Sinful Women

 Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

³⁶ When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

From Surprised by the Parables: 

"Jesus used parables to challenge people to look at the kingdom in new ways. The parables do not just inform, but also challenge us to change our perspective on what the kingdom is like, why it is important, and how we can respond."

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

1.​The parable of the two debtors teaches us that great forgiveness leads to great love from the one forgiven.

2.​The two characters in the parable relate to Simon and the woman who anoints Jesus as the one who has been forgiven little and the one who had been forgiven much.

3.​However, there is irony in Jesus’ comment about the relationship between forgiveness and love, for ultimately, there is no one who has been forgiven “little.”

4.​Therefore, the parable is aimed toward confronting Simon with his inability to see that he needs to be forgiven “much.”

5.​The extraordinary love the woman shows Jesus comes from her recognition of her own spiritual poverty and the magnitude of what she has received.

6.​As a result, the parable challenges us: are we willing to see our own need for forgiveness, or if we will stay in our self-righteousness and resist God’s gift?

Barnewall, Michelle Lee. Surprised by the Parables: Growing in Grace through the Stories of Jesus (pp. 61-62). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.