A Woman Anoints Jesus in a Pharisee's House

A Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to eat at his house, and Jesus went in and reclined at the table. A woman from the city, known as a sinner, heard that Jesus was there. She came with an alabaster jar of ointment.

She stood behind Jesus at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them with her hair. She kept kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. When Simon saw this, he said to himself that if Jesus were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman was touching him.

Jesus answered Simon's unspoken thoughts and said he had something to tell him. Then Jesus gave a short illustration: one lender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. Neither could pay, so the lender forgave them both. Jesus asked which debtor would love the lender more.

Simon answered that it would be the one forgiven the larger debt, and Jesus said he was right. Then Jesus pointed to the woman and compared her actions with Simon's welcome. Simon had given no water for Jesus' feet, no kiss, and no oil for his head. But the woman had wept over his feet, wiped them with her hair, kept kissing them, and anointed them with ointment.

Jesus said her sins were many, yet they were forgiven, and her great love showed it. He also said that the one forgiven little loves little. Then he told the woman that her sins were forgiven. The other guests began wondering who Jesus was, since he even forgave sins. Jesus told the woman that her faith had saved her and to go in peace.