Luke 7:36–50 This specific account is not recorded by any of
the other Gospel writers. This account takes place in Galilee, during the
Galilean ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:14-9:50), while the other account of
Jesus being anointed takes place in Bethany (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9;
John 12:1-11).
In that account, Mary the sister of Lazarus anointed the head of Jesus during
the last week of His ministry while the woman in this account anoints the feet
of Jesus (Luke
7:38). The woman in this account is not identified, and it is not
Mary Magdalene as is commonly believed, and there is no Biblical proof that it
was Mary Magdalene, for Dr. Luke introduces us to Mary Magdalene in Luke 8:2,
and the way that he talks about her is as if it’s the first time we are meeting
her. Dr. Luke would have told us about her here if she was the woman here. There
are those who try to use the Jewish Talmud, which mentions a licentious woman named
Mary
Megadella, and her name was used as an epithet for prostitutes at this time.
The people who make the claim that it was Mary Magdalene base it off of the
fact that Jesus cast out of her seven demons (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2) and they conclude that
demon possession means a person will be immoral, or that their immorality leads
to demonic possession. There is no connection between demon possession and
immorality. What has arisen as well from this false claim is that the name
Magdalene has come to mean a repentant courtesan.[1]
What furthers the confusion
between this account (Luke 7:36-50) and the other anointing done by
Mary of Bethany (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-11) is that both homeowners are named
Simon. Here it is Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:40), and the one in Bethany was at the
house of Simon the Leper. Simon was a very common name in Israel. In the New
Testament there are many different men mentioned whose name was Simon. There
were two apostles named Simon (Simon Peter and Simon the Zealot in Matthew 10:1-4;
Mark 3:13-19;
Luke 6:14-15;
Acts 1:13),
a brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Judas Iscariot’s
dad’s name was Simon (John 6:71; John 13:26). There was Simon the
Cyrene who was forced to carry the cross of Jesus by the Romans (Matthew 27:32;
Mark 15:21;
Luke 23:26),
Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24) and Peter stayed at Simon the tanners’
house in Joppa (Acts
9:43; Acts 10:6; Acts 10:32).
01. The Prostitute (Luke 7:36-38)
Luke
7:36 “Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him” Sometime
after Jesus finished talking to the people about John the Baptist (Luke 7:24-35
| Messenger
of the Messiah), Jesus is invited by a Pharisee to come to his house
and dine with him. This is interesting because as we saw last time, the
Pharisees accused Jesus of being “a gluttonous man
and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Luke 7:34)
The present tense of the Greek verb for “you say”
in Luke 7:34 (G3004 λέγετε) indicates
that some of those that Jesus was talking to were the very ones that had accused
Him of being “a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a
friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Luke 7:34) It would seem to be that
this Pharisee was only inviting Jesus to gather more evidence against Him, as
we have already seen in this Gospel how they were constantly attacking Jesus (Luke 5:17-39
and Luke
6:1-11).
Luke
7:36 “and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.”
Reclining at the table to eat was the common posture at this time. When they
were eating, they would place their place their “left elbow…on the table, and the head rested on the hand,
sufficient room being of course left between each guest for the free movements
of the right hand. This explains in what sense John ‘was leaning on Jesus’
bosom,’ and afterwards ‘lying on Jesus’ breast,’ when he bent back to speak to
Him (John 13:23: John 13:25).”[2] “They were all sitting, or rather ‘lying’ -
the Mishnah sometimes also calls it ‘sitting down and leaning’ - around the
table, the body resting on the couch, the feet turned away from the table in
the direction of the wall, while the left elbow rested on the table.”[3]
At this time, you walked everywhere and all the roads were either dusty of
muddy, so it was wise to keep your feet as far away from the table as far as possible.
Alfred Edersheim writes that “it is the manner of slaves to eat standing, therefore now they
eat sitting and leaning” [4]
Luke 7:37 “And” In the Greek, this
verse literally starts out καὶ ἰδοὺ, “and behold”, showing an emphasis that
something shocking and amazing was about to happen.
Luke 7:37 “there was a woman in the city who
was a sinner” The Greek word for “sinner” here is (G268) ἁμαρτωλός hamartōlŏs and it refers
to an immoral woman, a prostitute.
It was common practice at this
time for outsiders to hang out during the banquets so that they could watch the
important people and hear their conversations. Since everything was open, they
could go throughout the banquet hall and even have conversations with the
guests. At this time, women were not invited to banquets. Jewish rabbis had
nothing to do with women in public. They wouldn’t speak to them or be found
eating with them in public. A woman of this type would never be welcomed into
the house of Simon the Pharisee.
We know from A Harmony
of the Gospels by A.T. Robertson, that just before this event Jesus had
given a gracious invitation to all in Matthew 11:20–30.
Matthew 11:28–30 “28
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and
I will give you rest. 29 “Take My
yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is
light.””
Is it possible that she heard the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28–30, or she heard from others what He
had said? Maybe this is when she turned from her sin and trusted Jesus as her
Saviour?
Luke 7:37 “and when she learned that He was
reclining at the table in the
Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume,” Knowing
that Jesus was going to Simon’s house, and that the doors would be opened, she
came with “an
alabaster vial of perfume”. Dr. Luke points out that the vial in
which the perfume was stored was made from alabaster, which was an expensive kind
of marble most likely quarried in Egypt, which implies that this perfume was
valuable. Perfume was not only an important part of the trade of a prostitute,
but was also used by many women at this time. A flask with this perfume was worn by women round the neck, and
hung down below the breast...So common was its use as to be allowed even on the
Sabbath. This ‘flask’…was used both to sweeten the breath and perfume the
person.[5]
Luke 7:38 “and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping,” This
woman came in and was standing, taking the position of a slave, behind Jesus
but at His feet. Perhaps she did hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28–30, knowing that He had already
issued an invitation, and now, when she is in the presence of her Saviour, all
she could do is weep. David lamenting said, “I am weary with my sighing; Every night I
make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away
with grief; It has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me,
all you who do iniquity, For YHWH has heard the voice of my weeping.”
(Psalm 6:6-8) David
stated after confessing his sin with Bathsheba that “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance
without regret, leading to salvation,
but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what
earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what
vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what
zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be
innocent in the matter.” (2 Corinthians 7:10-11)
The Godly sorrow that Paul is talking
about in 2
Corinthians 7:10-11 is like what was displayed in Peter (John 21:15-17)
after he denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:70-75; Mark 14:68-72; Luke 22:57-61;
John
18:25-27). The worldly sorrow that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians
7:10-11 is displayed in Judas, who after betraying Jesus for thirty
pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15), realized that he betrayed
innocent blood and tried to give the money back (Matthew 27:3-4). When he left,
he threw the money into the Temple Sanctuary and hung himself (Matthew 27:5;
Acts 1:18-19).
This prostitute standing behind
her Saviour, weeping so much that “she began to wet His feet with her tears” (Luke 7:38).
The
Greek word for “wet” here (G1026 βρέχω brĕchō) literally means to
rain,[6] to cause something to become wet.[7]
Luke 7:38 “and kept wiping them with the hair
of her head,” The Greek verb for “wiping” here (G1591. ἐκμάσσω ĕkmassō) is in
the Imperfect, Active, Indicative, meaning that
she was continually wiping His feet, not just a one-time action. In that
culture, washing the feet of another was considered humiliating, something that
was only down by the lowest of slaves, something that our Saviour displayed at
the Last Supper in John 13:3-5. But what would have really
shocked the people there was even more than this sinful woman washing the feet
of Jesus, but that she let her hair down. For a Jewish woman to let her hair
down in public was thought of as improper and even immoral.
After she washed the feet of
Jesus, she then began “kissing His feet” (Luke 7:38)The Greek verb that is
used here for “kissing”
(G2705 καταφιλέω kataphilĕō) is
an intense, descriptive verb, for it means to
kiss earnestly.[8] These
are the only lips except those of the traitor that are recorded to have touched
our Saviour, and only then does she pour forth her only wealth, her expensive
perfume by “anointing
them with the perfume.” (Luke 7:38)
Typically the anointing was done
on the head (1
Samuel 10:1; 2 Kings 9:3, 6; Psalm 23:5), but the prostitute
anointed Jesus on His feet. The Greek title “Christ” (G5547 Χριστός Christŏs[9]) and the
Hebrew title “Messiah” (H4899 מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach[10]) both
mean the anointed one. A notorious
sinner, a prostitute, anointed the anointed One! The actions of this prostitute
are a beautiful picture of a sinner that’s been forgiven. The
kissing of the feet of her Saviour was a symbol of her love and affection for
Him. By doing this, she was publicly displaying her love for Jesus. She
displayed her humility and conviction of her sins by washing the feet of Jesus.
She displayed a heart of worship by breaking the vial of expensive perfume and
anointing His feet.
02. The Pharisee (Luke 7:39-43)
Luke
7:39 Jesus was called a “great prophet”
after He raised
the widow’s dead son in Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and obviously Simon the
Pharisee knew that people referred to Jesus as a prophet. Simon couldn’t
understand how a man that was regarded as a prophet, did not know about this
woman, much less allowing her to wash, kiss and anoint His feet.
Luke 7:40 Jesus proved that He was a prophet by knowing what Simon was
thinking, and responding to his thoughts (cf Luke 5:22; Luke 6:8)!
Jesus now tells a simply story,
using the mode of reasoning used by the religious leaders in Luke 7:41–42.[11]
The denarius was equivalent to a day’s wages, so five hundred denarii was
almost a year and a half’s wages, while fifty denarii was about two months
worth of wages. One of the debtors owes only 10% of what the other owed, yet
they were both debtors who were unable to pay what they owed. In front of the
creditor, they are the same, for they are both in debt (Romans 3:23; Romans
5:12). Because they both couldn’t pay, they were both in the same
position, debtors with a debt that was unable to be paid. This simple parable
or analogy illustrates that it is not the amount of sin in the life of a person
but the awareness of sin in a person’s heart. How much sin must people commit
for them to be considered a sinner? Simon and the prostitute were both sinners.
The prostitute was guilty of sins of the flesh (2 Corinthians 7:1), for all knew
her sins. Simon’s sins were unknown, for they were hidden beneath a veneer of
spirituality, but he was guilty of sins of the spirit, especially pride.
Simon’s sins were hidden from everyone but God. Both of them were bankrupt,
with no means to pay their debt to God, Simon was just as spiritually bankrupt
as the prostitute he just didn’t realize it.
Forgiveness is a gift of God’s
grace because Jesus paid the debt in full (John 19:30; Ephesians
1:7; Romans
6:10;
Hebrews 10:11-12; 1 Peter 1:18–19;
1 John 1:9).
In John 19:30 the
Greek word for “It
is finished!” is Τετέλεσται Tetelestai (G5055) and it literally means that Jesus has accomplished everything on
the cross that was foretold about in the Scriptures. Paul and Peter both tells us that He died for
all mankind, not just for the Jews in Romans 6:10 and 1
Peter 1:18–19. Paul tells us “In Him
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians
1:7).
Luke 7:42 “When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both.”
The Greek word that is used here for “graciously” (G5483. χαρίζομαι
charizŏmai) to cancel a sum of money that
is owed, to forgive a debt.[12] This
Greek word is used to describe the forgiveness from God to believers in Christ,
and how we are to display that same forgiveness to those who have wronged us (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians
3:13). The creditor in this story took upon him self the debt when
he forgave the debts of the two men, a picture of God forgiving the sins of
mankind, taking it upon Himself and having His Son die to pay the debt (Romans 5:8). Jesus then got to the point of
His illustration, “So which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:42)
Luke 7:43 After the illustration given by Jesus, the answer was obvious
to Simon.
03. The Pardon (Luke 7:44-50)
Luke
7:44–46 Simon was guilty of sins of omission, not properly
welcoming his guest, while the prostitute was guilty of sins of commission. Everything
that Simon neglected to do, the prostitute did, and she did it from a forgiving
heart. Both spoke loudly in their actions. The prostitute accepted God’s free
offer of salvation and openly expressed her love. Simon the Pharisee rejected
the offer, thus he was not forgiven. David talks about the blessing of being
forgiven in Psalm
32.01-05.
Luke 7:47
It was easy for Simon to call this woman a sinner, but impossible
for him to call himself a sinner. Jesus publicly forgave this woman. The
perfect tense verb in the Greek for “have been forgiven” describes an action that was
completed in the past with ongoing effects in the present indicates that the
prostitute had already been forgiven before she came to Jesus that day. She was
not forgiven because of her love for Jesus, but her love for Jesus was a result
of her forgiveness. She loved much because she had been forgiven much.
Luke
7:48 Now talking to the
prostitute, Jesus confirmed her forgiveness; again the verb for “have been forgiven”
is in the present tense.
Luke
7:49 The heart that is
unregenerate hates grace. Jesus can forgive sins because He is God (Isaiah 1:18;
Isaiah 43:25;
Isaiah 44:22;
Jeremiah
31:33-34; Daniel 9:18-19; Micah 7:18-20; Acts 13.38-39;
Romans 3:24;
Romans 4:5-8;
Ephesians
1:7; Ephesians
4:32; Colossians 3:13)!
Luke 7:50
Jesus then tells this forgiven prostitute that her faith has saved
her, and that she is to go in peace. Jesus would later say to the chief priests
and the elders of the people “…Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes
will get into the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:31) Jesus was clear that
the prostitute was not forgiven and saved because of her tears and anointing
the Saviour’s feet, but because of her faith.
Paul reminds Titus of this in
his letter to the young pastor at Crete, “4
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind
appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have
done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out
upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being
justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life.” (Titus 3:4–7)
It is important to be reminded
that lost sinners are not saved by the love of God or their love of God. Jesus
said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life.” (John 3:16) The
Greek word for “so” is G3779 Οὕτως
(Houtas) and it means in this way, as
follows.[13] Jesus
was sent by God to make a way possible for man to be reunited with God, because
“For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so
that no one may boast.” (Ephesians
2:8–9) Jesus did not reject the tears, kisses and anointment from
the prostitute because her works were evidence of her faith. Jesus said, “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke 7:35) James tells us “faith without works is dead” (James 2:14–26). Faith plus works do not save
us; we are saved by faith that leads to works (Galatians
5:6). Just as the prostitute knew that Jesus forgave her sins
because He told her (Luke 7:48), today, we have the Word of God in
written form that tells us that by faith our sins are forgiven (Psalm 32:5;
Psalm 51:1-19;
Psalm 103:12;
Proverbs
28:13; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22;
Isaiah 45:25-26;
Isaiah 55:6-7;
Micah 7:18-19;
Acts
13:38-39; Romans 4:7-8; Ephesians 1:6-8; Ephesians 4:32;
Hebrews 8:12;
1 John 1:9-10).
The focus of this account is
usually on the sinful woman for good reason. But Jesus used this sinful woman
as evidence of the power of the Gospel (Romans 1:16-20), and He demonstrated that He
has the authority to forgive sins and change lives. Ironically, this woman is
the very type of person that Simon and the rest of the Pharisees would despise
the most, yet she was the one forgiven and accepted by Christ. In truth, the
self-righteous, hypocritical religious leaders are the worst type of sinners,
because they think that they do not need a Saviour.
Jesus came “to seek and to save
that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
“for He will save His people from their sins.”
(Matthew 1:21) “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)
“We have seen and testify that the Father has
sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14)
[1] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Lk 7:37). Nashville, TN:
Broadman Press.
[2] Alfred Edersheim, The
Temple-Its Ministry and Services Ch 12, p76
[3] Alfred
Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus
the Messiah [Peabody; Hendrickson, 1993], Bk 3, Ch 21, p389, 1.565
[4] Alfred Edersheim, The
Temple-Its Ministry and Services Ch 12, p76
[5] Alfred
Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus
the Messiah [Peabody; Hendrickson, 1993], Bk 3, Ch 21, p390, 1.566
[6] Strong, J.
(2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew
Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[7] Arndt, W.,
Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A
Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[8] Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew
Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[9] Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew
Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[10] Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew
Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[11] Cf. Alfred
Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus
the Messiah [Peabody; Hendrickson, 1993], Bk 3, Ch 21, p390-92, 1.567-69
[12] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[13] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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