Bible Reference > Bible Book Studies > Gospel of Luke > Luke 7
Quick Summary
In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus eats dinner at the house of Simon the Pharisee. A woman of the city known as a sinner comes in with an alabaster jar of ointment. Standing behind Jesus at his feet, she weeps, bathes his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them, and anoints them. Simon silently judges both the woman and Jesus. Jesus answers with the parable of the two debtors: a creditor cancels two debts, one large and one small, and the one forgiven more loves more. Turning to the woman, Jesus contrasts her extravagant love with Simon's missing hospitality and says, "Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love." He tells her, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." The story teaches that love flows from forgiveness, that God's grace reaches the people others write off, and that the real danger belongs to those who think they need little forgiveness.
Scripture Reference
Luke 7:36-50 (NRSV). Related anointing accounts: Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8.
This is the final scene of Luke 7. Jesus has just been called "a friend of tax collectors and sinners," and he has said that "wisdom is vindicated by all her children" (Luke 7:18-35). Luke immediately shows us what both of those sayings look like at a dinner table.
Luke 7:36-50 Commentary
Luke 7:36 – Dinner at Simon the Pharisee's House
"One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table."
Luke is the only Gospel writer who shows Jesus eating in the homes of Pharisees, and he does it three times: here, in Luke 11:37-54, and in Luke 14:1-6. Jesus did not only eat with tax collectors and sinners. He ate with his critics too. Each of those meals turns into a lesson about who truly belongs at God's table.
"Took his place at the table" literally means he reclined. At formal meals, guests lay on cushions or couches around a low table, leaning on the left elbow with their feet stretched out behind them. That detail explains how the woman could stand behind Jesus at his feet without climbing over anyone. It also tells us this was a formal dinner, perhaps in honor of a visiting teacher.
Who Was Simon the Pharisee?
Luke gives us only his name, Simon, and his party. The Pharisees were a lay renewal movement within Judaism, devoted to careful observance of the law, especially purity and tithing, in everyday life. Simon was a respectable host with a house large enough for a banquet.
Simon invited Jesus, after all, and he calls him "Teacher." His problem is ordinary, which makes it more dangerous. He has a settled opinion about who is a sinner and who is not, and he never thinks to place himself in the first group. In that way he resembles the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son and the Pharisee praying in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
Luke 7:37 – A Woman With an Alabaster Jar
"And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment."
Banquets in this world were semi-public. Doors stood open, and townspeople could come in and stand along the walls to watch and listen. That is how this woman gets in. What she does once she is inside is another matter.
Luke calls her "a sinner" and nothing more. He does not tell us her sin. Many readers have assumed she was a prostitute, but the text never says so. The phrase simply marks her as someone the town knew to have a bad reputation. Luke's restraint is a kind of mercy. He refuses to define her by her past.
An alabaster jar (alabastron) was a small flask carved from soft, translucent stone, often with a long neck that was broken off to pour out the contents. It held perfumed ointment (myron), which was expensive. This woman brought something precious, and she came intending to use all of it.
Luke 7:38 – Tears, Hair, and Kisses
"She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment."
This is one of the most emotional scenes in the Gospels. Everything she does breaks the rules of the room.
Her weeping is so heavy that her tears wash his feet. She has no towel, so she lets down her hair to dry them. In Jewish culture of the time, a respectable woman did not unbind her hair in public. She kisses his feet over and over. The verb (kataphileō) suggests repeated, tender kissing. Then she pours out the ointment.
Luke does not tell us why she is weeping. The rest of the story suggests the answer. She has already experienced Jesus' forgiveness, perhaps through hearing him preach, and her tears are the overflow of a heart that has been set free.
Luke 7:39 – "If This Man Were a Prophet"
"Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him.'"
Simon says nothing out loud. His judgment happens silently in his head, which makes the next moment all the more striking.
Simon's logic runs like this: a real prophet would know this woman is a sinner, and a real prophet would not let a sinner touch him. So either Jesus does not know, in which case he is no prophet, or he knows and does not care, in which case he is no holy man. Simon has concluded that both the woman and Jesus fail his test.
The irony is thick. The crowd at Nain had just declared that "a great prophet has risen among us" (Luke 7:11-17). Simon doubts it. And in the very next verse, Jesus reads Simon's unspoken thoughts. He proves he is a prophet by knowing exactly what kind of man Simon is.
Luke 7:40-43 – The Parable of the Two Debtors
"Jesus spoke up and said to him, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.' 'Teacher,' he replied, 'speak.'"
Jesus tells a short story: "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?"
A denarius was roughly a day's wage for a laborer. Five hundred denarii was well over a year and a half of work. Fifty was under two months. Both debts were real, and both debtors were broke. Neither could pay. That detail matters. Both men needed grace, because both were bankrupt.
The word for "canceled" is echarisato, from the same root as charis, the Greek word for grace. The creditor "graced" the debt away. He does not lower the interest or offer a payment plan. He writes it off.
Simon answers, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." The hesitant "I suppose" sounds like a man who can see where this is heading. Jesus replies, "You have judged rightly." Simon has just judged his own case.
Debt as a picture for sin runs throughout Jesus' teaching. In Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray, "forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us" (Luke 11:1-13). Paul uses the same picture when he writes that in Christ "we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (see redemption in Ephesians).
Luke 7:44-46 – "Do You See This Woman?"
"Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman?'"
That question is the hinge of the story. Simon has been staring at her the whole time, but he has not seen her. He has seen a category: sinner. Jesus turns his body toward her while speaking to Simon, and asks Simon to look again.
Then Jesus lists three courtesies Simon left out, and three ways the woman supplied them.
Water for the feet. A good host offered water for guests to wash the dust of the road from their feet, as Abraham did for his visitors in Genesis 18:4. Simon offered none. The woman washed Jesus' feet with her tears.
A kiss of greeting. A host typically welcomed an honored guest with a kiss. Simon gave none. The woman has not stopped kissing Jesus' feet since she came in.
Oil for the head. A host might anoint a guest's head with ordinary olive oil. Simon did not. The woman anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfumed ointment.
Every contrast runs the same direction. Simon withheld the minimum. The woman gave the maximum. Water versus tears. One kiss versus constant kisses. Cheap oil on the head versus costly ointment on the feet. Simon treated Jesus as a curiosity. The woman treated him as the one who had changed her life. Hospitality was a sacred duty in the ancient world, as the early church would later show in the house churches of Acts. Simon failed it.
Forgiven Much, Loves Much: Luke 7:47
"Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
This verse is the heart of the passage, and it has been debated for centuries. Does the woman earn forgiveness by loving much? Or does she love much because she has already been forgiven?
The parable settles the question. In the story of the two debtors, the creditor cancels the debt first, and love follows. The greater the cancellation, the greater the love. Jesus applies the parable directly: she has been forgiven much, and her great love is the evidence.
The grammar points the same way. "Have been forgiven" (apheōntai) is in the Greek perfect tense, describing something already completed with ongoing effect. Her forgiveness happened before she walked into Simon's house. Her tears and perfume are the result.
Translations show how the verse can be read:
NRSV: "Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love."
KJV: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much."
NIV: "Her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown."
NLT: "Her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love."
The KJV's "for she loved much" can sound as though love is the cause. The NIV and NRSV make the meaning clearer: love is the sign. The Greek word hoti can mean either "because" or "as is shown by," and the parable decides which.
Then comes the sting: "But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Jesus never says Simon has few sins. Simon believes he has been forgiven little, and so his love is small. Whether he owes fifty or five hundred, Simon does not know he owes anything at all.
Luke 7:48-50 – "Your Faith Has Saved You; Go in Peace"
"Then he said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.'"
Jesus now speaks to the woman directly for the first time. He confirms out loud, in front of everyone, what has already happened. That public word matters. The whole town knew her as a sinner. Now the whole room has heard Jesus declare her forgiven. Her restoration is social as well as spiritual.
The other guests react: "Who is this who even forgives sins?" It is the same question the scribes and Pharisees asked when Jesus forgave the paralyzed man in Luke 5:17-26. Only God can forgive sins. The guests sense that Jesus is claiming something only God can claim. It is the question Luke 7 has been asking all along.
Jesus ignores them and speaks once more to the woman: "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
Notice that Jesus credits her faith. Her tears and perfume were the evidence of love. Faith was the channel through which forgiveness came. Luke uses the same words, "your faith has saved you" or "made you well," for the woman who touched Jesus' cloak, the Samaritan leper, and the blind beggar near Jericho. In every case, the person was someone the crowd had pushed aside.
"Go in peace" (poreuou eis eirēnēn) carries the weight of the Hebrew shalom: wholeness, well-being, a life put back together. She walked in as "a woman in the city, who was a sinner." She walks out forgiven and whole.
Who Was the Sinful Woman in Luke 7?
Luke never names her. Over the centuries, though, Christian tradition gave her two names that the text does not support.
Was the Sinful Woman Mary Magdalene?
Probably not. Mary Magdalene appears by name for the first time in the very next passage, Luke 8:1-3, described as the woman "from whom seven demons had gone out." Luke introduces her as a new character, with no hint that she is the woman we just met. Demon possession and sinfulness are also different things in Luke.
The identification goes back to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in 591, which merged Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman of Luke 7, and Mary of Bethany into one figure. That image of Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute shaped Western art and preaching for more than a thousand years. The Roman Catholic Church revised its calendar in 1969 to separate the figures, and in 2016 it raised Mary Magdalene's commemoration to a feast, honoring her as the first witness to the resurrection. Eastern Christian traditions never merged them.
Was She Mary of Bethany?
Also unlikely. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, also anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair, in John 12:1-11. But that anointing happens in Bethany, near Jerusalem, days before Jesus' death, and it is about preparing his body for burial. Luke's story happens in Galilee, early in Jesus' ministry, and it is about forgiveness. Luke introduces Mary of Bethany separately, as a devoted listener in Luke 10:38-42, with no suggestion that she was ever known as a sinner.
Most scholars conclude that Luke 7 records a separate event, though the anointing traditions likely influenced one another as they were retold. The table below compares the four accounts.
| Account | Setting | The woman and the anointing |
|---|---|---|
| Luke 7:36-50 | Galilee, early in Jesus' ministry; home of Simon the Pharisee | Unnamed woman known as a sinner; tears, hair, and ointment on his feet; the point is forgiveness |
| Mark 14:3-9 | Bethany, two days before Passover; home of Simon the leper | Unnamed woman; costly nard poured on his head; the point is his burial |
| Matthew 26:6-13 | Bethany, before Passover; home of Simon the leper | Unnamed woman; ointment poured on his head; the point is his burial |
| John 12:1-8 | Bethany, six days before Passover; dinner with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary | Mary of Bethany; nard on his feet, wiped with her hair; the point is his burial |
The Woman With the Alabaster Jar and Other Forgiveness Stories
The forgiveness of this woman belongs to a larger pattern in the Gospels. Jesus forgives the paralyzed man before he heals him. He calls Levi the tax collector and eats at his table. He tells three parables about lost things being found in Luke 15. He goes to the house of Zacchaeus. In John's Gospel, he refuses to condemn the woman caught in adultery. In every one of these stories, the person everyone else had written off receives grace, and the person who thought they were fine is left with a question to answer.
Themes in Luke 7:36-50
Love Flows From Forgiveness
The woman's actions do not buy her forgiveness. They respond to it. This is the order of the gospel everywhere in the New Testament. We love because God first loved us. Paul makes the same point when he describes grace in Ephesians as a gift that comes before any good work. For more, see these Bible verses about forgiveness and Bible verses about grace.
The Danger of a Small Debt
Simon's greatest problem is his sense that he has little to be forgiven for. People who believe they owe little will love little. That is a warning to every religious person, and especially to those of us who have been in church a long time. These Bible verses about judging others press the same point.
Seeing People as Jesus Sees Them
"Do you see this woman?" Simon saw a reputation. Jesus saw a forgiven daughter of God. The question still stands for anyone who has ever filed a person away under a label.
Extravagant Worship
The woman holds nothing back: not her tears, her dignity, her hair, or her perfume. Her worship is costly and unembarrassed. It is the natural response of someone who knows how much she has been given. For more on this, see these Bible verses about worship.
Luke 7:36-50 Meaning for Today
After more than thirty years in ministry, I can tell you that church people are more likely to be Simon than the woman. We are the ones who invited Jesus over. We know the right courtesies, or at least we know what they are supposed to be. And it is easy, in that comfortable place, to look across the room at someone with a reputation and think, "If Jesus really knew who that was..."
This story turns that thought back on us. Jesus does know who she is. He also knows who we are. The question is whether we know how much we have been forgiven. If we think our debt was fifty denarii, our love will be careful, polite, and small. If we understand that we too were bankrupt and the debt was written off by grace, our love will start to look more like hers.
The story also speaks to anyone who feels like the woman. Maybe you carry a past that other people remember. Maybe you still feel the stares when you walk into a room. Jesus' word to her is his word to you: "Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace." No reputation is larger than his grace. If that is where you are, these reflections on what repentance means may help you take the next step.
So here is a question worth sitting with this week: what would it look like for you to love Jesus extravagantly?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the meaning of Luke 7:36-50? Luke 7:36-50 tells of a sinful woman who anoints Jesus' feet at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Through the parable of the two debtors, Jesus teaches that the one forgiven much loves much. Her extravagant love is the evidence of forgiveness she has already received, while Simon's small love reveals that he does not see his own need.
What does "forgiven much, loves much" mean? It comes from Luke 7:47. People who understand how much God has forgiven them respond with great love. Love is the result of forgiveness.
What is the parable of the two debtors? In Luke 7:41-43, Jesus tells of a creditor who cancels two debts, one of five hundred denarii and one of fifty. He asks which debtor will love him more. Simon answers correctly that it is the one forgiven the larger debt.
Who was the woman with the alabaster jar? In Luke 7, she is an unnamed woman known in her town as a sinner. The other Gospels describe a woman anointing Jesus in Bethany before his death, and John identifies that woman as Mary of Bethany. Most scholars see Luke's story as a separate event.
Was the sinful woman in Luke 7 Mary Magdalene? There is no evidence that she was. Luke introduces Mary Magdalene as a new character in Luke 8:2. The identification comes from a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in 591, and the Catholic Church formally separated the figures in 1969.
Who was Simon the Pharisee? Simon was a Pharisee in Galilee who invited Jesus to dinner. He judged the woman as a sinner and doubted that Jesus was a prophet. He is different from Simon the leper, the host in Mark and Matthew's Bethany anointing.
Why did the woman wash Jesus' feet with her tears? Luke implies she had already been forgiven and came to express her love and gratitude. Simon had neglected to offer water for Jesus' feet, so her tears supplied what the host left out.
What does "Your faith has saved you; go in peace" mean? Jesus credits the woman's faith as the means of her salvation. "Go in peace" sends her out whole, restored to God and to her community.
What does "her sins, which are many, are forgiven" mean in the KJV? The KJV reads, "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much." Modern translations clarify that her great love shows she has been forgiven, rather than earning her forgiveness.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Works Consulted
Darrell L. Bock, Luke (IVP New Testament Commentary)
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX (Anchor Bible)
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (New International Commentary on the New Testament)
I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke (New International Greek Testament Commentary)
Leon Morris, Luke (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)
John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20 (Word Biblical Commentary)
N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone
