The scene in Luke 7:36–50 is one of the most moving moments in the Gospels. It is intimate, vulnerable, and profoundly theological, showing in living color how forgiveness transforms the human heart. An unnamed woman, known in her city as a sinner, enters the home of a Pharisee, approaches Jesus without invitation, and pours out her love in a way that arrests every eye in the room. Her tears fall like rivers of repentance; her perfume fills the air like the fragrance of grace.
This is not merely a story of an emotional outburst or a gesture of gratitude. It is a portrait of a life forever changed by the grace of God in Christ. It is a living demonstration of Jesus’ words: “Her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown.” Through this woman’s actions, we see the link between the depth of our awareness of sin and the height of our love for the Savior who forgives. Her devotion is not timid, calculated, or reserved. It is bold, costly, and deeply personal, the kind of worship that flows only from a heart that has been set free.
Understanding this event requires more than simply recounting the sequence of actions. We must enter the cultural world of first-century Israel, see the contrasts between the Pharisee and the woman, and recognize the theological weight of Jesus’ pronouncement. And as we do, we discover that her story is not locked in history—it is a call for every believer to remember the pit from which they were rescued, and to worship with the same humility, gratitude, and wholehearted love.
Words: 1984 / Time to read: 10 minutes / Audio Podcast: 28 Minutes
Historical & Cultural Background
The Gospel of Luke places this encounter in the home of Simon the Pharisee, somewhere in Galilee. Pharisees in the first century were not merely religious leaders but guardians of tradition, deeply committed to the Law of Moses and to the body of oral traditions that had grown up around it. They valued ritual purity, careful separation from sin, and strict adherence to religious customs. For such a man to host a public meal for a rabbi was a mark of social standing—and for someone like Jesus, whose popularity was rising, it was an opportunity to measure His character.
Banquets in that culture were semi-public affairs. Reclining guests would eat in an open courtyard, lying on low couches with their feet stretched out behind them, leaving room for others to stand or pass by. It was not unusual for townspeople to observe the proceedings from the edges, but to cross the boundary into the space where the honored guests reclined was another matter entirely. For a woman of tarnished reputation, such an act was unthinkable.
The description “a woman of the city, who was a sinner” suggests more than a passing moral lapse. The language implies a life marked by public sin—likely sexual immorality—known to the community. In the social code of the time, such a person was an outcast, someone respectable society would avoid in order to remain ceremonially and morally “clean.” She would have been excluded from polite gatherings, shunned in the marketplace, and treated as a cautionary example.
An alabaster jar of perfume was itself an expensive possession. Alabaster, quarried from fine gypsum, was prized for its ability to preserve the fragrance of costly ointments. Such perfume might represent a woman’s financial security or even be associated with her trade. To pour it out entirely was to give away something of great monetary and personal value.
Hair, too, carried cultural significance. For a Jewish woman to let down her hair in public was a mark of intimacy, even impropriety, something reserved for the privacy of home. That this woman did so in Simon’s courtyard, before Pharisees and guests, speaks of a heart so captured by devotion to Christ that social shame became irrelevant. Her tears, abundant enough to wet His feet, were not the polite misting of the eyes but the unrestrained overflow of a soul that had been crushed by sin and healed by grace.
Biblical Narrative
The sequence of events is simple yet powerful. Jesus is reclining at Simon’s table. The woman enters, carrying her alabaster jar. She positions herself behind Him, at His feet, and begins to weep. Her tears fall upon His dusty feet; instinctively, she loosens her hair and wipes them dry. She kisses His feet repeatedly, an act of honor and affection, and anoints them with her costly perfume.
The room is watching. Simon is watching. And though he says nothing aloud, his mind forms a judgment: “If this man were a prophet, He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” To Simon, the woman’s touch contaminates. A true prophet, in his thinking, would recoil, would separate himself, would uphold the boundaries that keep the holy apart from the sinful.
Jesus answers Simon’s unspoken thought with a parable. Two men owe a lender—one five hundred denarii, the other fifty. Neither can repay, and the lender forgives both debts. “Now,” Jesus asks, “which of them will love him more?” Simon replies, cautiously, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” Jesus affirms his answer and turns the moment into a mirror.
He contrasts Simon’s cool reception with the woman’s lavish devotion. Simon offered no water for His feet; she has washed them with her tears. Simon gave no kiss of greeting; she has not ceased to kiss His feet. Simon did not anoint His head with oil; she has poured costly perfume on His feet. Her actions are the visible evidence of a forgiven heart. “Her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then, in the hearing of all, Jesus declares to her, “Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
It is important to notice that her acts of devotion do not earn her forgiveness—they spring from it. She is not forgiven because she wept, kissed, and anointed. She wept, kissed, and anointed because she was forgiven. Her faith had already laid hold of Jesus’ mercy; her actions simply revealed the depth of her gratitude.
Theological Significance
This account illustrates the gospel principle that love flows from forgiveness, and the measure of our love is tied to our awareness of the grace we have received. In dispensational terms, it is a foretaste of the grace that would be proclaimed in its fullness after the cross, when the risen Christ commissioned His apostles to make disciples of all nations. Here, even before His death, Jesus reveals His authority to forgive sins—a prerogative belonging to God alone—and extends that forgiveness apart from the sacrificial system or the temple priesthood.
The parable of the two debtors functions as a diagnostic. Simon’s lack of love is not because he was forgiven less in reality, but because he perceived himself as needing little forgiveness. The woman’s extravagant love was proportionate to her acute awareness of her great debt. This dynamic remains true in the Church age: believers who keep the cross in clear view, remembering the magnitude of their rescue, will overflow in worship and service; those who minimize their sin will tend toward coldness, complacency, and self-righteousness.
The passage also affirms the personal nature of salvation. The woman is not absorbed into an anonymous crowd of followers; Jesus addresses her directly, affirms her faith, and speaks peace into her soul. The transaction is relational, not ritualistic. She comes to Him with nothing to commend herself—no social standing, no moral record—and leaves with everything: forgiveness, peace, and restored dignity.
Historical Clarification: Two Women Who Anointed Jesus
The Gospels record two separate anointings of Jesus, often confused in popular retelling. Luke 7 describes the event we have just examined, early in His Galilean ministry, involving an unnamed sinful woman in Simon the Pharisee’s house. The other accounts—in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 12—describe an anointing at Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, just days before the crucifixion.
In Bethany, the woman is identified as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. She anoints Jesus not in response to newly received forgiveness, but as an act of intimate love and prophetic preparation for His burial. The timing, location, and purpose differ; yet in both cases, the anointing is deeply personal and costly. The sinful woman’s act proclaims the joy of redemption; Mary’s act proclaims the worth of the Redeemer in the shadow of His death. Together, they form a complementary testimony: one looking back in gratitude, the other looking forward in faith.
Spiritual Lessons & Application
This passage invites believers to consider the posture of their own hearts toward Jesus. Do we approach Him with the humility and gratitude of the forgiven woman, or with the guarded respectability of Simon? Do we remember the weight of our sin and the wonder of His mercy, or have we grown accustomed to grace, as if it were owed to us?
The woman’s disregard for public opinion challenges us to worship without fear of human judgment. In a culture that often values dignity over devotion, her example says that true love for Christ will sometimes appear foolish in the eyes of the world.
Her use of costly perfume speaks to the principle of offering our best to the Lord, not leftovers. Worship that costs nothing is worth little; worship that flows from a heart willing to give up reputation, resources, and self-protection for Christ’s sake is fragrant to Him.
Finally, Jesus’ closing words—“Your faith has saved you; go in peace”—remind us that the end of forgiveness is not merely the removal of guilt but the restoration of peace. The believer who knows he is forgiven walks in a settled confidence, not in himself, but in the One who loved him and gave Himself for him.
Conclusion
The sinful woman who anointed Jesus in Luke 7 stands forever as a living parable of the gospel. Her story confronts the proud and comforts the penitent. It reveals a Savior who welcomes the unworthy, forgives the repentant, and receives the worship of those society rejects. It reminds us that forgiveness is not a theological concept to be filed away but a living reality that reshapes the heart, reorders the affections, and releases a flood of love toward Christ.
In every age, the Church needs this reminder: those who have been forgiven much will love much. When our love grows cold, it is often because we have lost sight of the enormity of our debt and the greatness of our Deliverer. The way back is not through self-effort or emotional manipulation but through fresh meditation on the cross, where the Son of God bore our sins and purchased our peace.
The sinful woman’s tears have long since dried, her jar of perfume long since emptied. But the fragrance of her devotion lingers in the Gospel record, calling us to approach our Lord with the same humility, gratitude, and love.
“Her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” — Luke 7:47
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New International Version (NIV)
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