Luke · New Testament · Luke 7:36–50
The Sinful Woman Anoints Jesus
The Story
A Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to his home for dinner, and while they were reclining at the table a woman who was known throughout the community as a sinner came in uninvited, knelt behind Jesus weeping, and began to wet His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing them repeatedly, and pouring expensive perfume over them in an extravagant and deeply personal act of devotion and worship. Simon watched this unfold with cold disapproval, reasoning privately that if Jesus were truly a prophet He would know what kind of sinful woman was touching Him and would have nothing to do with her. Jesus, perceiving Simon's thoughts exactly, responded not with a rebuke but with a parable about two men who owed debts to a moneylender — one owing a small amount and the other a staggering sum — and asked Simon which of the two would love the moneylender more when both debts were completely forgiven. When Simon correctly answered that the one forgiven the greater debt would love more, Jesus turned the parable into a penetrating and personal comparison — pointing out that Simon had offered Him none of the customary courtesies of hospitality such as water for His feet, a welcoming kiss, or oil for His head, while this woman had not stopped kissing His feet, washing them with her tears, and anointing them with perfume from the moment He arrived. Jesus then declared openly that her many sins were forgiven — evidenced by the greatness of her love — while the one who has been forgiven little loves only a little, leaving Simon to sit in the uncomfortable silence of that reflection. He closed by turning to the woman directly with words of tender assurance — that her sins were forgiven, that her faith had saved her, and that she should go in peace.
The Message
The depth of our love and gratitude toward Jesus is directly connected to how deeply we understand the magnitude of what He has forgiven us — those who grasp the weight of their own sin and the wonder of God's grace respond with the kind of wholehearted, uninhibited worship that this woman poured out at Jesus' feet. This story also gently challenges us to examine which role we more naturally occupy in the story — the woman overwhelmed with grateful love, or Simon the Pharisee, comfortable in his own respectability and quietly judging those whose brokenness is more visible than his own.