When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself,
“If this man were a prophet,
he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him,
that she is a sinner.
Like this Pharisee we may invite Jesus into our lives out of interest or curiosity. We may have been hoping to have a conversation around the table where we could learn more interesting things about Jesus or his message. Perhaps too we were hoping to impress him by our own cleverness. Or perhaps we thought to boost our status with the community around us by playing host to a popular teacher. Whatever the Pharisee was expecting in this case, Jesus proved disruptive to that expectation just as he so often did and does. Because Jesus was present the Pharisee had to put up with the presence of a "sinful woman" whom he never would have invited into his house under other circumstances. Indeed Jesus often brings into our lives those whom we ourselves would not have chosen. It appeared to the Pharisee that he had nothing to gain and much to lose in the way of honor by the presence of this woman. But this interruption Jesus permitted was not only for her sake but also for the that of the Pharisee. There was clearly something he was meant to learn, which was why the explanation of Jesus to Simon was so clearly enunciated, in order that everyone present could benefit.
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor;
one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty.
Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both.
Which of them will love him more?”
Simon said in reply,
“The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.”
He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
The woman was actually in a more privileged position in regard to Jesus because she knew herself to be a sinner in need of mercy. Society, after all, wouldn't let her forget, and defined her by her past. Society would have kept such a one at a distance. But Jesus permitted her to come to him. Already implicit in this gesture was her acknowledgement of her guilt and Jesus' bestowal of mercy. This happened in her actions of bathing, wiping, kissing, and anointing, before Jesus confirmed by his words that she was forgiven. Jesus was thus able to unlock her heart, enabling her to love much in the way she was always meant to do.
The Pharisee, however, was not prompted to love in the same way. His invitation to Jesus did not contain even half of the hospitality that the presence of the woman conveyed. He was still only a casual observer of Jesus, and not yet one who really knew what Jesus desired to offer in terms of forgiveness of sins. He didn't believe he stood in anywhere near the same need as the sinful woman. But this was a limiting belief because it prevented his own heart, his love and hospitality, from being unlocked by Jesus.
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;
hence, she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
The Pharisee was only forgiven little (if anything) because he didn't realize his need and open his heart before Jesus in humility as the woman did. After all, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). All stand in need of the grace to which the woman was open but the Pharisee was not. But Jesus was clearly doing two things in the house of the Pharisee. He was forgiving the woman but also inviting the Pharisee to learn from her example. This wasn't the teaching that for which the Pharisee signed up when he decided to invite Jesus to dine with him. But it was the one he and others at the table received as they began to ponder, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" This reality of the forgiveness of sins is at the very core of the Christian message, as Paul explained:
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures;
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