ACC ~ Luke 7 v36 - 50

OVERVIEW:

Jesus enters into the house of a Pharisee to carry on in the flesh the business of heaven (PETER CHRYSOLOGUS). Another version of an anointing appears in Matthew’s Gospel, but the Simon in Matthew is not a Pharisee but a leper [1] (AMBROSE). The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet represents the church, coming to Simon the Pharisee, whose house represents the synagogue (PETER CHRYSOLOGUS).

Only someone who had been forgiven much and therefore loved much could anoint Jesus’ feet as the sinful woman did (AMBROSE). The acts of love by the woman toward Jesus are symbols of the Lord’s teaching (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA), indicating that she welcomes him as a prophet from God who has come to forgive even the worst of sinners. Like the woman, the church responds to Jesus in faith, for he is the Judge who will separate the sheep from the goats (PETER CHRYSOLOGUS). This sinful woman understands that Jesus is the Prophet, not the Pharisee; she is the believer, not the Pharisee (AMBROSE). The woman’s humility secures her forgiveness of sins (AUGUSTINE). Simon the Pharisee is humiliated by the woman, whose lips are made holy by kissing Jesus’ feet, and she is forgiven her sin (EPHREM THE SYRIAN).

This issue of love is mentioned first in the parable of the two debtors who represent the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles (AMBROSE). Jesus tells this parable to Simon as an act of reconciliation. What the woman receives from Jesus the Physician in the forgiveness of her sins is miraculous healing that is equivalent to the miracles of healing Jesus did throughout Galilee; these miracles prompted the invitation to Simon’s house for a meal (EPHREM THE SYRIAN). She kisses him on his feet because she believes in him, just as the church today exchanges a kiss at the communion so as to show publicly its faith and its confession by kissing Christ in kissing one another. Christ continues to be anointed with oil as the church anoints the least and the lowly with the oil of charity (AMBROSE).

It is the woman who confesses Jesus as God, and not Simon the Pharisee, who sees him only as a man (EPHREM THE SYRIAN). Jesus shows him that he is the final, eschatological prophet by forgiving the sins of the woman who anointed his feet (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). In contrast to Simon and the other Pharisees, who do not understand that Jesus is the Messiah who forgives sins, she, who owed the great debt and was forgiven, showed great love (ORIGEN). She loves more because she has been forgiven more (JOHN CASSIAN). Behind it all are God’s gracious plan and her faith in Jesus, who is the center of the plan because he is love, and it is his love that forgives sins (AMBROSE).

[1] Mt 26:6-16.

7:36 | The Lukan Framework of Persons, Place and Time

THE BUSINESS OF HEAVEN

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: You perceive that Christ came to the Pharisee’s table not to be filled with food for the body but to carry on the business of heaven while he was in the flesh. SERMON 93. [1]

[1] FC 17:143*.

LUKE’S VERSION COMPARED WITH MATTHEW’S

AMBROSE: Matthew depicts this woman pouring ointment upon Christ’s head, [1] and perhaps therefore was reluctant to call her a sinner. According to Luke, a sinner poured ointment on Christ’s feet. She cannot be the same woman, lest the Evangelists seem to have contradicted each other. … If you understand this, you will see this woman, and you will certainly see her blessed wherever this gospel is preached. Her memory will never pass away, since she poured the fragrances of good conduct and the ointment of righteous deeds on the head of Christ. [2] EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.14-15. [3]

[1] Mt 26:7.

[2] Mt 26:13.

[3] EHG 197-98**.

7:37-38 | The Woman Washes, Dries, Kisses and Anoints Jesus’ Feet

THE WOMAN AS CHURCH AND THE PHARISEE AS SYNAGOGUE

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: “And behold,” it says, “a woman in the town who was a sinner.” Who is this woman? Beyond any doubt, she is the church. …

She heard that Christ had come to the house of the Pharisee, that is, to the synagogue. She heard that there, that is, at the Jewish Passover, he had instituted the mysteries of his passion, disclosed the sacrament of his body and blood, and revealed the secret of our redemption. She ignored the scribes like contemptible doorkeepers. “Woe to you lawyers! You who have taken away the key of knowledge.” [1] She broke open the doors of quarrels and despised the very superiority of the Pharisaical group. Ardent, panting and perspiring, she made her way to the large inner chamber of the banquet of the law. There she learned that Christ was betrayed amid sweet cups and a banquet of love. SERMON 95. [2]

[1] Lk 11:52.

[2] FC 17:149-50*.

ANOINTING SHOWS GREAT LOVE

AMBROSE: Blessed is one who can anoint the feet of Christ even with oil. Simon had still not anointed him, but more blessed is she who anoints with ointment. The grace of many flowers gathered into a bouquet scatters different sweetness of fragrance. Perhaps none but the church alone can produce that ointment. The church has innumerable flowers of different fragrance. She fittingly assumes the likeness of a prostitute, because Christ also took upon himself the form of a sinner. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.21. [1]

[1] EHG 200*.

SYMBOLS OF THE LORD’S TEACHING

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: That woman had not yet entered communion with the Word, because she was still a sinner. She paid the Master honor with what she considered the most precious thing she had, her perfume. She wiped off the remainder of the perfume with the garland of her head, her hair. She poured out upon the Lord her tears of repentance. Therefore her sins were forgiven her.

This is a symbol of the Lord’s teachings and of his sufferings. The anointing of his feet with sweet-smelling myrrh suggests the divine teaching whose good smell and fame has spread to the ends of the earth. “Their sound has gone forth to the ends of the earth.” [1] Moreover, those anointed feet of the Lord (not to be too subtle) are the apostles. The sweet odor of the myrrh prefigures their reception of the Holy Spirit. I mean that the figure of the Lord’s feet is to be understood of the apostles, who journeyed about the whole world preaching the gospel. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 2.8. [2]

[1] Ps 19:4 (18:5 LXX); Rom 10:18.

[2] FC 23:146-47*.

LIKE THE WOMAN, THE CHURCH RESPONDS TO JESUS IN FAITH

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: With her hands of good works, she holds the feet of those who preach his kingdom. She washes them with tears of charity, kisses them with praising lips, and pours out the whole ointment of mercy, until he will turn her. This means that he will come back to her and say to Simon, to the Pharisees, to those who deny, to the nation of the Jews, “I came into your house. You gave me no water for my feet.”

When will he speak these words? He will speak them when he will come in the majesty of his Father and separate the righteous from the unrighteous like a shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats. He will say, “I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not take me in.” [1] This is equivalent to saying, “But this woman, while she was bathing my feet, anointing them and kissing them, did to the servants what you did not do for the Master.” She did for the feet what you refused to the Head. She expended upon the lowliest members what you refused to your Creator. Then he will say to the church, “Your sins, many as they are, are forgiven you because you have loved much.” SERMON 95. [2]

[1] Mt 25:42.

[2] FC 17:150-51*.

7:39-40 | The Pharisee Misjudges the Woman’s Actions

THE WOMAN, NOT THE PHARISEE, WAS THE BELIEVER

AMBROSE: See the organization of the house. The sinful woman is glorified in the house of the Pharisee. The church is justified in the house of the law and the prophet, not the Pharisee. The Pharisee did not believe, but the woman believed. Then he said, “If he were a prophet, he would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that touches him.” Judea is the house of the law that is written not on stones but on the tablets of the heart. [1] The church is justified in this as already greater than the law, because the law does not know of the forgiveness of offences. The law does not possess the mystery in which secret sins are cleansed; therefore, what is lacking in the law is perfected in the gospel. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.23. [2]

[1] 2 Cor 3:3.

[2] EHG 200-201**.

SUBMISSIVE TO THE JUSTICE OF GOD

AUGUSTINE: She will not think that she has been forgiven little and so love little, and, ignorant of the justice of God and seeking to establish her own, not submit to the justice of God. [1] Simon was ensnared in this vice, and the woman, to whom many sins were forgiven because she loved much, surpassed him. She will more safely and more truly consider that all the sins that God preserved her from committing should be accounted as though they are forgiven. HOLY VIRGINITY 41. [2]

[1] :1–24:53 PRELIMINARY REMARKS | ON THE GOSPEL

[2] FC 27:195**.

IMPURE LIPS MADE HOLY BY KISSING JESUS’ FEET

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Our Lord worked wonders with common things so that we would know the things those who scorn wonders are deprived of knowing. If such healing as this was snatched from his hem in secret, he was most certainly capable of the healing that his word worked in public. If impure lips became holy by kissing his feet, how much holier would pure lips become by kissing his mouth? With her kisses, the sinful woman received the favor of blessed feet that had worked to bring her the forgiveness of sins. She was graciously comforting with oil the feet of her Physician, who had graciously brought the treasury of healing to her suffering. The One who fills the hungry was not invited because of his stomach. The One who justifies sinners invited himself because of the sinful woman’s repentance. HOMILY ON OUR LORD 13-19. [1]

[1] FC 91:289**.

7:41-43 | The Parable of the Two Debtors

TWO DEBTORS REPRESENT THE JEWS AND THE GENTILES

AMBROSE: Who are those two debtors if not the two peoples, the one from the Jews, the other from the Gentiles, in debt to the Creditor of the heavenly treasure? … We do not owe this Creditor material wealth but standards of merits, accounts of virtues. The weight of seriousness, the likeness of righteousness, and the sound of confession measure the worth of this wealth. Woe is me if I do not have what I have received. One can pay off the whole debt to this Creditor only with difficulty. Woe is me if I do not ask, “Remit my debt.” The Lord would not have taught us to pray for the forgiveness of our sins [1] if he had not known that some would be worthy debtors, only with difficulty. [2] … There is nothing that we can worthily repay to God for the harm to the flesh he assumed, for the blows, the cross, the death and the burial. Woe is me if I have not loved! I dare to say that Peter did not repay and thereby loved more. Paul did not repay. He certainly repaid death for death, but he did not repay other debts, because he owed much. I hear him saying, because he did not repay, “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” [3] Even if we were to repay cross for cross, death for death, do we repay that we possess all things from him, by him, and in him? [4] Let us repay love for our debt, charity for the gift, and grace for wealth. He to whom more is given loves more. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.24, 26. [5]

[1] See Mt 6:12.

[2] Cf. Lk 11:4.

[3] Rom 11:35.

[4] Rom 11:36.

[5] EHG 201-2**.

JESUS TELLS THE PARABLE TO BRING ABOUT RECONCILIATION WITH SIMON

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Our Lord devised a statement that was like an arrow. He put conciliation at its tip and anointed it with love to soothe the parts of the body. He no sooner shot it at the one who was filled with conflict, than conflict turned to harmony. Directly following the humble statement of our Lord, who said, “Simon, I have something to say to you,” he who had secretly withdrawn responded, “Speak, my Lord.” A sweet saying penetrated a bitter mind and brought out fragrant fruit. He who was a secret detractor before the saying gave public praise after the saying. Humility with a sweet tongue subdues even its enemies to do it honor. Humility does not put its power to the test among its friends but among those who hate its display of its trophies. HOMILY ON OUR LORD 24.2. [1]

[1] FC 91:299-300**.

7:44-48 | Jesus Forgives the Woman’s Sins

JESUS THE PHYSICIAN BRINGS MIRACULOUS HEALING TO THE WOMAN’S SINS

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Healing the sick is a physician’s glory. Our Lord did this to increase the disgrace of the Pharisee, who discredited the glory of our Physician. He worked signs in the streets, worked even greater signs once he entered the Pharisee’s house than those that he had worked outside. In the streets, he healed sick bodies, but inside, he healed sick souls. Outside, he had given life to the death of Lazarus. Inside, he gave life to the death of the sinful woman. He restored the living soul to a dead body that it had left, and he drove off the deadly sin from a sinful woman in whom it dwelt. That blind Pharisee, for whom wonders were not enough, discredited the common things he saw because of the wondrous things he failed to see. HOMILY ON OUR LORD 42.2. [1]

[1] FC 91:317**.

TO KISS CHRIST

AMBROSE: A kiss is a mark of love. …

He truly kisses Christ’s feet who, in reading the Gospel, recognizes the acts of the Lord Jesus and admires them with holy affection. With a reverent kiss, he caresses the footprints of the Lord as he walks. We kiss Christ, therefore, in the kiss of Communion: “Let him who reads understand.” [1] …

The church does not cease to kiss Christ’s feet and demands not one but many kisses in the Song of Songs. [2] Since like blessed Mary she listens to his every saying, she receives his every word when the Gospel or the Prophets are read, and she keeps all these words in her heart. [3] The church alone has kisses, like a bride. A kiss is a pledge of nuptials and the privilege of wedlock. LETTER 62. [4]

[1] Mt 24:15.

[2] Song 1:2.

[3] Lk 2:51.

[4] FC 26:390-92**.

CHRIST ANOINTED WITH OIL AS THE CHURCH ANOINTS THE LOWLY AND THE LEAST

AMBROSE: The church washes the feet of Christ, wipes them with her hair, anoints them with oil, and pours ointment on them. She not only cares for the wounded and caresses the weary, but she also moistens them with the sweet perfume of grace. She pours this grace not only on the rich and powerful but also on those of lowly birth. She weighs all in an equal balance. She receives all into the same bosom. She caresses all in the same embrace.

Christ died once. He was buried once. Nevertheless he wants ointment to be poured on his feet each day. What are the feet of Christ on which we pour ointment? They are the feet of Christ of whom he himself says, “What you have done for one of the least of these, you have done to me.” [1] The woman in the Gospel refreshes these feet. She moistens them with her tears when sin is forgiven of the lowest of persons, guilt is washed away, and pardon is granted. The one who loves even the least of God’s people kisses these feet. The one who makes known the favor of his gentleness to those who are frail anoints these feet with ointment. The Lord Jesus himself declares that he is honored in these martyrs and apostles. LETTER 62. [2]

[1] Mt 25:40.

[2] FC 26:393-94**.

THE WOMAN SEES JESUS AS GOD; THE PHARISEE SEES HIM AS A MAN

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: She, through her love, brought into the open the tears that were hidden in the depths of her eyes, and the Lord, because of her courage, brought into the open the thoughts that were hidden in the Pharisee. … Our Lord, standing in the middle, worked out a parable between the two of them, so that the sinful woman might be encouraged through his pronouncing the parable and the Pharisee may be denounced through the explanation of the parable. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 7.18. [1]

[1] ECTD 137*.

7:49-50 | Go in Peace

JESUS SHOWS HE IS THE PROPHET BY FORGIVING HER SINS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He came that he might forgive the debtors much and little and show mercy upon small and great, that there might be no one whatsoever who did not participate in his goodness. As a pledge and plain example of his grace, he freed that unchaste woman from her many iniquities by saying, “Your sins are forgiven you.” A declaration such as this is truly worthy of God! It is a word joined with supreme authority. Since the law condemned those that were in sin, who, I ask, was able to declare things above the law, except the One who ordained it? He immediately both set the woman free and directed the attention of that Pharisee and those who were dining with him to more excellent things. They learned that the Word being God was not like one of the prophets, but rather far beyond the measure of humanity although he became man. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 40. [1]

[1] CGSL 171-72*.

HE FORGIVES REPEATEDLY

ORIGEN: A first forgiveness is the one by which we are baptized “for the remission of sins.” [1] A second remission is in the suffering of martyrdom. The third is the one that is given through alms. The Savior says, “But nevertheless, give what you have and, behold, all things are clean for you.” A fourth forgiveness of sins is given for us through the fact that we also forgive the sins of our brothers. The Lord and Savior says, “If you will forgive from the heart your brothers’ sins, your Father will also forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive your brothers from the heart, neither will your Father forgive you.” [2] He taught us to say in prayer, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” [3] A fifth forgiveness of sins is when “someone will convert a sinner from the error of his way.” Divine Scripture says, “Whoever will make a sinner turn from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” A sixth forgiveness comes through the abundance of love. The Lord himself says, “Truly I say to you, her many sins are forgiven because she loved much.” The apostle says, “Because love will cover a multitude of sins.” [4] There is still a seventh forgiveness of sins through penance, although admittedly it is difficult and toilsome. The sinner washes “his couch in tears,” [5] and his “tears” become his “bread day and night.” [6] HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 2.4.5. [7]

[1] Lk 11:41.

[2] Mt 6:14-15.

[3] Mt 6:12.

[4] 1 Pet 4:8.

[5] Ps 6:6 (6:7 LXX).

[6] Ps 42:3 (41:4 LXX).

[7] FC 83:47**.

ONE LOVES MORE WHO HAS BEEN FORGIVEN MORE

JOHN CASSIAN: It happens that, whatever state of life a man has reached, he sometimes can offer pure and devout prayer. Even in the lowliest place, where a man is repenting from fear of punishment and the judgment to come, his petitions can enrich him with the same fervor of spirit as the man, who attained to purity of heart, gazes upon God’s blessing and is filled with an overwhelming happiness. As the Lord said, “The one who knows he has been forgiven more begins to love more.” CONFERENCES 2.9. [1]

[1] LCC 12:221*.

CHRIST IS OUR LOVE WHO FORGIVES SINS

AMBROSE: Christ is our love. Love is good, since it offered itself to death for transgressions. Love is good, which forgave sins. Let our soul clothe herself with love of a kind that is “strong as death.” [1] Just as death is the end of sins, so also is love, because the one who loves the Lord ceases to commit sin. For “charity thinks no evil and does not rejoice over wickedness, but endures all things.” [2] If someone does not seek his own goods, how will he seek the goods of another? [3] That death through the bath of baptism, [4] through which every sin is buried, is strong and forgives every fault. The woman in the Gospel brought this kind of love. The Lord says, “Her many sins have been forgiven her, because she has loved much.” The death of the holy martyrs is also strong. It destroys previous faults. Since it involves a love not less than theirs, death that is equal to the martyrs’ suffering is just as strong for taking away the punishment of sins. ISAAC, OR THE SOUL 8.75-76. [5]

[1] Song 8:6.

[2] 1 Cor 13:5-7.

[3] 1 Cor 13:5.

[4] Tit 3:5.

[5] FC 65:59-60*.