When a religious leader invites Jesus for a meal, we can expect trouble. And when a “sinful women” turns up...
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “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.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:36-50
He is so angry that he stutters and struggles to finish his sentences.
It can’t go on like this. It has to stop... We can’t leave him... Measures must be taken, even radical ones... It must be stopped at all costs, for the sake of our party, our people, our religion...
He calms down a little.
Well, you remember that we decided to test this Jesus of Nazareth. To see if he is for us or against us; if he is an ally of our party, the Pharisees... or if he is our adversary. His popularity is growing in Galilee; some say he is performing extraordinary miracles and wonders; his teachings are spreading like wildfire.
It is never too early to ally with someone who, you never know, could be the messiah, the liberator of our people... and it is never too early to get rid of one of those too many impostors, those weirdos who are endangering the future of our people and our religion, especially in these troubled times.
Our survival depends on it!
In short, Matthew, Levy and I had prepared our move. We thought that the best way to test this Jesus was to invite him to a meal...
To invite him, to destabilize him, to question him.
So I invited twelve guests: Matthew, Levy and a few other members of our party, plus Jesus, of course. There were eleven of us against him, so we had the advantage of numbers, wisdom and tradition. Against a carpenter’s son! From Nazareth. Let’s not forget that!
Of course, the meal took place in my backyard: everyone could come and listen to what was being said. There would be a multitude of witnesses, if necessary; we could not be accused of having invented a false testimony against Jesus, just in case.
Besides, a meal was an ideal opportunity to test one’s devotion to the faith of our ancestors. In these times when Greek customs are increasingly polluting the Jewish religion, a meal is a high point of observance of the rules of ritual purity. We Pharisees are at the forefront of observing these laws. Some of our ancestors paid with their lives for their adherence to these dietary rules.
So if by chance Jesus were to become our ally, it is absolutely crucial that he demonstrate his commitment to the tradition of our ancestors. We had heard that he associated (and even ate!) with notorious sinners. So we wanted to know for sure...
And well! We got all the information we needed, and even more... but let’s not anticipate!
Matthew, Levy and I had agreed to destabilize him; we wanted to put him on the defensive, to show him that we were there to test him and that he had not won the game in advance, far from it. So we agreed, the eleven guests, to isolate him and show him that he didn’t belong in our group. Or rather, that he would have to earn his place among us.
To be honest with you, it was a bit extreme, but we decided to break the most basic rules of hospitality: no water to wash your feet, no welcome kiss from any of us, no oil to refresh yourself.
Humiliated, left out, destabilized. We wanted to see if he was worthy of joining our party; if he was someone reliable, someone we could count on in our fight to defend our people and our religion. We had to make his life difficult because our life is difficult. He had to prove his commitment to the tradition of our ancestors if he wanted to join our group.
Then it would be time to embrace him as a brother.
It was strange because he didn’t even look that affected by the insult we were giving him. I know that if I had been in his situation, I would have gotten angry and left immediately in the face of such an affront. Shaking the dust off my feet, as we do when we leave the territory of the pagans.
But he simply went and sat down in his place, the last one. He didn’t say anything. Even his attitude did not seem to show any sign of anger. Perhaps he realized that he was only a carpenter’s son and that he did not belong to the religious elite of Israel?
He pauses for a moment... you can see he is thinking.
In fact, it was strange because it was as if, instead of him being destabilized by our staging, it was us who were destabilized by his attitude. We were waiting for a reaction from him. We had prepared our little speech to explain to him that we could not associate with him without being sure of his good faith and his commitment to the tradition of our ancestors. And that, besides, we had some questions to ask him about this...
It was Matthew who was supposed to give that speech and Levy who was supposed to ask the questions.
But instead, Matthew hesitated... waited... he was obviously not sure whether he should start the speech we had prepared, which didn’t make much sense given Jesus’ lack of reaction... or whether and how he should change it.
Levy also had his eyes downcast in his corner. I know that his first question was about “what is the greatest commandment?”, which would quickly allow us to see what it was about Jesus. But there too, he hesitated, waiting on Matthew.
I myself, as the host, wasn’t too sure what to do either.
And then there was the audience. All those people from our town who had gathered to see what was going to happen. There were, of course, a few allies of ours, sons of Abraham, who are truly committed to the God of Israel; those who attend our synagogue every Sabbath. Mark, the fisherman who was there despite a grueling night of work on the lake. James, the fruit merchant, and Andrew, with his wife, Miriam and their little John. All these good Jews, who I am sure hope for the best for our people and our religion. They support us in our plan to test Jesus before perhaps joining him.
There was also a crowd of curious people. Probably the most numerous. Those who had heard about Jesus and just wanted to see him, hear his teachings or, who knows? see him perform one of his famous miracles. They were not particularly concerned with the advancement, or even the defense, of our religion. They were simply there for the show, to see what would happen. It was important that we make a good impression on them, that we demonstrate the validity of our ancestors’ tradition and convince them to move from being spectators to being actors.
And then, and this was quite a surprise for me, there were also those who had come for him. Not just out of curiosity, but because they were convinced of his teachings or because they had seen him perform one of his wonders... I actually heard someone in the crowd mention that Jesus had raised a widow’s son from the dead in NainLuke 7:11-16 some time ago. I didn’t expect a carpenter’s son to have disciples?
The situation was becoming more and more uncomfortable: all these people around were waiting for something to happen. The ones we had to keep on our side, so as not to endanger our tradition even more. And all those spectators that we had the opportunity to convince to join us to advance (or simply defend) the cause of our people.
Matthew and Levy hesitated, again and again.
And Jesus remained in his place as if nothing had happened...
The men took a step back when they saw her coming. Some, perhaps, because they did not know her and were surprised to see such a woman arrive here. Others, probably, because they knew her all too well, as clients, and were afraid of being associated with her in public.
Anyway, the situation got even worse, if that were possible.
She moved forward, slowly, silently. All eyes were on her. It seemed as if she had a plan, a project that she had prepared and was in the process of carrying out. She kept moving forward, getting closer to us.
When she was close enough, I noticed the tears in her eyes. Big tears that ran down her cheeks and onto her chin. When she got to Jesus’ feet, she stopped. Her tears continued to flow and wet Jesus’ feet. This went on for quite a while, those big tears falling from her face to Jesus’ feet.
He shakes his head disapprovingly.
As if her behavior wasn’t shocking and degrading enough, she untied her hair and wiped Jesus’ feet with it! This is inconceivable! A wife would never do that for her husband in the bridal chamber, so... to do that in public, like that, in front of everyone and for a complete stranger. This behavior is absolutely scandalous.
This woman’s defilement overflows on my house, on my honor, shaming my name!
From then on, nothing could surprise us: she continued with this despicable behavior by kissing Jesus’ feet! Do you realize that? And, to add to her degradation, she took out of the folds of her dress a little vial of nard, you know, those little alabaster bottles that contain the most precious perfume. They are broken with a sharp blow to spill the whole content at once. Well, she broke the vial and poured the perfume on Jesus’ feet! A respectable woman would have sprinkled it on her husband’s head on the wedding night... She, she wasted her fortune by pouring it on the feet of this Jesus.
The assembly was petrified. All those who had come as onlookers had their eyes shining because of the magnitude of the scandal. They hoped that something would happen... Well! They had found what they were looking for, and a lot more!
We looked at each other, Matthew, Levy and the others, and we saw that we were on the same wavelength. Even though we couldn’t get our series of questions through to Jesus, we had our answer: 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.
She stood there, not blinking an eye, as if she had made her move and was waiting for the consequences. You got the impression that there was a mixture of satisfaction at having accomplished her plan (and what a plan!) and the expectation of seeing the consequences. It looked like she was preparing to be called out, and even insulted, for her inappropriate behavior.
In my opinion, she deserved it and was probably used to it. I even thought that it was my duty as a host to put my own house in order and I prepared a few harsh words (and even more) to explain to her that one does not do anything at the table of a Pharisee and that, if she is a sinful woman, we are sons of Abraham...
I even wondered if her behavior would make her liable to stoning.
So I expected him to say something to her after all this. But in fact, Jesus turned to me: “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher”... what else could I say to him?
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Obviously, there was a trap in his question. We should have consulted, we should have reflected to avoid being caught by his words... but there was no time for that: the woman was still waiting, the audience was wondering how the whole story would end. Anyway, I gave the only possible answer, given the circumstances:
“I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly”, Jesus told me.
So far so good. But then he added, turning to the woman:
“Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
And he added, this time addressing the woman:
“Your sins are forgiven.”
How dare he compare me, a prominent member of the party of the Pharisees, with a prostitute? As if we were both insolvent debtors before God and that my privileges of birth, my belonging to the people of Israel, to the tribe of Judas, and my strict observance since my earliest childhood of the laws and precepts of our religion were worthless in the eyes of the God of Israel?
Then his question led to the conclusion that she, with her degrading and scandalous behavior, was even superior to me: she loved much and I little? Did he not understand that my concerns are of an infinitely higher order than those of this woman? That the salvation of Israel is at stake and that we need allies on whom we can rely in these times? In any case, it is impossible for us to associate ourselves with this Jesus; he has only contempt for the tradition of our ancestors.
I even think that we must stop him and prevent him from harming our cause by all means. Yes, yes, you heard me right... by any means necessary, even the most extreme.
And what is more, how can he pretend to proclaim the forgiveness of sins? Only God has the power to forgive sins, and he is only a man.... and a carpenter’s son at that!
Suddenly, everyone left. As if the story had ended and they had seen enough.
Jesus, too, got up to leave. And as he left, he said to the woman again, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.”
She straightened up even more, she walked standing straight like a woman restored in her dignity. Her face had a glow, like a new nobility. Her eyes were filled with tears... tears of joy, this time; the joy of one who has received forgiveness.
As for me, I was left alone... all alone.
Around me still floated the heady scent of the perfume she had poured on Jesus’ feet.