Luke 7:36-50 

The zealous sect of the Jews – the Pharisees who wanted to preserve the purity of the Scriptures called themselves Persahins which meant pure or separated ones. It was their custom to invite the visiting speaker at the synagogue home for lunch and Jesus too was invited one day by Simon the Pharisee. Sometimes the whole village would turn up at the host’s place to listen to  the speaker some more. All the male members traditionally waited outside to kiss the hands of the Rabbi but Simon never cared to extend his respect to Jesus. (Judas identified Jesus by kissing Him on His hands since it was customary for the disciples to kiss the master’s hands while equals kissed each other’s cheeks).   

When Simon never cared to honour Jesus, the sinful woman turned up to break the costly perfume and anoint Jesus with tears to express her love. Jesus expected Simon to at least pour the customary cheap olive oil over His head but Simon silently insulted Him. 

 By praising the sinful woman and ignoring the righteous Pharisee, Jesus dealt a sucker punch to the male dominated society. He was always willing to pay the price to express His love for sinners and stragglers and face more hostility from the Jews. 

The word for debt and sin is same in the Bible and the Greek word for forgive means 'to cancel the debt'. The sinner and the Pharisee were in no position to pay up their debts but the sinner grabbed God’s free offer of forgiveness, while Simon thought that his forgiveness could be earned by  fasting, tithing, prayer and good works. Both the sinner and the Pharisee needed to repent – one for her unrighteous deeds and the other for his self-righteous deeds.  

Simon had God in his living room yet missed the opportunity to seek forgiveness. 

Thought for the day: In the kingdom of Heaven ‘the first shall be last and the last shall be first’.