; toucheth (Luk 7:39) is really clingeth to (cf. Joh 20:17).

The parable (Luk 7:41-43) hardly fits the scene (cf. Luk 10:29-37*). Its point is that great forgiveness produces great love. The truth demanded (Luk 7:47 a) is that great love produces great forgiveness. Luk 7:47 b is thus irrelevant; it belongs to the parable side (so Montefiore). To make the whole of Luk 7:47 consistent with the parable we must assume that the woman had previously (through Jesus preaching) repented, and received the assurance of forgiveness, hence her love and gratitude. Jesus now confirms her assurance and publicly pronounces her forgiveness. Read For which reason, because she has shown much love, I say unto thee that her sins have been forgiven. The womans affection is the gratitude shown for the conviction of forgiveness (so Plummer, Adeney, J. Weiss, Loisy). In Luk 7:50 Jesus puts the emphasis on the womans faith. She had heard that He was the friend of sinners (and of His new way of dealing with them), she believed that He could and would help her, and the miracle of her conversion was largely effected before she entered the house. It was completed by the power of His personality.

Luk 7:38. The verb wet used here and Luk 7:44 is frequent in the papyri for the irrigation of Egypt by the Nile inundation. Elsewhere in NT it means rain.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

7:36 {6} And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.

(6) Proud men deprive themselves of the benefits of the presence of Christ, even when he is at home with them in their houses; and these benefits the humble and base enjoy.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

4. The anointing by a sinful woman 7:36-50

This incident, appearing only in Luke’s Gospel, illustrates the truth just expressed in Luk 7:35. Here is a case in point of what Jesus had just described happening (Luk 7:34). Jesus reached out to a sinner only to receive criticism from a fastidious Pharisee. The love that the woman lavished on Jesus contrasts with Simon the Pharisee’s lack of love for Him. The motif of Jesus’ identity is also significant in this story since Jesus had forgiven the woman’s sins, and this raised a question about His authority. Again Luke featured a woman in his narrative showing Jesus’ concern for women. There are some similarities between this story and the one about Mary anointing Jesus’ feet in Simon the leper’s house, but that was a different incident (cf. Mat 26:6-13; Mar 14:3-9; Joh 12:1-8).

". . . the story of the sinful woman in the Pharisee’s house reminds us of the previous conflict over Jesus’ authority to release sins, suggesting that this is a continuing conflict. This reminder may also help readers to recall Jesus’ basic claim of authority to release sins in Luk 5:24." [Note: Tannehill, 1:106.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

We should not overlook the fact that Jesus accepted an invitation to dinner from a Pharisee. He did not cut all the religious leaders off simply because most of them rejected Him. He dealt with people as individuals. Simon appears to have been a critic rather than a disciple of His. Nevertheless Jesus accepted his invitation.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 13

THE ANOINTING OF THE FEET.

Luk 7:36-50

WHETHER the narrative of the Anointing is inserted in its chronological order we cannot say, for the Evangelist gives us no word by which we may recognize either its time or its place-relation; but we can easily see that it falls into the story artistically, with a singular fitness. Going back to the context, we find Jesus pronouncing a high eulogium upon John the Baptist. Hereupon the Evangelist adds a statement of his own, calling attention to the fact that even Johns ministry failed to reach and influence the Pharisees and lawyers, who rejected the counsel of God and declined the baptism of His messenger. Then Jesus, in one of His brief but exquisite parables, sketches the character of the Pharisees. Recalling a scene of the marketplace, where the children were accustomed to play at “weddings” and “funerals”-which, by the way, are the only games at which the children of the land play today-and where sometimes the play was spoiled and stopped by some of the children getting into a pet, and lapsing into a sullen silence, Jesus says that is just a picture of the childish perversity of the Pharisees. They respond neither to the mourning of the one nor to the music of the other, but because John came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, they call him a maniac, and say, “He hath a devil”; while of Jesus, who has no ascetic ways, but mingles in the gatherings of social life, a Man amongst men, they say, “Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” And having recorded this, our Evangelist inserts, as an appropriate sequel, the account of the supper in the Pharisees house, with its idyllic interlude, played by a womans hand, a narrative which shows, how Wisdom is justified of all her children, and how these condescensions of Jesus, His intercourse with even those who were ceremonially or morally unclean, were both proper and beautiful.

It was in one of the Galilean towns, perhaps at Nain, where Jesus was surprised at receiving an invitation to the house of a Pharisee. Such courtesies on the part of a class who prided themselves on their exclusiveness, and who were bitterly intolerant of all who were outside their narrow circle, were exceptional and rare. Besides, the teaching of Jesus was diametrically opposed to the leaven of the Pharisees. Between the caste of the one and the Catholicism of the other was a wide gulf of divergence. To Jesus the heart was everything, and the outflowing issues were colored by its hues; to the Pharisees the hand, the outward touch, was more than the heart, and Contact more than conduct. Jesus laid a Divine emphasis upon character; the cleanness He demanded was moral cleanness, purity of heart; that of the Pharisees was a ceremonial cleanness, the avoidance of things which were under a ceremonial ban. And so they magnified the jots and tittles, scrupulously tithing their mint and anise, while they overlooked completely the moralities of the heart, and reduced to a mere nothing those grander virtues of mercy and of justice. Between the Separatists and Jesus there was therefore constant friction, which afterwards developed into open hostility; and while they ever sought to damage Him with opprobrious epithets, and to bring His teaching into disrepute, He did not fail to expose their hollowness and insincerity, tearing off the veneer with which they sought to hide the brood of viperous things their creed had gendered, and to hurl against their whited sepulchers His indignant “woes.”

It would almost seem as if Jesus hesitated in accepting the invitation, for the tense of the verb “desired” implies that the request was repeated. Possibly other arrangements had been made, or perhaps Jesus sought to draw out and test the sincerity of the Pharisee, who in kind and courteous words offered his hospitality. The hesitation would certainly not arise from any reluctance on His part, for Jesus refused no open door; he welcomed any opportunity of influencing a soul. As the shepherd of His own parable went over the mountainous paths in quest of his lone lost sheep, so Jesus was glad to risk unkind aspersions, and to bear the “fierce light” of hostile, questioning eyes, if He might but rescue a soul, and win some erring one back to virtue and to truth.

The character of the host we cannot exactly determine. The narrative lights up his features but indistinctly, for the nameless “sinner” is the central object of the picture, while Simon stands in the background, out of focus, and so somewhat veiled in obscurity. To many he appears as the cold and heartless censor, distant and haughty, seeking by the guile of hospitality to entrap Jesus, hiding behind the mask of friendship some dark and sinister motive. But such deep shadows are cast by our own thoughts rather than by the narrative; they are the random “guesses after truth,” instead of the truth itself. It will be noticed that Jesus does not impugn in the least his motive in proffering his hospitality; and this, though but a negative evidence, is not without its weight, when on a similar occasion the evil motive was brought to light. The only charge laid against him-if charge it be-was the omission of certain points of etiquette that Eastern hospitality was accustomed to observe, and even here there is nothing to show that Jesus was treated differently from the other invited guests. The omission, while it failed to single out Jesus for special honor, might still mean no disrespect; and at the most it was a breach of manners, deportment, rather than of morals, just one of those lapses Jesus was most ready to overlook and forgive. We shall form a juster estimate of the mans character if we regard him as a seeker after truth. Evidently he has felt a drawing towards Jesus; indeed, ver. 47 {Luk 7:47} would almost imply that he had received some personal benefit at His hand. Be this as it nay, he is desirous of a closer and a freer intercourse. His mind is perplexed, the balances of his judgment swinging in alternate and opposite ways. A new problem has presented itself to him, and in that problem is one factor he cannot yet value. It is the unknown quantity, Jesus of Nazareth. Who is He? what is He? A prophet-the Prophet-the Christ? Such are the questions running through his mind-questions which must be answered soon, as his thoughts and opinions have ripened into convictions. And so he invites Jesus to his house and board, that in the nearer vision and the unfettered freedom of social intercourse he may solve the great enigma. Nay, he invites Jesus with a degree of earnestness, putting upon Him the constraint of a great desire; and leaving his heart open to conviction, ready to embrace the truth as soon as he recognizes it to be truth, he flings open the door of his hospitalities, though in so doing he shakes the whole fabric of Pharisaic exclusiveness and sanctity. Seeking after truth, the truth finds him.

There was a simplicity and freeness in the social life of the East which our Western civilization can scarcely understand. The door of the guest-chamber was left open, and the uninvited, even comparative strangers, were allowed to pass in and out during the entertainment; or they might take their seats by the wall, as spectators and listeners. It was so here. No sooner have the guests taken their places, reclining around the table, their bared feet projecting behind them, than the usual drift of the uninvited set in, amongst whom, almost unnoticed in the excitements of the hour, was “a woman of the city.” Simon in his soliloquy speaks of her as “a sinner”; but had we his testimony only, we should hesitate in giving to the word its usually received meaning; for “sinner” was a pet term of the Pharisees, applied to all who were outside their circle, and even to Jesus Himself. But when our Evangelist, in describing her character, makes use of the same word, we can only interpret the “sinner” in one way, in its sensual, depraved meaning. And with this agrees the phrase “a woman which was in the city,” which seems to indicate the loose relations of her too-public life.

Bearing in her hand “an alabaster cruse of ointment,” for a purpose which soon became apparent, she passed over to the place where Jesus sat, and stood directly behind Him. Accustomed as she had been to hide her deeds in the veil of darkness, nothing but the current of a deep emotion could have carried her thus through the door of the guest-chamber, setting her, alone of her sex, full in the glare of the lamps and the light of scornful eyes; and no sooner has she reached her goal than the storm of the heart breaks in a rain of tears, which fall hot and fast upon the feet of the Master. This, however, is no part of her plan, they were impromptu tears she could not restrain; and instantly she stoops down, and with the loosened tresses of her hair she wipes His feet, kissing them passionately as she did so. There is a delicate meaning in the construction of the Greek verb, “she began to wet His feet with her tears”; it implies that the action was not. continued, as when afterwards she “anointed” His feet. It was momentary, instantaneous, checked soon as it was discovered. Then pouring from her flask the fragrant nard, she proceeded with loving, leisurely haste to anoint His feet, until the whole chamber was redolent of the sweet perfume.

But what is the meaning of this strange episode, this “song without words,” struck by the womans hands as from a lyre of alabaster? It was evidently something determined, prearranged. The phrase “when she knew that He was sitting at meat” means something more than she “heard.” Her knowledge as to where Jesus was had not come to her in a casual way, in the vagrant gossip of the town; it had come by search and inquiry on her part, as if the plan were already determined, and she were eager to carry it out. The cruse of ointment that she brings also reveals the settled resolve that she came on purpose, and she came only, to anoint the feet of Jesus. The word, too, rendered “she brought” has a deeper meaning than our translation conveys. It is a word that is used in ten other passages of the New Testament, where it is invariably rendered “receive,” or “received,” referring to something received as a wage, or as a gift, or as a prize. Used here in the narrative, it implies that the cruse of ointment had not been bought; it was something she had received as a gift, or possibly as the wages of her sin. And not only was it prearranged, part of a deliberate intention, but evidently it was not displeasing to Jesus. He did not resent it. He gives Himself up passively to the womans will. He allows her to touch, and even to kiss His feet, though He knows that to society she is a moral leper, and that her fragrant ointment is possibly the reward of her shame. We must, then, look behind the deed to the motive. To Jesus the ointment and the tears were full of meaning, eloquent beyond any power of words.

Can we discover that meaning, and read why they were so welcome? We think we may.

And here let us say that Simons thoughts were perfectly natural and correct, with no word or tone that we can censure. Canon Farrar, it is true, detects in the “This man” with which he speaks of Jesus a “supercilious scorn”; but we fail to see the least scorn, or even disrespect, for the pronoun Simon uses is the identical word used by St. Matthew, {Mat 3:3} of John the Baptist, when he says, “This is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias,” and the word of the “voice from heaven” which said, “This is My beloved Son”. {Mat 3:17} That the woman was a sinner Simon knew well; arid would not Jesus know it too, if He were a prophet? Doubtless He would; but as Simon marks no sign of disapproval upon the face of Jesus, the enigmatical “if” grows larger in his mind, and he begins to think that Jesus has scarcely the prescience-the power of seeing through things-that a true prophet would have. Simons reasoning was right, but his facts were wrong. He imagined that Jesus did not know “who and what manner of woman” this was; whereas Jesus knew more than he, for He knew not only the past of shame, but a present of forgiveness and hope.

And what did the tears and the ointment mean, that Jesus should receive them so readily, and that He should speak of them so approvingly? The parable Jesus spoke to Simon will explain it. “Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee,” said Jesus, answering his thoughts-for He had heard them-by words. And falling naturally into the parabolic form of speech-as He did when He wanted to make His meaning more startling and impressive-He said, “A certain money-lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” A question to which Simon could promptly answer, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” It is clear, then, whatever others might see in the womans deed, that Jesus read in it the expression of her love, and that He accepted it as such; the tears and outpoured ointment were the broken utterances of an affection which was too deep for words. But if her offering-as it certainly was-was the gift of love, how shall we explain her tears? For love, in the presence of the beloved, does not weep so passionately, indeed does not weep at all, except, it may be, tears of joy, or tears of a mutual sorrow. In this way: As the wind blows landward from the sea, the mountain ranges cool the clouds, and cause them to unlock their treasures, in the fertile and refreshing rains; so in the heart of this “sinner” a cloud of recollections is blown up suddenly from her dark past; the memories of her shame-even though that shame be now forgiven-sweep across her soul with resistless force, for penitence does not end when forgiveness is assured; and as she finds herself in the presence of Infinite Purity, what wonder that the hearts great deeps are broken up, and that the wild storm of conflicting emotions within should find relief in a rain of tears? Tears of penitence they doubtless were, bitter with the sorrow and the shame of years of guilt; but they were tears of gratitude and holy love as well, all suffused and brightened by the touch of mercy and the light of hope. And so the passionate weeping was no acted grief, no hysterical tempest; it was the perfectly natural accompaniment of profound emotion, that storm of mingled but diverse elements which now swept through her soul. Her tears, like the dew-drops that hang upon leaf and flower, were wrought in the darkness, fashioned by the Night, and at the same time they were the jewels that graced the robe of a new dawn, the dawn of a better, a purer life.

But how came this new affection within her heart, an affection so deep that it must have tears and anointings for its expression-this new affection, which has become a pure and holy passion, and which breaks through conventional bonds, as it has broken through the old habits, the ill usages of a life? Jesus Himself traces for us this affection to its source. He tells us-for the parable is all meaningless unless we recognize in the five-hundred-pence debtor the sinning woman that her great love grows out of her great forgiveness, a past forgiveness too, for Jesus speaks of the change as already accomplished: “Her sins, which were many, are (have been) forgiven.” And here we touch an unwritten chapter of the Divine life; for as the womans love flows up around Jesus, casting its treasures at His feet, so the forgiveness must first have come from Jesus. His voice it must have been which said, “Let there be light,” and which turned the chaos of her dark soul into another Paradise. At any rate, she thinks she owes to Him her all. Her new creation, with its deliverance from the tyrannous past; her new joys and hopes, the spring-blossom of a new and heavenly existence; the conscious purity which has now taken the place of lust-she owes all to the word and power of Jesus. But when this change took place, or when, in the great transit, this Venus of the moral firmament passed across the disc of the Sun, we do not know. St. John inserts in his story one little incident, which is like a piece of mosaic dropped out from the Gospels of the Synoptists, of a woman who was taken in her sin and brought to Jesus. And when the hands of her accusers were not clean enough to cast the first stone, but they shrank one by one out of sight, self condemned, Jesus bade the penitent one to “go in peace, and sin no more.” Are the two characters identical? And does the forgiven one, dismissed into peace, now return to bring to her Savior her offering of gratitude and love? We can only say that such an identification is at least possible, and more so far than the improbable identification of tradition, which confounds this nameless “sinner” with Mary Magdalene, which is an assumption perfectly baseless and most unlikely.

And so in this erring one, who now puts her crown of fragrance upon the feet of Jesus, since she is unworthy to put it upon His head, we see a penitent and forgiven soul. Somewhere Jesus found her, out on the forbidden paths, the paths of sin, which, steep and slippery, lead down to death; His look arrested her, for it cast within her heart the light of a new hope; His presence, which was the embodiment of a purity infinite and absolute, shot through her soul the deep consciousness and conviction of her guilt; and doubtless upon her ears had fallen the words of the great absolution and the Divine benediction, “thy sins are all forgiven; go in peace,” words which to her made all things new-a new heart within, and a new earth around. And now, regenerate and restored, the sad past forgiven, all the currents of her thought and life reversed, the love of sin turned into a perfect loathing, her language, spoken in tears, kisses, and fragrant nard, is the language of the Psalmist, “O Lord, I will praise Thee; for though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me.” It was the “Magnificat” of a forgiven and a loving soul.

Simon had watched the womans actions in silence, though in evident displeasure. He would have resented her touch, and have forbade even her presence; but found under his roof, she became in a certain sense a guest, shielded by the hospitable courtesies of Eastern life. But if he said nothing, he thought much, and his thoughts were hard and bitter. He looked upon the woman as a moral leper, an outcast. There was defilement in her touch, and he would have shaken it off from him as if it were a viper, fit only to be cast into the fire of a burning indignation. Now Jesus must teach him a lesson, and throw his thoughts back upon himself. And first He teaches him that there is forgiveness for sin, even the sin of uncleanness; and in this we see the bringing in of a better hope. The Law said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die”; it shall be cut off from the people of Israel. The Law had but one voice for the adulterer and adulteress, the voice which was the knell of a sharp and fearful doom, without reprieve or mercy of any kind. It cast upon them the deadly rain of stones, as if it would hurl a whole Sinai upon them. But Jesus comes to man with a message of mercy and of hope. He proclaims a deliverance from the sin, and a pardon for the sinner; nay, He offers Himself, as at once the Forgiver of sin and the Savior from sin. Let Him but see it repented of; let Him but see the tears of penitence, or hear the sighs of a broken and contrite heart, and He steps forward at once to deliver and to save. The Valley of Achor, where the Law sets up its memorial of shame, Jesus turns into a door of hope. He speaks life where the Law spoke death; He offers hope where the Law gave but despair; and where exacting Law gave pains and fearful punishment only, the Mediator of the New Covenant, to the penitent though erring ones, spoke pardon and peace, even the perfect peace, the eternal peace.

And Jesus teaches Simon another lesson. He teaches him to judge himself, and not either by his own fictitious standard, by the Pharisaic table of excellence, by the Divine standard. Holding up as a mirror the example of the woman, Jesus gives to Simon a portrait of his own self, as seen in the heavenly light, all shrunken and dwarfed, the large “I” of Pharisaic complacency becoming, in comparison, small indeed. Turning to the woman, He said unto Simon, “Seest thou this woman?” (And Simon had not seen her; he had only seen her shadow, the shadow of her sinful past). “I entered into thine house; thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she hath wetted My feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she hath anointed My feet with ointment.” It is a problem of the pronouns, in which the “I” being given, it is desired to find the relative values of “thou” and “she.” And how beautifully does Jesus work it out, according to the rules of Divine proportions! With what antithetical skill does He make His comparison, or rather His contrast. “Thou gavest me no water for My feet; she hath wetted My feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. Thou gavest me no kiss: she hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not. anoint: she hath anointed My feet with ointment.”

And so Jesus sets over against the omissions of Simon the loving and lavish attentions of the: woman; and while reproving him, not for a lack of civility, but for want of heartiness in his reception of Himself, He shows how deep and full run the currents of her affection, breaking through the banks and bounds of conventionality in their sweet overflow, while as yet the currents of his love were intermittent, shallow, and somewhat cold. He does not denounce this Simon as having no part or lot in this matter. No; He even credits him with a little love, as He speaks of him as a pardoned, justified soul. And it was true. The heart of Simon had been drawn toward Jesus, and in the urgent invitation and these proffered hospitalities we can discern a nascent affection. His love is yet but in the bud. It is there, a thing of life; but it is confined, constrained, and lacking the sweetness of the ripened and opened flower. Jesus does not cut off the budding affection, and cast it out amongst the withered and dead things, but sprinkling it with the dew of His speech, and throwing upon it the sunshine of His approving look, He leaves it to develop, ripening into an after-harvest of fragrance and of beauty. And why was Simons love more feeble and immature than that of the woman? First, because he did not see so much in Jesus as she did. He was yet stumbling over the “if,” with some lingering doubts as to whether He were “the prophet”; to her He is more than a “prophet, ” even her Lord and her Savior, covering her past with a mantle of mercy, and opening within her heart a heaven. Then, too, Simons forgiveness was not so great as hers. Not that any forgiveness can be less than entire; for when Heaven saves it is not a salvation by installments-certain sins remitted, while others are held back uncancelled. But Simons views of sin were not so sharp and vivid as were those of the woman. The atmosphere of Phariseeism in its moral aspects was hazy; it magnified human virtues, and created all sorts of illusive mirages of self-righteousness and reputed holiness, and doubtless Simons vision had been impaired by the refracting atmosphere of his creed. The greatness of our salvation is ever measured by the greatness of our danger and our guilt. The heavier the burden and weight of condemnation, the deeper is the peace and the higher are the ecstasies of joy when that condemnation is removed: Shall we say, then, “We must sin more, that love may more abound?” Nay, we need not, we must not; for as Godet says, “What is wanting to the best of us, in order to love much, is not sin, but the knowledge of it.” And this deeper knowledge of sin, the more vivid realization of its guilt, its virulence, its all-pervasiveness, comes just in proportion as we approach Christ. Standing close up to the cross, feeling the mortal agonies of Him whose death was necessary as sins atonement, in that vivid light of redeeming love even the strict moralist, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, could speak of himself as the “chief” of sinners.

The lesson was over, and Jesus dismissed the woman-who, with her empty alabaster flask, had lingered at the feast, and who had heard all the conversation-with the double assurance of pardon: “thy sins are forgiven; thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” And such is the Divine order everywhere and always-Faith, Love, Peace. Faith is the procuring cause, or the condition of salvation; love and peace are its after-fruits; for without faith, love would be only fear, and peace itself would be unrest.

She went in peace, “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding”; but she left behind her the music of her tears and the sweet fragrance of her deed, a fragrance and a music which have filled the whole world, and which, floating across the valley of death, will pass up into heaven itself!

There was still one little whisper of murmuring, or questioning rather; for the guests were startled by the boldness of His words, and asked among themselves, “Who is this that even forgiveth sins?” But it will be noticed that Simon himself is no longer among the questioners, the doubters. Jesus is to him “the Prophet,” and more than a prophet, for who can forgive sins but God alone. And though we hear no more of him or of his deeds, we may rest assured that his conquered heart was given without reserve to Jesus, and that he too learned to love with a true affection, even with the “perfect love,” which “casteth out fear.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary