Luke 7:36 - Meaning and Application

The time and place of this story are not given. Luke does not always follow events in strict order, unlike the other gospel writers. He places it here because people had just been speaking against Christ as a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and this story shows that he kept company with such people only for their good, to lead them to repentance. It also shows that those who heard him were changed, or at least were on the way to being changed.

We are not told clearly who this woman was. Many say she was Mary Magdalene, but there is no solid scriptural basis for that. Mary Magdalene is described later as the woman from whom Christ cast out seven demons (Luke 8:2; Mark 16:9), but that is not said here, so it is more likely that this was someone else.

Notice first the respectful welcome a Pharisee gave to Christ, and Christ’s gracious acceptance of it (Luke 7:36). One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, perhaps because he thought it would raise his own standing to host such a guest, or because he wanted the pleasure of Jesus’ company for himself, his family, and his friends. This Pharisee did not seem to believe in Christ, because later he would not even call him a prophet (Luke 7:39). Even so, Jesus accepted the invitation, went into his house, and sat down to eat, so they would see that he showed the same openness to Pharisees as to tax collectors, hoping to do good to them as well.

This shows that people with enough wisdom and grace to teach and answer critics may go further into the company of those who are against Christ and his religion than others should.

Second, notice the deep respect a poor repentant sinner showed him while he was dining in the Pharisee’s house. She was a woman in the city who was known to be a sinner, likely a Gentile and probably a prostitute, and she had a bad name among the people. She heard that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee’s house, and since she had been turned from her sinful life by his preaching, she came to show her gratitude. She had no other way to do it than by washing his feet and anointing them with sweet ointment she brought with her.

In those days, people reclined at table, so their feet were partly behind them. She did not come up to his face, but came in behind him and served like a maid, whose duty it was to wash guests’ feet and prepare ointments (1 Samuel 25:41). In her actions we can see, first, her deep shame for sin. She stood behind him weeping. Her eyes had once been the doorway through which sin came and went, and now they poured out tears. Her face, which may once have been covered with makeup, was wet with tears. Her hair, once carefully arranged, became her towel. She had likely already grieved over her sin before, but now that she stood in Christ’s presence, her sorrow came back fresh. It is fitting for repentant people, whenever they come near Christ, to renew their grief and shame for sin, now that he is willing to receive them again (Ezekiel 16:63).

We also see her strong love for the Lord Jesus. This is what Jesus especially noticed, that she loved much (Luke 7:42, 47). She washed his feet as a sign that she was ready to take the lowest place in honoring him. She washed them with her tears, tears of joy, because she was overwhelmed to be so near her Savior, the one her soul loved. She kissed his feet, as one who felt unworthy even of the kisses of his mouth, which the bride longed for in the Song of Solomon (Song of Solomon 1:2). It was a kiss of worship as well as affection. She wiped his feet with her hair, showing that she was fully devoted to his honor. She gave her tears to wash them and her hair to dry them. Then she anointed his feet with ointment, acknowledging him as the Messiah, the Anointed One. By anointing his feet, she was also agreeing with God’s purpose in anointing his head with the oil of joy. All true repentant believers have a deep love for the Lord Jesus.

Third, notice the offense the Pharisee took at Christ for allowing this poor repentant woman to show him honor (Luke 7:39). He thought to himself, not realizing that Christ knew his thoughts, that if Jesus were truly a prophet, he would know that this woman was a sinner, a Gentile, and a woman of bad reputation, and he would not let her come so close. Simon assumed that a holy man must react with the same pride and harsh judgment that he himself felt. Proud and narrow minds often think everyone else should be as severe and suspicious as they are. Simon would have said, if she had touched him, “Keep away, I am holier than you” (Isaiah 65:5), and he imagined Christ should have spoken the same way.

Fourth, notice Christ’s defense of the woman and of his own decision to receive her (Luke 7:40). Jesus knew what the Pharisee was thinking and answered him: “Simon, I have something to say to you.” Though he was being kindly hosted at Simon’s table, he still corrected what was wrong in him and would not let sin go unchallenged. Those whom Christ has reason to rebuke, he also has something to say to, because his Spirit reproves. Simon was willing to hear him and said, “Teacher, say on.” Even though he did not truly accept Jesus as a prophet, because Jesus was not as careful and rigid as he was, he still gave him the polite title of teacher, like those who say, “Lord, Lord,” but do not do what he says.

Christ’s answer was this: the woman had indeed been a sinner, and Simon knew that. But she was a pardoned sinner, and that means she had also been a repentant sinner. What she did was an expression of her great love to her Savior, who had forgiven her sins. If she had been forgiven after such great sin, it was reasonable that she would love him more than others and show that love more openly. If her actions came from gratitude for pardon, then Simon should have welcomed them, not been offended by them.

Christ had another purpose too. Simon was doubting whether Jesus was a prophet, and in effect denying it. But Jesus showed that he was more than a prophet, because he has authority on earth to forgive sins, and he deserves the thankful love of repentant sinners who have been forgiven.

To make this plain, Jesus used a parable to force Simon to admit that the greater sinner this woman had been, the greater her love should be after her sins were forgiven (Luke 7:41-43). A man had two debtors, both unable to pay. One owed ten times more than the other. He freely forgave both of them and did not use the law against them, did not sell them and their children, and did not hand them over to the tormentors.

Now both of them felt how much kindness they had received. The question was, which of them would love him most? The Pharisee answered correctly, the one who had been forgiven more. From this, we can learn something about the duties between a debtor and a creditor.

If a debtor has anything to pay, he should make good on the debt. No one can safely count anything as truly his own, or enjoy it with a clear conscience, until his debts are settled. If God, in his providence, has made the debtor unable to pay, then the creditor should not be harsh or press the full force of the law. He should freely forgive. If law is pushed to its strictest edge, it can become unjust. The merciless creditor should read the parable in Matthew 18:23 and tremble, because they will have judgment without mercy who show no mercy.

The debtor who has found mercy from his creditor should be deeply thankful. If he cannot repay in any other way, he should at least love him. Some debtors, instead of being thankful, grow bitter toward the creditors who lose by them, and they even refuse to speak well of them. Yet this parable is really about God, or more directly the Lord Jesus, since he is the one who forgives and is loved by the debtor. In that light, we learn several things.

First, sin is a debt, and sinners are debtors to God Almighty. As creatures, we owe God obedience to his law. When we do not pay that debt, we become liable to its penalty. We have not paid our rent, and worse, we have wasted our Master’s goods. So God has a claim against us for the wrong we have done and for the duty we have left undone.

Second, some people are more deeply in debt to God than others. One owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. The Pharisee was the smaller debtor, but he was still a debtor, which was more than he realized. He thought God owed him, as in Luke 18:10-11. The woman, a well-known and scandalous sinner, was the greater debtor. Some sinners are greater debtors because they have sinned more openly. Others are greater debtors because they have sinned against more light, more warnings, more convictions, and more mercy.

Third, whether our debt is large or small, it is more than we can pay. They had nothing to pay, nothing at all to offer in settlement. The debt is too great, and we have nothing with which to clear it. Silver and gold cannot pay it. Sacrifice and offering cannot pay it, not even thousands of rams. Our own righteousness cannot pay it either, not even our repentance and obedience in the future, because those are already required of us, and even they are God’s work in us.

Fourth, the God of heaven is ready to forgive, freely and fully, poor sinners, on gospel terms, even when their debt is very great. If we repent and believe in Christ, our sin will not destroy us or be charged against us. God has made himself known as gracious, merciful, and ready to forgive sin. His Son has purchased pardon for repentant believers, his gospel promises it to them, and his Spirit seals it and gives them comfort in it.

Fifth, those whose sins are forgiven are bound to love the One who forgave them. The more is forgiven, the more love should follow. The greater sinners people were before conversion, the greater saints they should become after it. They should strive more to serve God, and their hearts should be larger in obedience. When Saul, once a persecutor, became Paul, a preacher, he labored more abundantly.

Christ then applies this parable to the different spirit and conduct of the Pharisee and the sinner toward him. The Pharisee would not admit that Christ was a prophet, yet Christ seems ready to treat him as one in a forgiven state, someone who had been pardoned, though less was forgiven to him. He did show some love to Christ by inviting him into his house, but nothing like the love shown by this poor woman. Christ says to him, in effect, “See what she has done. According to your own judgment, she should love more, since more has been forgiven her, and that is exactly what you see.”

“Seest thou this woman?” in Luke 7:44 means, “Look at her closely.” The Pharisee looked on her with contempt, but he should have noticed how much kinder a friend she was to Christ than he was. Why should Christ accept his kindness and refuse hers? He did not even provide water for Jesus to wash his feet, though Jesus had come in worn and dusty from the road. She did far more than that. She washed his feet with tears, tears of love for him and sorrow for her sin, and wiped them with the hair of her head. That was a sign of deep love.

The Pharisee did not kiss Christ’s cheek, which was a normal way to welcome a friend warmly. But this woman did not stop kissing his feet, showing both humility and affection (Luke 7:45). The Pharisee did not even offer ordinary oil to anoint Christ’s head. She, instead, poured precious ointment on his feet (Luke 7:46). In this way, she far outdid him.

People who criticize the effort and expense of earnest Christians in religion usually do so because they are unwilling to rise to the same level themselves. They prefer a cheap and easy religion.

Christ then silences the Pharisee’s complaint: “I say unto thee, Simon, her sins, which are many, are forgiven” (Luke 7:47). He admits that she had been guilty of many sins, but they are forgiven, and therefore it is not wrong for him to accept her love. The phrase is better understood as, “Therefore she loved much,” because her great love was not the cause of her pardon, but the result of it and of her joyful awareness of it. We love God because he first loved us. He did not forgive us because we first loved him.

“But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Christ is saying that the Pharisee’s love for him was so small that he had reason to wonder whether it was sincere at all. If so, then perhaps even his comparatively small sins were not truly forgiven. Instead of resenting the mercy Christ shows to greater sinners when they repent, we should let their example move us to ask whether we ourselves are forgiven and whether we love Christ.

Christ also silences the woman’s fears. She was probably troubled by the Pharisee’s behavior, yet she did not let discouragement drive her away. Christ said to her, “Thy sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48).

The more clearly we show our sorrow for sin and our love for Christ, the stronger the evidence that our sins are forgiven. We learn the assurance of God’s saving grace in us from the work he has done in us, and that points us to the grace he has done for us. How richly this woman was rewarded for her trouble and expense when Christ sent her away with these words, “Your sins are forgiven.” What a powerful check this would be against going back to sin again.

Even though some people present were upset with Christ in their hearts because he seemed to claim the right to forgive sin and declare sinners released from guilt (Luke 7:49), as others had done before him (Matthew 9:3), he did not back away from what he had said. In the earlier case, he had shown his authority to forgive sin by healing the man with paralysis, and so he would not stop to answer this objection here. Instead, he showed that he takes delight in forgiving sin. He loves to speak pardon and peace to those who truly turn to him. He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50).

This would greatly strengthen her comfort in the forgiveness of her sin. It also showed that she was made right with God through faith, which is what justification means, being accepted as right with God. All these signs of sorrow for sin and love for Christ came from faith. So, as faith honors God more than any other grace, Christ gives special honor to faith above the other graces. Those who know that their faith has saved them may go in peace and continue on their way with joy.