Sermon Notes

7 36-39 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.” [40 Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Oh? Tell me.” 41-42 “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.” “That’s right,” said Jesus.] 44-47 Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.” 48 Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.” 49 That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!” 50 He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

All four gospels include a story about a woman who anoints Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark (14:3-9) and the Gospel of Matthew (26:6-13), an unnamed woman enters the house of Simon the leper, in Bethany, and anoints Jesus on the head with perfume from an alabaster jar. Her actions occur immediately before his passion. Although some in the house object to her actions—“some” in Mark, and “the disciples” in Matthew—Jesus defends the woman, indicating that she has anointed his body in preparation for his burial.
The Gospel of John (12:1-8) also provides Bethany as the place for this scene of anointing. However, the actions takes place in Lazarus’ home and it is his sister Mary who anoints Jesus feet. In John’s recounting of this event, Mary does not have an alabaster jar, and she anoints Jesus’ feet instead of his head. Further, it is Judas who objects to her actions. Again, Jesus defends the woman, indicating that Mary’s purchase of the expensive perfume was so she could prepare for the day of his burial. In Mark, Matthew, and John, Jesus indicates the poor are an enduring condition as he praises the woman for her extravagant outpouring despite the cost.
In the Luke’s retelling of the story about a woman who anoints Jesus with oil, three important distinctions are evident. First, Jesus is dining in the house of a Pharisee. Second, the woman is unnamed and called a sinner or “harmartolos” (ἁμαρτωλός) in Greek. This difference completely changes the nature and trajectory of this story. Luke shifts the nature of her action from a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus passion to an extravagant gesture of gratitude. Third, Luke sets this event near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry—far from his passion—as a way to narratively unfold his identity and mission. In recrafting the story to emphasize how faith is both modeled and received, Luke demonstrates that the Kin-dom of God is accessible to everyone through a Jesus that accepts anyone who has faith.

36-39 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”
In this week’s lesson pericope, we are introduced to three people. The first character in this text is a Pharisee. Later in Luke’s version of this incident, we are told that the Pharisee host of this dinner was a man named Simon. Though not made known explicitly, the reference to “Simon the Leper,” is probably to a well-known man that Jesus had cured of leprosy. In so doing, Jesus had freed this man from physical, economic, social and spiritual bondages. Probably out of gratitude for being healed, Simon held this dinner in his home for Jesus. However, it appears that because while he has offered to host Jesus for a meal, his hospitality is nevertheless lacking. The text does not indicate that Simon offered to clean Jesus’ feet—as is a Jewish custom when a guest entered one’s house.
The second person we meet is Jesus, who has graciously accepted a dinner invitation from a person who is part of a group that have determined to act as his adversaries—the Pharisees.
The third person we meet in this text is an unnamed women who Luke introduces as a woman of the city and a sinner. In the Message translation, Peterson says she is the town harlot. When exploring the Greek word that Luke employs here, harmartolos, it can mean someone who is not free from sin (Romans 3:23) or someone who is perennially sinful based on being stained with certain vices or crimes—i.e., tax collectors and sinners. Unlike Simon’s evident lack of hospitality, this woman enters the house, and at great expense to herself, anoints Jesus’ feet with a costly perfume.
The expense she bears is both financial and reputational. The alabaster jar of perfume no doubt cost her as much as a year’s wages. Biblical and non-biblical records attest that some women worked outside of the home and could have earned sizable incomes and became wealthy apart from their father’s or husband’s households. In the book of Acts—the second part of Luke-Acts—we learn of Lydia who sells fine purple linens (Acts 16:14) and Prisca who works with leather goods (Acts 18:3.) But even for a person will great financial resources, this amount of perfume would have been costly for this unnamed women to obtain and then use to anoint Jesus.
This woman’s anointing of Jesus is also at a great emotional and reputational cost. When she enters the house, she immediately humbles herself and kneels to kiss, wash, and dry the feet Jesus. The fact that she is known as “a sinner” means she will be ostracized and talked about because she has the audacity to grace the house of a Pharisee with her presence. They may even throw her out of the house or call the authorities to remove her as she would endure the scorn and rejection of the Pharisee and other dinner guests at that meal.
For a Pharisee, holiness was primarily a matter of physical separation from sin and from “sinners”—the label Luke applies to this woman. Thus, this woman’s desire to see and worship Jesus was greater than her fear of public scorn. Scorn was a high price to pay. However, the woman willing to pay that price if it meant that she could show Jesus how much she appreciated him. But, the extravagant price and cost did not matter. This woman was determined to show Jesus how much she loved him and his ministry unto her. Luke’s presentation of this woman’s actions should cause the observant Christian hearer/reader to examine themselves, and ask the question: do I show Jesus how much I love him?
Despite the expected social ramifications of this woman’s actions, Luke says it is not the woman who draws scorn, but Jesus, because the Pharisee thinks to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.” Simon thought Jesus was a prophet—probably because he had been healed by him. However, his Pharisaic training, self-righteousness, and the prejudices about whom Jesus chooses to associate with, caused him dismiss Jesus as a God-sent prophet and the Messiah. Simon the Pharisee misses who Jesus is because he has preconceived notions about who Jesus should be.
40 Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Oh? Tell me.” 41-42 “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.” “That’s right,” said Jesus.
Verses 40-43 are not in the printed lesson, but they should be mentioned to properly contextualize this passage of scripture. Unlike the Markan, Matthean, and Johannine versions of this story, the tension in Luke’s version rises from Jesus and the Pharisee having two different perceptions of this woman, as opposed to having differing opinions about the value of her offering and its proper use for charitable purposes. In order to illustrate the difference in perception and perspective, Jesus employs a parable. We do not see this in the other gospel versions. The parable, though short and simple, speaks volumes. Its meaning is immediately grasped by the Simon the Pharisee—a person who has been forgiven the most, will be the most grateful.
44 Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” 48 Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.
In the final verses of the lesson text, Luke reveals the importance of how Jesus views the woman as opposed to how the Pharisee views the woman. Jesus sees the Simon’s lack of hospitality and the woman’s extravagant outpouring of hospitality and love. Jesus then says the woman exhibits such love because she had already been forgiven of her sins. The verbal form used in verse 48 when Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven,” is past-tense, meaning at some previous interaction with this woman, Jesus had already forgiven her sins.
The key to understanding this entire scriptural passage and the printed lesson hinges not only verse 50—where Jesus says, “your faith has saved you go in peace,”—but in understanding the relationship between faith and love in verse 47. When Jesus says, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love,” Luke makes it clear that the woman’s extravagant outpouring of love towards Jesus is the result of her having experienced the healing power of forgiveness. The woman does not earn forgiveness because she poured out extravagant love towards Jesus. She pours out extravagant love towards Jesus because God through Jesus first poured out extravagant forgiving love towards her.
This lesson reminds us that we cannot not earn God’s forgiveness. God forgives us because that is the nature, character, and behavior of God. God loves us first, God trusts us first, God has compassion towards us first, God forgives us first, and God loved us first—before the foundations of the world were ever laid. Luke’s version of the story of the woman who anoints Jesus is shaped in a way that underscores how God always reaches out towards humanity first, forgiving our sins and showing us love through his son, Jesus. Therefore, we should demonstrate gratefulness and faith like this unnamed woman who anoints Jesus. How much do we love Jesus? We should love him enough to see people, love people, forgive people, and warmly receive people just like Jesus did!

i) See Barbara E. Reid and Shelly Matthews, Luke 1–9 (Wisdom Commentary Series Book 43) Liturgical Press. Kindle Edition.