One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
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Luke 7:36-38 sits inside this longer paragraph.
One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”
Parallel Translations
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One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.
Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
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And one of the pharises desyred him that he wolde eate with him. And he went into the pharises housse and sate doune to meate.
And beholde a woman in that cite which was a synner assone as she knewe that. Iesus sate at meate in the pharises housse she brought an alablaster boxe of oyntment
and she stode at his fete behynde him wepynge and beganne to wesshe his fete with teares and dyd wipe the with the heares of her heed and kyssed his fete and anoynted them with oyntment.
Show all 3 translations
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And one of the Pharises desired him that hee would eate with him: and hee went into the Pharises house, and sate downe at table.
And beholde, a woman in the citie, which was a sinner, when she knewe that Iesus sate at table in the Pharises house, shee brought a boxe of oyntment.
And shee stoode at his feete behinde him weeping, and began to wash his feete with teares, and did wipe them with the heares of her head, and kissed his feete, and anoynted them with the oyntment.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (42)
- Mark 14:3-9 (vv36–37) While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure…
- Psalms 126:5-6 (v38) Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying…
- Matthew 26:5-6 (v36) But they said, “Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people.” Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
- Luke 14:1 (v36) When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.
- Psalms 51:17 (v38) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
Show all 40 cross-references
- Matthew 26:6-13 (v37) Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and…
- Genesis 18:4 (v38) Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
- Matthew 21:31 (v37) Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax…
- Luke 5:30 (v37) Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
- Luke 7:37-39 (v37) Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of…
- John 11:2-16 (v36) It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. The sisters…
- Psalms 6:6-8 (v38) I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old…
- Ecclesiastes 9:8 (v38) Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.
- Isaiah 61:3 (v38) to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the…
- Luke 5:32 (v37) I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
- Luke 7:44-46 (v38) Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she…
- Luke 18:13 (v37) But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a…
- John 12:1-8 (v37) Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. So they made…
- 1 Timothy 1:9 (v37) as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the…
- 1 Peter 4:18 (v37) “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”
- Luke 7:34 (vv36–37) The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and…
- Psalms 38:18 (v38) For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin.
- Jeremiah 31:9 (v38) They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which…
- Luke 11:37 (v36) Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.
- John 11:2 (v37) It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
- John 13:4-5 (v38) arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into the…
- Romans 5:8 (v37) But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 (v38) For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold, this…
- Ezra 10:1 (v38) Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of…
- Joel 2:12 (v38) “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
- Matthew 5:4 (v38) Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
- Luke 19:7 (v37) When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
- John 9:24 (v37) So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
- John 9:31 (v37) We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
- 1 Timothy 1:15 (v37) The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
- Judges 2:4-5 (v38) When Yahweh’s angel spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept. They called the name of…
- Isaiah 57:9 (v38) You went to the king with oil, increased your perfumes, sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.
- Jeremiah 31:18-20 (v38) “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be…
- Zechariah 12:10 (v38) I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom…
- James 4:9 (v38) Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
40 distinct cross-references across this passage (42 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v36 Proud men deprive themselves of the benefits of the…
Proud men deprive themselves of the benefits of the presence of Christ, even then when he is at home with them in their houses; which the humble and base do enjoy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that…
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.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv36–37 This was no small civility from a Pharisee, for…
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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v36 Observe here, 1. The Pharisee’s civility and our Saviour’s…
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!
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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.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v36 When and where this passage of story happened does…
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 and 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 (Luk 7:36): 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 (Luk 7:39), 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.
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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 (Sa1 25:41) 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, Eze 16:63.
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, Sol 1:2. 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 (Luk 7:39): 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 65:5); 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, Luk 7:40. 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, Luk 7:41-43. 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, Mat 18:23, etc., 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? Luk 7:44. 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 (Luk 7:45), 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 (Luk 7:46), 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, Luk 7:47. 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, Luk 7:48. 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 (Luk 7:49), as those had done (Mat 9:3), 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, Luk 7:50. 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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv36–38 And Jesus answering said unto him,.... Christ being God…
And Jesus answering said unto him,.... Christ being God omniscient, knew not only the character and conversation of this woman, which were publicly known by all, that knew any thing of her, but also the secret thoughts and reasonings of the Pharisee, and makes answer to them; which shows, that he was a prophet, in the sense of this man; yea, more than a prophet:
Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee; this could not be Simon Peter, Christ spoke to, as some have suggested; for the answer is made unto the Pharisee, and he is the person addressed by the name of Simon; even he, into whose house Christ entered, and now was, as appears from Luk 7:44.
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And he saith, Master; or teacher, or doctor; or as the Syriac version, "Rabbi"; which was the common salutation of doctors:
say on. This was a way of speaking in use with the Jews, giving leave to proceed in a discourse; and as Christ was now a guest in this man's house, he asks leave of him, and he grants him it: so we read of R. Simeon ben Gamaliel (z) that he said to R. Ishmael ben Elishah,
"is it thy pleasure that I should say before thee one thing? he said unto him, "say on".''
Again, R. Jochanan ben Zaccai said (a) to a certain governor,
"suffer me to say one thing to thee: he replied to him, "say on".''
(z) Abot R. Nathan, c. 38. fol. 9. 2. (a) Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 4. fol. 183. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv36–37 And one of the Pharisees asked him to eat…
And one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him - Let the candour with which our Lord accepted this invitation, and his gentleness and prudence at this ensnaring entertainment, teach us to mingle the wisdom of the serpent, with the innocence and sweetness of the dove. Let us neither absolutely refuse all favours, nor resent all neglects, from those whose friendship is at best very doubtful, and their intimacy by no means safe.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv36–38 Verse 36. One of the Pharisees] Called Simon, Lu…
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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v36 Luk 7:36-38. And one of the Pharisees, &c. —…
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 Pharisee’s 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 Christ’s 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 Lord’s 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 Pharisee’s 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 (βρεχειν, 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv36–38 One of the Pharisees - His name was Simon,…
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.
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Meat - Supper. Food of any kind. Sat down to eat.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv36, 38 A woman in the city, who was a sinner.…
A woman in the city, who was a sinner. Some say she had only been of a vain airy carriage; on that loved to be admired from her beauty and wit; but the common exposition and more conformable to the text, is, that she had been of a lewd, debauched life and conversation. (Witham) --- Mary Magdalene.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v36 c. The Dinner In The House Of Simon The…
c. The Dinner In The House Of Simon The Pharisee (Luk_7:36-50)
(Gospel on St. Mary Magdalene’s Day.)
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36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he wentinto the Pharisee’s 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 Pharisee’s 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 Simon’s 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 ἁμαρτωλός, 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. 281–292, 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 Simon’s 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 John’s 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 Simon’s house. We may add that precisely such a behavior as that recorded of the woman in Simon’s 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, ἀλάβαστρον μύρου.—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 Archæol, 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 (ἤρξατο), 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 Simon’s 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 woman’s 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 ἁμαρτωλός, 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 λέγων ἐν ἑαυτῷ, 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 Simon’s 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 Simon’s 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.
Δηνάρια, a Roman silver coin, =1 drachma = 16 asses [about 7½d. 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 ὀρθῶς of holy irony, an ὀρθῶς 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 σου 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 woman’s exhibition of love strikes the eye so much the more. Simon gives no water—she 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 ἔλαιον, but she something much more precious, μύρον. And this proof of her homage she presented to the Lord from the very time of his entrance, ἀφ̓ ῆ̓ς εἰσῆλθον. (See the textual notes on Luk_7:45.) The reading εἰσῆλθεν, 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 λέγω σοι as standing in a parenthesis (De Wette), and separated in some measure from οὗ χάριν. 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.
Ἀφέωνται—ὅτι ἠγάπησε πολύ.—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 ὅτι, 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. [Meyer’s explanation appears to me better: “This ὅτι ἠγάπησε πολύ 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 παραβολή lying at the basis, Luk_7:41-42, as well as with the immediately following ᾧ δὲ ὀλίγον ἀφίεται, &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 ὅτι … 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 αἱ πολλαί 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. Καὶ ἰδού. 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 Luke’s 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 ἀμαρτωλοί 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 δωρεάν (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 Simon’s 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 apostle’s 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 God’s 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: ἥτις ἧν immediately after γυνή. [Cod. Sin. places the words so.—C. C. S.]
[8]Luk_7:42.—Rec.: Μὴ ἐχόντων δὲ. Δέ is to be omitted. [Ins., Cod. Sin. and 15 other uncials; om., B., D., L., P.—C. C. S.]
[9]Luk_7:44.—Rec.: ταῖς θριξὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὑτῆς. [Om., τῆς κεφ., A., B., D., Cod. Sin. al.—C. C. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv37–38 CHRIST'S FEET WASHED WITH TEARS. (Luk 7:36-50)
CHRIST'S FEET WASHED WITH TEARS. (Luk 7:36-50)
a sinner--one who had led a profligate life. Note.--There is no ground whatever for the popular notion that this woman was Mary Magdalene, nor do we know what her name was. (See on Luk 8:2.)
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an alabaster box of ointment--a perfume vessel, in some cases very costly (Joh 12:5). "The ointment has here a peculiar interest, as the offering by a penitent of what had been an accessory in her unhallowed work of sin" [ALFORD].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv36–38 § 41. THE WOMAN, vv. A SINNER, vv. PUBLICLY…
§ 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.)
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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.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36-39. Jesus in the House of Simon.
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.
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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. ἀρχιτρίκλινος, 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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv36–38 (36) One of the Pharisees . . .—We may…
(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 Lord’s 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 reproach—“a gluttonous man and a winebibber.” There is something very suggestive in our Lord’s 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 Father’s 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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv36–38 Vers. 36-50. The nameless woman who was a sinner,…
Vers. 36-50. The nameless woman who was a sinner, and Simon the-Pharisee. As regards the incident about to be told, some commentators have believed that the anointing was identical with that related by St. John as having taken place at Bethany very shortly before the Crucifixion. Without detailing the several points of difference in the two recitals, it will be sufficient surely to call attention to the character of the Bethany family, Lazarus and his sisters, the intimate friends of Jesus, to show how monstrous it would be to attempt to connect the poor soul who followed the Master to Simon"s house with the sweet Mary of Bethany. A widely spread and, in the Western Church, a very generally received tradition identifies this woman with Mary of Magdala the Mary Magdalene mentioned in Luk_9:2, and again after the Crucifixion, in company with the band of holy women. (Luk_24:10) Out of Mary Magdalene, we learn, had been cast seven devils. This, however, gives us no clue to identify the two; rather the contrary. It is scarcely likely that the apparently well-known courtesan of the touching story was a demoniac.
The earliest writers say nothing respecting the identity of the two. Gregory the Great, however, stamped the theory with his direct assertion, and that the Western Church generally accepted the identification of the two is clear from the selection of this narrative of St. Luke as the portion of Scripture appointed for the Gospel for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene (this was one of the feasts omitted by the English Reformers from the calendar of the Prayer-book of 1552).
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It is impossible to decide the question positively. One modern commentator of distinction quaintly pleads for Gregory the Great"s rather arbitrary theory, by suggesting that there is no sufficient reason to disturb the ancient Christian belief which has been consecrated in so many glorious works of art; but, in spite of this, the opinion which considers "the woman which was a sinner" the same person as "the Magdalene," is really based on Little else than on a mediaeval tradition.
St. Luke alone relates this touching story. We can conceive the joy of Paul when this "memory of the Master" came across him. It so admirably illustrates what this great teacher felt was his Master"s mind on the all-important subjectthe freeness and universality of salvation.
It seems likely enough that Dean Plumptre"s interesting conjecture respecting this scene in the Pharisee Simon"s house is correct. "Occurring, as the narrative does, in St. Luke only, it is probable enough that the "woman which was a sinner" became known to the company of devout women named in the following chapter, (Luk_8:1-3) and that the evangelist derived his knowledge of the fact from them. His reticence probably their reticence as to the name was, under the circumstances, at once natural and considerate." No special note of time or of the locality is appended. If this sinner was one and the same with the Magdalene, then the city implied is certainly Magdala, the modern mud village of El-Mejdel, but at that time a populous wealthy town on the Lake of Galilee. If, as we believe, the two were not identical, the city is most probably Capernaum, the usual residence of our Lord.
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee"s house. Up to this period the relations between our Lord and the dominant parties in the capital had not reached a state of positive hostility. The Pharisees, as the chief among these parties in the state, had taken the initiative, and were sharply watching One whose influence among the people they more than suspected was hostile to them. But they had not as yet declared him a public enemy and blasphemer. This wealthy Pharisee, Simon, was evidently, like others of his sect at this time, Wavering in his estimate of Jesus. On the one hand, he was naturally influenced by the hostile views entertained at headquarters concerning the Galilaean Teacher; on the other, personal intercourse with the Master, the acts he had witnessed, and the words he had heard, disposed him to a reverential admiration. Simon evidently (ver. 39) had not made up his mind whether or not Jesus was a Prophet. His soul, too this we gather from ver. 42 had received some great spiritual good from his intercourse with the Master. But though he invited him to be a guest at his house, and evidently loved him (ver. 47) a little, still he received his Divine Guest with but a chilling and coldly courteous reception. Not unlikely Simon the Pharisee knew lie was watched that day, and that among his guests were men who would report every action of his on that occasion to the leaders of his party in Jerusalem. His cold courtesy, almost lack of courtesy, towards the Master was thus probably the result of his fear of man and of man"s judgment. And sat down to meat; literally, reclined. The Jews at that time followed in their repasts the Greek (or Roman) custom of reclining on couches; the guest lay with his elbows on the table, and his feet, unsandalled, stretched out on the couch.
Vers. 36-50. The woman who was a sinner.
It is a truly lovely story which the evangelist tells one of those passages in the life of Christ which we are never tired of reading, and as full of meaning as it is full of beauty. We may regard it from many points, and present its didactic force in many ways. Perhaps we shall best ensure the reception of its various lights by studying the portraiture of character which it gives.
I THERE IS SIMON THE PHARISEE Jesus" host on the afternoon of the day whose earlier part had been signalized by the mighty work at Nain. The notable thing about this Simon is that he meets our view as the type of that anonymous, yet most powerful, influence which we call society. He is one of the priests of that goddess which society, everywhere and in every time, worships Respectability. A Pharisee! that is as it should be. The Herodians were a base, courtly party, fawning on the Herodian dynasty, and therefore outside religious society. The Sadducees were latitudinarians. Some of them were clever, and had much to do with the intellectual life of the nation; but, on the whole, they were a cold-blooded sect which could not command the vote of society. The correct course was to be the Pharisee. That secured the social place, put one right with the Church and the world, for this life and the next. The odour of sanctity clung to the profession; it intimated a certain aristocratic position a position among the elect of the heavenly kingdom. Simon the Pharisee is in society. And the desire that Jesus should eat with him, the entertainment which he offered Jesus, is in behalf of society. That must have its lion. It takes up one to-day and dismisses him to-morrow, but a lion it must have.
Sometimes the lion is a religious person; a great preacher or a great author becomes, for the time, the fashion. Jesus of Nazareth was the hero of the hour. Everybody spoke of him, of what he did, said, was. This priest of society must give him a dinner. We need not suppose secret hostility. Simon seems to have been willing to know more of Jesus than he did know, to study him as a phenomenon with at least a measure of interest. But he is the patron. The courtesies which would have been extended to the privileged few are omitted. Is not this Jesus only a Peasant-Preacher? Further still, the conduct of the Pharisee is representative of the separatist side of society, not only toward Jesus, but toward the sinner. It is without generosity of feeling; it is narrow, bitter when its canons are broken. That horrid creature to come to his table and touch his guest! is it not monstrous? He a Prophet? That he should let her go near him, that she should bestow her caresses on him this is sufficient to dispose of the claim. He could not imagine any purpose of the visit except an evil one; and such a visit was a disgrace to his house. For Respectability, hard in its judgment, is always selfish, always thinking how a thing will look, what is becoming or proper, how it can be protected and preserved. Holiness seeks the sinner; it will give itself for him. Respectability bids the sinner away. Ah! this Simon is a figure most conspicuous in our life! Respectability is the Juggernaut-car which rolls through our midst; and, as it rolls, multitudes rush forward and lay themselves prostrate before it. It has a place for Jesus; it will patronize him. Jesus has a word for it, a terribly scathing word. "Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee.
II THERE IS THE WOMAN. Who she was we know not. There is really nothing to confirm the old tradition which identifies her with that Mary called Magdalene, referred to in the following chapter, out of whom seven devils were cast. Whoever she was, she is known by only one feature she was a sinner, an abandoned woman of the city. Perhaps she had heard some word of the gentle Prophet as he passed through the street. In some way "the Dayspring from on high" had visited her. And not so difficult a matter in an Eastern house she forced her way to his presence. Poor, weary one, for whom, for many and many a day there had been no sunshine a mere plaything of coarse and wicked men! Observe her action as recorded in vers. 37, 38. It is to her that the Lord turns; he has glances and words for her which he has not for the priests of Respectability. From her heart proceed the welcomes which the Pharisee had denied him (vers. 44-46): Yes, in the social outcast there is often a preparation for Christ, a power of self-abandoning, simple trust, which is wanting in the Pharisees of society, with their forms and phylacteries, the pomp and pride and circumstance of the be-worshipped Respectability.
III THE DEALING OF JESUS is "a precious history, the sweet kernel of which poor sinners will never exhaust." Consider his words about the woman, and his words to the woman.
1. The word in the forty-seventh verse let us see that we rightly apprehend it. The meaning is not, as might hastily be gathered, "forgiven because of her much love," as if the love were the reason of the forgiveness. That would be equal to putting the rill before the spring. There are two kinds of "for the "for" causal and the "for" inferential. It is the for inferential which we find in Jesus" saying. "From the love which moved this sinner to me, which constrained her to lavish on me the signs of respect which thou, Simon, didst omit, thou canst infer that her sins, which are many, are forgiven. Even as the tree is known by its fruit, so her forgiveness is proved by the presence of its appropriate fruit love." This is the view borne out by the short parable which was the something that Jesus had to say to Simon (vers. 41-43). Suppose that we insist on an interpretation of this parable which the terms employed in it might warrant, we are met by serious difficulties. For instance, it might seem to teach that the more, in amount, the debt remitted, the more will be the love realized; that the more of a sinner one has been, the more of a saint, after conversion, one will be. But we know that this could not be the meaning of Christ; and it was not. It is not the quantity of sins, but the conscience of sin, the sense of its sinfulness and bitterness and tyranny, which determines the question of the larger or smaller debtor. In the case before us, one steeped in iniquity represents the larger, the Pharisee the smaller. But, to prove that the consciousness of owing a great debt the being, in one"s own judgment, the five-hundred-pence debtor, yea, the chief of sinners does not involve a wicked course of life, recollect the Apostle Paul, who had been zealous towards God above his equals. When he thinks of his "exceeding madness" against Jesus, he confesses, "I have nothing to pay. No debt could have been greater than mine, wretched man that I am." The much love is measured by the sense of there having been much forgiven. The love is as the knowledge of sin. If you think there is little to forgive, you will love only little.
2. There are two words to the woman herself (ver. 50). "He said to her, Thy sins are forgiven." An absolution, accepted by all who heard it, as full and authoritative. They are amazed: "Who is this that even forgives the sins?" Oh! who is he? Hartley Coleridge finely says"All the blame And the poor malice of the worldly shame To her were past, extinct, and out of date; Only the sin remained, the leprous state.
It was to this leprous state that the word went down. With the voice of a declared pardon, there was felt the power of a new purity. "Daughter, thy sins are sent away from between thy God and thee. They are blotted out, no more to be remembered. And lo! as thou art justified, thou art washed throughly from thine iniquity, and cleansed from thy sin. Thy faith hath saved thee" (ver. 50). The Lord gave no heed to the murmurs of those reclining at table. He answers these murmurs by not answering, or rather, by this additional word to the woman. The salvation was the entrance of forgiving love; and it was the trust in him that drew her to the Pharisee"s house, which had opened her soul to his healing power. The power is only, is wholly, in him, but the faith is the condition and the means of the deliverance. "Saved, rejoicing sinner, go in peace." Wondrous, glorious gospel! his, hers, who wills to have it as the poor woman willed! Sinners of modern Christendom, you must be stripped of all the soft complacencies of Pharisaic righteousness; consciously poor and needy sinners, and nothing else, you must get to the Christ of God. Until thus you have reached him, there is only a "something to say to you." The frank forgiveness, the fulness of the eternal life, is when he looks into the clinging soul, when he says, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Vers. 36-50. Loving and forgiving.
The peculiarity of Oriental customs, together with the earnestness and eagerness of this penitent, will account for her effecting an entrance into the house of this Pharisee, and gaining access to the feet of our Lord. The lessons we gain from this most touching incident are
I THAT THERE IS FREE AND FULL FORGIVENESS FOR THE WORST. It is somewhat striking that, although Old Testament Scripture abounds in passages which attest the greatness of God"s mercy to the repentant, the Jews of our Lord"s time had no place for such in their system or their practice. This could not be from unfamiliarity with the sacred record; it rather arose from ignorance of themselves. They did not acknowledge any sin in their own souls, any shortcoming in their own lives. Simon probably thought that Jesus was putting the debt which represented his obligation (fifty pence) at a high figure. And, thus mistaking themselves, it is not to be wondered at that they took a false view of their neighbours; that they looked upon those who were outwardly bad as hopelessly irrecoverable. But not so the Saviour. By action as much as by language he made it clear that the guiltiest of men and the worst of women might come in penitence and be restored. That is the valuable and lasting significance of his attitude on this occasion. His treatment of this woman, together with his gracious words to her (ver. 48), are to us, as they ever will be, the strong assurance that those whom we most unsparingly condemn and most scrupulously exclude may find mercy at his feet.
II THAT NOT HER LOVE BUT HER PENITENCE WAS THE GROUND OF HER FORGIVENESS. When Christ said, "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much," he did not, could not, mean that her love was the ground, but that it was the consequence of her forgiveness. He meant to say, "You can see that she has been forgiven, for you see how she loves, and it is only they who have been forgiven what she has been forgiven that love as she loves. The fulness of her love is therefore the proof (not the ground) of her forgiveness." What led to her forgiveness was her penitence. Those bitter tears she shed (ver. 38) were the tears of a true contrition; they meant a holy hatred of her past sin, and a sincere determination to lead another life; and not being repelled, but accepted, by this Holy and Merciful One, deep and strong gratitude arose in her; and penitence, love, and a new and blessed hope surged and strove together in uncontrollable emotion within her heart. When God shows us our fault, we go at once to the merciful Saviour; trusting in him, we are received and restored; then a pure, deep, lasting love arises in our souls; it is the simple, natural, beautiful outgrowth of penitence and faith.
III THAT THE SENSE OF GOD"S GRACE TO US WILL DETERMINE THE FULNESS OF OUR AFFECTION TOWARD HIM. "To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." If we have a very imperfect sense of our guilt, and therefore of God"s mercy to us, our response in gratitude and love will be far below what it should be. It is, therefore, of the gravest importance that we should know and feel our own faultiness in the sight of God. For clearly it is not the magnitude of our past sin, but the fulness of our sense of guilt, which determines the measure of our feeling in the matter of gratitude and love.
1. It is for this that we must look. We shall find it as we dwell on the greatness of God"s goodness toward us in his providence and his grace; in the poverty and feebleness of our filial return to him for all his love and care and kindness toward us; in the fact that he has been requiring purity of thought and rectitude of soul and sincerity of motive, as well as propriety of word and integrity of deed.
2. For this also we must pray; asking for that enlightening Spirit who will show us our true selves, and fill us with a due sense of our great unworthiness and our manifold transgressions. C.
Vers. 36-50. Love the proof of pardon.
The generation to which Jesus had come with his social gospel thought him too "free and easy" with sinners. The Pharisees thought he had no right to associate with publicans and sinners, although he did so to save them. But the wisdom of his policy would be justified by the conduct of his converts, and here we have a justification ready to hand. One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He accepts the invitation, and is reclining at his table, when, lo! a poor woman "off the streets" comes in behind him, and in her penitence and gratitude prepares to anoint with spikenard his blessed feet. She had heard him preach, she had received pardon for all her sins, she could not resist this exhibition of gratitude for it. But as she is about to anoint his feet, her pent-up grief refuses further restraint, and bathes them with copious tears, and, having no towel with her or offered to her, she unties her flowing hair, content to wipe with it the beautiful feet of him who had brought her glad tidings. Having thus washed and wiped them clean, she proceeds to anoint them with the ointment. To this conduct the Pharisee secretly objects, and takes it as proof positive that Jesus is not the discerning Prophet he professes to be Our Lord"s parable soon corrects the error and reveals the truth, and the poor sinner, so penitent and so grateful, is dismissed in peace.
I GREAT SIN SHOULD NOT HINDER ANY OF US FROM COMING TO JESUS FOR PARDON. This is one of the difficulties which men make for themselves they fancy that great sin may keep sinners from pardon. Now Jesus made it very plain that great sinners might receive pardon just as well as little sinners. The psalmist once prayed, "Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great", (Psa_25:7) and some of the most notorious sinners ever seen have become monuments of mercy and joyful through pardon. This case before us is one in point. Jesus had so presented his message of salvation that this woman from the town embraced it and rejoiced in the thought of forgiveness. While, therefore, no one would recommend a sinner to sin in order to intensify his sense of guilt and qualify himself for receiving Christ"s salvation, we would recommend every sinner to believe that the very enormity of his sins will move Christ"s pity, and, when purged and pardoned, illustrate his saving power. Suppose a patient is brought to a hospital a mass of disease or of wounds and bruises: will not the very magnitude of his distress constitute such an appeal to pity as will secure his immediate admission? In the same way, great sin is an argument with the Saviour in favour of mercy, rather than any obstacle to it. Besides, we should always remember that our sense of sin is always vastly below the reality, and that we in most penitent mood have really a better opinion of ourselves than the circumstances warrant.
II WE OUGHT COURAGEOUSLY TO PROFESS CHRIST BEFORE MEN. This poor woman needed courage to profess Christ in Simon"s house. Simon and his guests belonging to the Pharisaic party loathed her. It was a place where she was certain to be scorned and perhaps expelled. But her sense of obligation to Jesus and her love for his.Person were so great that she could not forego her desire to make her way to his feet. And so she steals in and gets behind her Master, and proceeds to lavish her attention on his feet. So courageous is she, that she leisurely and most carefully washes his feet and wipes them with her hair and anoints them with the ointment; so that she actually, as Godet remarks, did the honours of the house, which Simon had neglected. We need similarly to add to our faith courage. (2Pe_1:4) We ought to give our hearts free play in their loyalty to Jesus. We must profess him before men, at whatever cost.
III JESUS WILL ALWAYS TAKE OUR PART AGAINST THOSE WHO MISTAKE OUR MOTIVES OR DESPISE US. Jesus will acknowledge our profession of him in the next world, and even in this. In the case before us we see him taking the Pharisee to task for his mistake about the woman. Simon made several mistakes.
1. About the woman being unpardonable and unpardoned: she was neither.
2. About Jesus as being undiscerning and so ignorant of the woman"s state: he was more thoroughly acquainted with her than she or Simon could be.
3. About himself, as nearer God"s kingdom than she was: he was really further from Christ than she. And Jesus consequently takes up the woman"s cause and vindicates her character as a changed woman now and pardoned. This he does in parabolic language. The two debtors who are both forgiven have not the same sense of gratitude. Their gratitude is in proportion to their forgiveness. Hence the poor woman, feeling how much she has been forgiven, is proportionately grateful. The defence was triumphant. And in the same way will Jesus defend us if we are courageous in following him.
IV LOVE IS THE PROOF OF PARDON. We are not pardoned because we love our Saviour, but we love him because he has pardoned us. Hence the stronger the love, the stronger must be our sense of the amount of sin we have been forgiven. Our love will grow just in proportion to our appreciation of our pardon, Hence the man who comes to believe, with Paul, that he is "the chief of sinners," will love the Lord accordingly. He will feel constrained through his sense of obligation to love God with all his being.
V CHRIST"S ASSURANCE OF PARDON SECURES PEACE. The poor sinner"s peace was threatened through the contempt of the Pharisees. But Jesus gives her special assurance, and sends her off in peace. So will it be in our own experience if we sincerely trust him. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v36 And, behold, a woman in the city which was…
Luk_7:36-50
And, behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner
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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.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v36 Chapter 13
Chapter 13
THE ANOINTING OF THE FEET. - Luk_7:36-50
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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, selfcondemned, 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."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36. One of the Pharisees desired him that he…
36. One of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. This anointing is a different one from that recorded in Matt. 26:7, and elsewhere. The breach between Jesus and the Pharisees was not yet so great as to prevent intercourse. Jesus accepted invitations of Pharisee and publican alike, with the like purpose of instruction in righteousness. “We must imagine the guests arriving; Simon receiving them with all courtesy, and embracing each in turn; slaves ready to wash 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; 19:2; 24:32; Ru 3:3; 1Sa 25:41; Psalm 23:5; 141:5; Eccl. 9:8; Dan. 10:3; Amos 6:6; Matt. 6:17. But there is one of the guests thus not 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 cannot need the luxuries others are accustomed to.”
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v36 Luk_7:36. One of the Pharisees.—The invitation given by one…
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.
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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 original—“remitted,” 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 Pharisee’s 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 with—the 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 Christ’s nature, and undervalued it. He imagined that Christ’s 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 God’s thoughts higher than man’s thoughts.” He mistook also Christ’s way of rescuing from sin. If it entered into the Pharisee’s 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. Christ’s 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 sin”—that 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 God’s 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 woman’s 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 Saviour’s 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 Pharisee’s 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 Simon’s 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 Christ’s day did not believe in it. But this was Christ’s 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 was—the 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 Pharisee’s 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 Pharisee’s 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 overcome—their 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 remained—the 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 Bridegroom’s 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 thou”—an attitude and language hateful to God “as smoke in the nostrils.” The Pharisee, in fact, mentally put the Lord into this dilemma—either 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.”—Touching—this is all that the Pharisee fixes on: his offence is merely technical and ceremonial.—Alford.
A Third Alternative.—The Pharisee omitted a third alternative—viz. 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 hypocrisy—the 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 Simon’s pronouncing judgment against himself (cf. 2Sa_12:1-7). Jesus “answers” him—i.e. answers his thoughts, which were revealed by his very looks.
Luk_7:41. “Five hundred pence and … fifty”—We must beware of understanding by the two debtors persons who differed from each other in positive sinfulness—the one, say, with five hundred accumulated offences, the other with but fifty. They were persons with differing consciousness of sin—the 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 Pharisee’s sensoriousness.
Luk_7:42. “Frankly forgave them both.”—Forgiveness is the free gift of God. It is not the woman’s 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 Simon’s 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 Jesus—“Thou 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, that—shall 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 Simon’s 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 Simon’s 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 Pharisee—and no signs of peculiar honour shall greet or repay His presence—no water for His feet—no anointing of oil—no 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 sinner’s 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 deserts—“He 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 forgiveness—only 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 knowledge—it 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 “for”—“for 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 debt—i.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 say—“The 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 woman’s sins; His knowledge of her sincere penitence being absolute, and His authority to act in God’s 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 peace”—the 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 life—the bud, blossom, and fruit—to 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 street—saved! 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 King’s 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.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v36 Luk 7:36-50. “A certain one of the Pharisees asked…
CHAPTER 23.
GRATITUDE OF THE FALLEN WOMAN WHOM JESUS HAD SAVED
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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 Savior’s 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 woman’s 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.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v36 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XLVI. Jesus' Feet…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XLVI. Jesus' Feet Anointed].
XLVI. JESUS' FEET ANOINTED IN THE HOUSE OF A PHARISEE. (Galilee.) cLUKE VII. 36-50.
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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 i 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, i 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]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v37 i.e. in the sense of unchaste.
sinner
i.e. in the sense of unchaste.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v36 The First Anointing of Jesus.
The First Anointing of Jesus.
The anointing:
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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.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v36 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
A Pharisee invites Jesus to eat at his house.
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General Information:
It was a custom in that time for onlookers to attend dinners without eating.
Now one of the Pharisees
The marks the beginning of a new part of the story and introduces the Pharisee into the story. (See: Introduction of a New Event and Introduction of New and Old Participants)
reclined at the table to eat
"sat down at the table for the meal." It was the custom at a relaxed meal such as this dinner for men to eat while lying down comfortably around the table.
Behold, there was a woman
The word "behold" alerts us to a new person in the story. Your language may have a way of doing this. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
who was a sinner
"who lived a sinful lifestyle" or "who had a reputation for living a sinful life." She may have been a prostitute.
an alabaster jar
"a jar made of soft stone." Alabaster is a soft, white rock. People stored precious things in alabaster jars.
of perfumed oil
"with perfume in it." The oil had something in it that made it smell nice. People rubbed it on themselves or sprinkled their clothing with it in order to smell nice.
with the hair of her head
"with her hair"
anointed them with perfumed oil
"poured perfume on them"
translationWords
Pharisee
Jesus
sin
anoint
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv36–38 7:36-50 Jesus’ comment in 7:35 is now illustrated by…
7:36-50 Jesus’ comment in 7:35 is now illustrated by one of “wisdom’s children” (see study note on 7:35), a repentant sinner who shows gratitude for the forgiveness she has received.
7:36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him: Jesus has more positive contact with the Pharisees in Luke than in the other Gospels. He was a respected teacher and healer, so it is not surprising that this Pharisee invited him to dinner. Not all Pharisees were antagonistic—some were interested in his teaching or merely curious.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.