Certain Women - Luke 8:1-3

Jesus speaks for a while after the disciples of John leave, and then he is invited to dinner at the house of Simon, a Pharisee. Before we get into what happens there, we need some background information to understand the customs of the time. Ancient Palestine was and is a dry, dusty, hot, windy place. In Jesus’ time people walked everywhere, they didn’t have cars, maybe horses and chariots, but the people were still exposed to the element for the entire time that they were outside. Given that climate, Jesus and his followers would have walked to Simon’s house for dinner and arrived dusty, especially in the feet, because most people wore sandals. Many cultures greet others by kissing on the cheek, and ancient Israelwas no different. To show up as a guest and not be received with the standard greeting of a kiss, would not have been life altering, but demonstrates disrespect. Because the guests typically showed up a little dingy, the host would provide a container of water so that the guests could wash their feet before dinner, because no one wants to eat dinner and hang out with people if they are all dusty. JTC says, “It was the custom of the times to treat a distinguished guest with marked attention; to receive him with a kiss of welcome, to provide water for washing the dust from his feet, and oil for anointing the hair of the head and the beard.” The Jewish Virtual Dictionary tells us why the oil is such an important offering, saying, “oil was one of the three staples of life… In addition, anointing with oil provided protection from the sun… Oil was regarded as a symbol of honor, and favor… Virtue is frequently likened to fragrant oil because both are so costly to obtain… in the Bible, anointing with oil is associated with the dedication of temples as well as of people.” Because oil was in such high demand and because of the lengthy process to make it, oil wasn’t cheap, it was precious and used frugally.

 

With that background we can focus on Jesus going to the house of Simon the Pharisee for dinner. While they were eating dinner, “a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.” The IM says, “While she was apparently not invited to the feast, the woman was able to enter Simon’s house because of social customs that allowed people in need to visit banquets and receive leftover food.” This has always been a weird concept for me, to wash someone’s feet, especially with tears and then wipe them dry with my hair. I honestly don’t think that it would occur to me to do this, which is why it might seem so foreign to me. Why does Jesus even let her do this? Why doesn’t he turn her around and wash her feet instead? She came with an alabaster box, something that was clearly important to her, she came to him crying, He knew that she needed to do this at that time. Our repentance process probably won’t included washing Jesus’ feet with our tears, but it does include some type of gesture on our part, and this was hers, so he let her wash and dry his feet because He knew that she needed to do that.

 

Simon the Pharisee was most unimpressed but doesn’t say anything out loud. He thinks to himself, “this man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” Jesus is unimpressed with these thoughts and asks Simon a question, “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?” I don’t think that it’s occurred to Simon yet that Jesus has heard his thoughts, and is probably very confused as to what point Jesus is trying to make, so Simon hedges a bit and answers, “I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most.” That’s right. But Simon does get called out when Jesus says, “Simon, seeth thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.” Simon didn’t do any of those courtesies for the Savior while he was in his home, but I find it interesting that Jesus didn’t just leave or say something like “I was disrespected.” It wasn’t until Simon pushed his judgments of this kind woman on to him that he finally said something. That would be the definition of meek. This begs the question, why did Simon even invite Jesus over to his house for dinner? Because protocol required it? Maybe, because it was considered the hospitable thing to do? Who knows.

 

Simon has been a very ungracious host, but Jesus didn’t call him out on it or demand the treatment that He deserved. Instead, when put in a position to teach, the IM says, “Jesus then told a parable that present both Simon and the woman as sinners who owed a debt to divine justice. Despite the woman’s greater sins, it was she, not Simon, who received the Savior’s blessings of forgiveness and peace because of her faith in the Savior and repentance of her sins.” Jesus says of the woman, to Simon, “her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Does this mean that only those who have committed serious sin love Jesus? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Whether great or small, we all have sins that we must be forgiven for if we are to become Christ-like, and I don’t think that Jesus meant that only those who have big sins to repent of love Him. I think that when Jesus says “to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little,” He’s saying that they are forgiven for very little of their sins because they don’t repent. You can’t be forgiven in your don’t repent, whether your sins are great or small, those who love Jesus the least are the least likely to come to him in repentance. Those who are forgiven for much sin, whether that’s thinking inappropriate thoughts, or stealing, or adultery, or telling little white lies, they love Jesus more because they value the blessing of repentance and the atonement that made it all possible. The IM says, “By declaring, ‘to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little,’ Jesus Christ taught that people who choose not to seek the blessings of divine forgiveness for their sins are showing their lack of love for Him. Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Presidency of the Seventy said of this teaching: ‘There is here, of course, no encouragement or condoning of sin. (The woman) had been converted by the Lord and sorely repented, and would obey his commandments and accept his forgiveness. And there would be rejoicing in heavens and should be on earth.”