Reading 23
The woman at the Pharisee's table
The reading
Luke 7:36-50
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.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.” “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
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 has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
The companions
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I have cried to you, LORD. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions. If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD. My soul waits. I hope in his word. My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning; more than watchmen for the morning. Israel, hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is loving kindness. With him is abundant redemption. He will redeem Israel from all their sins.
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
The note
Jesus turns this into an arithmetic problem, which is not how anyone retells it. Two debtors, five hundred and fifty.
Both cancelled. Which one loves more. Simon answers correctly and does not notice he has just described himself.
The itemizing that follows is exact and quiet. No water for the feet. No greeting. No oil.
The host did none of the ordinary things, and the woman has not stopped doing far more than them since she came in.
The conclusion is put as a ratio rather than a rebuke: the one forgiven little loves little. That is the whole diagnosis. Simon is not condemned for a scandal. He is described as a man with a small figure in one column and therefore a small figure in the other.
The woman never speaks. She weeps, she opens the jar, and Jesus tells her the account is settled and she can go.
This week
Work out your own number, honestly. Not the general admission that nobody is perfect — the specific thing, the one you would not want read out. Write it down where nobody will see it, then destroy the paper.
Most people keep the number vague on purpose, because a vague debt cannot be cancelled and so never has to be felt. Simon kept his vague. He stayed polite, correct and cold all evening.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” in the companions.
This page is made for paper too: print it and the reading prints clean, ready for the table.