Illuminated Coptic sanctuary banner

Luke 7:36-50 - The Forgiven Woman at the Pharisee's Table

15 min read

Jump to chapter (79)
LukeSelect a chapter to jump directly
Intro1:11:51:261:391:572:12:212:413:13:214:14:144:315:15:125:175:276:16:176:277:17:187:368:18:168:228:409:19:189:289:379:5110:110:2110:2510:3811:111:1411:2711:3712:112:1312:2212:3512:4913:113:1814:114:2515:115:1116:116:1917:117:2018:118:1818:3119:119:1119:2819:4120:120:2720:4121:521:2022:122:1422:2422:3922:5423:123:2623:4424:124:1324:36

Luke has just recorded the complaint that Jesus is “a friend of tax collectors and sinners,” followed by His declaration that wisdom is justified by her children (Luke 7:34-35). The next scene shows what that friendship means and what fruit divine wisdom produces. A Pharisee receives Jesus at his table. A woman known in the city as a sinner comes to His feet. One has invited Christ into his house; the other entrusts herself to His mercy.

The sharpest question in the passage is addressed to Simon: “Do you see this woman?” He sees her reputation and concludes that Jesus must be blind to it. Christ reveals the opposite. He knows her sins, Simon’s unspoken judgment, the debt neither debtor can pay, and the faith hidden beneath tears. The woman whom the room has reduced to her past recognizes the Lord who can release her from it.

The sequence matters. Grace cancels the debt; love shows that mercy has been received; Christ names faith as saving. Forgiveness is never purchased by tears or devotion, yet forgiveness never leaves the heart untouched. At this table, the person who knows her need draws near, while the person most certain of his sight must learn how to see.

At His Feet While Simon Judges (Luke 7:36-39)

36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

Luke leaves the city unnamed and tells us nothing about how the woman entered. He gives the details needed for faith: she is unnamed, publicly known as a sinner, and determined to reach Jesus. The exact nature of her sin is withheld. She is neither identified as Mary Magdalene or Mary of Bethany nor assigned an occupation. Curiosity about her past would repeat Simon’s error by making her label more important than the work of grace taking place before him.

At formal meals in first-century Palestine, reclining was widespread. A guest’s feet extended away from the eating surface, which makes it physically intelligible that the woman could stand behind Jesus at His feet.1 This context explains her position without reconstructing Simon’s house. Luke keeps our attention on what she does there: she weeps, wets His feet, wipes them with her hair, kisses them, and anoints them with fragrant oil.

The verbs in verse 38 portray sustained action. Κατεφίλει means that she “was kissing” His feet, and verse 45 makes the persistence explicit: she “has not ceased” to kiss them.2 Her repentance is embodied and persevering. She offers no defense to the room and no speech about herself. Shame has brought her low, but hope has brought her near. True humility does not decide that sin has placed Christ beyond reach. It comes to His feet because only He can heal what confession uncovers.

Simon reads her touch as evidence against Jesus. If Jesus were a prophet, he thinks, He would know “who and what manner of woman this is.” Yet Jesus will answer the thought Simon never voiced. Christ’s willingness to receive the woman does not arise from ignorance of sin. He knows more than Simon: the woman’s past, her present repentance, and Simon’s concealed contempt. Holiness is present at the table as a mercy strong enough to receive the sinner without sharing her sin and to expose the judge without discarding him.

Her low posture must not be used to sanctify humiliation or tell wounded people to endure mistreatment. The woman chooses to come before Christ in repentance, and Christ publicly turns toward her, interprets her actions, forgives her, and addresses her directly. He does not leave her beneath the room’s contempt.

Two Debtors with Nothing to Repay (Luke 7:40-43)

40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.”

Jesus answers judgment with a parable that Simon can understand. The debts differ tenfold, but the decisive phrase joins the debtors together: “they had nothing with which to repay.” One owes five hundred denarii and the other fifty; neither can turn need into self-sufficiency. Simon may think of himself as the smaller debtor, but the smaller debtor still lives by the creditor’s generosity.

The creditor ἐχαρίσατο, “freely forgave” or graciously cancelled, both debts.3 Luke uses the same verb in 7:21 when Christ ἐχαρίσατο sight to the blind. Bodily sight and cancelled debt are different gifts, yet in both scenes gracious action comes before visible fruit; the shared verb neither equates healing with forgiveness nor supplies a complete doctrine of grace. No payment plan follows, and no debtor earns release by promising greater affection. The creditor acts first. This is the order that governs the whole scene: mercy received gives birth to love.

Simon answers correctly that the one forgiven more will love more. Christ affirms his judgment, but Simon’s own table now interprets the parable. The woman’s love is visible; Simon’s welcome has remained guarded. He can solve the story while resisting its diagnosis. Religious knowledge becomes dangerous when it gives us correct words for grace while preserving the belief that we need less of it than someone else.

St. Cyril of Alexandria explains that Christ came to forgive debtors great and small and to “shew mercy upon small and great”.4 The parable does not flatten the moral difference between lives or deny that sins have differing consequences. It removes every ground for boasting before God. In confession we do not negotiate a smaller invoice. We tell the truth, abandon self-payment, and receive mercy from Christ.

“Do You See This Woman?” (Luke 7:44-47)

44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

Jesus turns toward the woman while speaking to Simon. The posture matters because it enacts His question. Simon has been looking at her, but Christ asks whether he sees her. A label can preserve information while destroying sight. Simon knows that she has sinned; he cannot recognize what repentance and mercy are producing in her now.

Christ sets three contrasts side by side. Simon gave no water; she gave tears and her hair. Simon gave no kiss; she has not ceased kissing Christ’s feet. Simon gave no oil for His head; she gave fragrant oil for His feet. Jesus does not compare her many sins with an invented list of Simon’s secret offenses. He compares the welcome each has given Him. Her actions reveal that mercy has reached the center of her life; Simon’s restraint reveals how little room he has made for the Guest seated in his own house.

Verse 47 can sound as though her love bought forgiveness: “her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.” The parable supplies the necessary order. The creditor first cancels debts that cannot be paid, then asks which debtor will love more. The perfect ἀφέωνται, “have been forgiven,” names forgiveness with an abiding result, and verse 50 will name her faith as saving.5 The precise force of the Greek conjunction translated “for” is debated, so no doctrine should rest on redefining that word. Luke’s narrative sequence is clear enough: her abundant love manifests mercy received. Tears, kisses, and ointment are fruit, not currency.

This distinction protects both grace and obedience. If devotion purchases pardon, the sinner must somehow become worthy before approaching Christ. If pardon produces no changed love, grace becomes an idea that never reaches the body, possessions, reputation, or neighbor. The woman brings her whole self to Jesus. Forgiven love becomes visible.

St. Cyril directs the warning toward the judging heart: “not to pass sentence upon the infirm, and condemn others.”6 Simon should not become an insult aimed at someone outside the Church. His danger belongs first to religious people who know the language of holiness. A servant can defend doctrine accurately, notice another person’s failure quickly, and still offer Christ a cold welcome.

The same question tests a parish: do we see the person who has repented, or only the history we heard about? Mercy does not abolish truth, wise boundaries, accountability, or the repair of harm. It does forbid us from treating another person’s worst known act as a permanent identity after Christ has begun the work of restoration. The Church must be a place where repentance is taken seriously enough to change how the repentant are seen.

Forgiven, Saved, and Sent into Peace (Luke 7:48-50)

48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

For the first time in the scene, Jesus speaks directly to the woman: “Your sins are forgiven.” He does not merely discuss her spiritual condition with Simon. He gives her His own verdict in the hearing of the table. Those reclining with Him ask, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Luke has raised this question before, when scribes and Pharisees asked who could forgive sins but God alone (Luke 5:21). At Simon’s table, Jesus again exercises that divine authority. The mercy that receives her is the mercy of God present in the incarnate Son.

Christ then identifies what has saved her: “Your faith has saved you.” Σέσωκέν is a perfect form, “has saved”, with an abiding result.7 Her tears did not pay Him, the ointment did not purchase Him, and public courage did not compel Him. All those acts belong to a faith that has come to Christ for mercy and entrusted itself to His word.

“Go in peace” is more than permission to leave the room. The Greek says πορεύου εἰς εἰρήνην, literally go “into” peace, though the NKJV gives the natural English expression.7 Christ’s last word directs the forgiven life. The room may continue to remember her old name; Jesus gives her a future governed by His peace.

That peace should not be mistaken for a promise that consequences, temptation, wounded relationships, or social suspicion disappear at once. Christ sends her with a new standing before Him and a new path to walk. Repentance may still require restitution, patience, changed habits, and endurance. Peace is not denial of that work. It is the gift that lets the forgiven person undertake it without trying to earn again what Christ has freely given.

St. John Chrysostom, while distinguishing this woman from Mary of Bethany, explains why Christ received her: “there is no malady which prevaileth over His goodness.”8 The passage gives no permission to minimize sin. It gives every reason to refuse despair. No wound of sin is stronger than the goodness of Christ when faith comes to Him in repentance.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

Luke 7:36-50 is heard at Vespers on Baramhat 29, the Feast of the Glorious Annunciation and the commemoration of the Resurrection of the Lord, and on fifth Sundays that take the Baramhat 29 readings. It is also the Liturgy Gospel on the fourth Sunday of Tout and the Vespers Gospel on the second Sunday of Kiahk. The repeated hearing brings us back to Christ’s authority to forgive and to love that grows from mercy received. The woman’s tears never purchase the gift; they make visible the heart that has welcomed it.

At the Annunciation the Son comes among us to save; at this table the same Lord receives a sinner and gives peace. This connection does not make the unnamed woman the Theotokos. It invites the Church to receive the saving Lord with gratitude rather than the guarded courtesy of a heart persuaded it owes little.9

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

  1. Come to Christ before shame agrees to let you come. The woman does not wait until her reputation changes or the room becomes safe. If remembered sin has made prayer evasive or confession endlessly postponed, name the sin plainly before Christ and take the next concrete step toward confession. Humility says, “I have no defense, but I know where mercy is.” Despair says, “Because I have no defense, I must stay away.” The woman refuses despair.

  2. Stop using the smaller debt as a form of self-salvation. Simon may appear closer to the fifty-denarii debtor, yet that debtor also has nothing with which to repay. Notice where comparison keeps the conscience quiet: another person’s marriage failed more visibly, another servant caused greater harm, another family carries a worse reputation. Bring the comparison itself into repentance. Christ frees us to confess without measuring ourselves against someone else because both truth and mercy are already in His hands.

  3. Learn to see evidence of grace in a person whose past you know. “Do you see this woman?” confronts gossip that becomes permanent identity, caution that quietly becomes contempt, and communities that demand repentance but refuse to recognize it. Where safeguarding or accountability is needed, practice it truthfully. At the same time, stop retelling what no longer needs to be retold, acknowledge concrete change, and speak to the person rather than about the label. Christ’s mercy restores sight as well as sinners.

  4. Let forgiven love become concrete. The woman’s gratitude takes bodily form in attention, persistence, and costly offering. Choose one response that fits the mercy you have received: reconcile with someone you have avoided, serve without arranging to be noticed, give generously, remain present to a wounded person, or offer unhurried prayer when distraction would be easier. These acts do not repay Christ. They are what His grace begins to make possible.

  5. Receive Christ’s verdict and walk into peace. After sincere repentance and confession, repeated self-accusation can disguise itself as humility. Christ does not tell the woman to remain at the table until every observer approves. He sends her forward. Make restitution where it is owed, accept wise consequences, keep watch against the old sin, and refuse to make shame your lord. Pray His words when the past returns: “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Footnotes

  1. HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, “Meals”, on widespread Greco-Roman reclining at formal meals in Palestine in Jesus’ day. ↩

  2. SBL Greek New Testament, Luke 7:38, 45; Greek text. ↩

  3. SBL Greek New Testament, Luke 7:21, 42-43; Greek text. ↩

  4. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon XL, direct commentary on Luke 7:36-50, Tertullian.org. ↩

  5. SBL Greek New Testament, Luke 7:47-48; Greek text. ↩

  6. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon XL, on Simon’s duty to tend his own life rather than condemn the infirm, Tertullian.org. ↩

  7. SBL Greek New Testament, Luke 7:50; Greek text. ↩ ↩2

  8. St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on John, Homily 62 on John 11:1-2, CCEL. ↩

  9. Coptic Katameros, the Gospel readings for the days and services named above; Coptic lectionary. ↩

Reading statusLoading your browser-local progress
Saved only in this browser
Referenced Fathers:

Created: | Updated:

Related Studies & References

Referenced in Other Studies