And he turned to the woman That had been a scandalous, notorious sinner, and was the greater, the five hundred pence debtor. The Pharisee, however, though the less, the fifty pence debtor, yet was a debtor too; which was more than he thought himself to be, judging rather that God was his debtor, Luke 18:10-11. Seest thou this woman Afflicted and distressed as she is? and canst thou avoid taking notice of the extraordinary tenderness and affectionate regard to me that she has now manifested? I entered into thy house As a guest, on thine own express invitation; thou gavest me no water for my feet Though that be so customary and necessary a refreshment on these occasions. But she hath washed my feet with her tears Tears of affection for me, tears of affliction for sin; and wiped them with the hairs of her head In token of her great love to me. Thou gavest me no kiss When I first came under thy roof. So little was thy love to me. It was customary with the Jews to show respect and kindness to their welcome guests, by saluting them with a kiss, by washing their feet, and anointing their heads with oil, or some fine ointment. It is possible Simon might omit some of these civilities, lest his brethren, who sat at the table with him, should think he paid Jesus too much respect; and, if there was any such slight intended, it might be an additional reason for our Lord's taking such particular notice of the neglect. But this woman, since the time I came in Or rather, as many copies read it, εισηλθεν, she came in, hath not ceased to kiss even my feet With the greatest humility and affection. My head with oil thou didst not anoint Though few entertainments fail of being attended with that circumstance, (see Deuteronomy 28:40; Micah 6:15; Psalms 2:5; and Psalms 104:15; and Psalms 141:5;) but she, as thou seest, hath anointed my feet with precious and fragrant ointment; wherefore I say unto thee I declare it openly, both for her vindication and for thy admonition; her sins, which are many And exceedingly heinous, as I well know; are forgiven Freely and graciously; for Rather, therefore, as οτι undoubtedly ought here to be translated, she loved much As I have been the means of bringing her to repentance, and to enjoy pardon and peace, she has thus testified the great love and high regard she has for me, as being persuaded that she never can sufficiently express her sense of the obligation. But to whom little is forgiven Or who thinks his debt was but small; the same loveth little Is not much affected with the kindness of the creditor that forgives him: and feels but little gratitude and love to him on that account. The substance, therefore, of our Lord's answer to the Pharisee is, “It is true, this woman has been a great sinner; but she is a pardoned sinner, which supposes her to be a penitent sinner: what she has done to me, is an expression of her great love to me, her Saviour, by whom her sins are forgiven: and as she is pardoned, who was so great a sinner, it may reasonably be expected that she will love her Saviour more than others, and give greater proofs of it; and if this be the fruit of her love, flowing from a sense of the pardon of her sins, it becomes me to accept of it, and ill becomes any to be offended at it.” It must be carefully observed here, that her love is mentioned as the effect and evidence, not the cause of her pardon. She knew that much had been forgiven her, and therefore she loved much. It is true, Jesus had not yet given her any express intimation in word of the pardon of her sins; yet, having, by his sermons and his grace attending her hearing them, brought her to true repentance, without doubt she was assured of her pardon by the general doctrine of the gospel, which she had heard; by the promise of rest, which Jesus had lately made to all weary and heavy-laden sinners; and especially by the Spirit of adoption, which he had sent into her heart, sealing forgiveness upon her conscience, begetting her again to immortal hopes, and filling her with joy and peace, through believing that God was pacified toward her after all she had done.
As a further proof of the justness of this interpretation, it may not be improper to produce here the following testimony of Dr. Whitby: “Christ saith not her sins are forgiven because she loved much, but this ought to be a token, that her sins, which rendered her unworthy to touch me, have been forgiven; this great love to me being an indication of her deep sense of God's mercy to her in pardoning her many sins; and this do I, the prophet and the Son of God, declare unto her. To this sense lead both the parable of the great debtor, to whom his lord frankly had forgiven all, for he loved much because much had been forgiven, and the conclusion of it, in these words, he that hath little forgiven, loveth little. Whence it appears, that οτι here cannot be causal, or intimate that she was forgiven much because she loved much; the cause assigned of her forgiveness being, not her love, but faith, Luke 7:50; but only consequential, denoting the effect, or indication of the forgiveness of her many sins. So, Hosea 9:15, all their iniquity was in Gilgal, οτι, therefore there I hated them; for they did not sin in Gilgal because he hated them there; but he hated them there because there they offended.” Thus also Dr. Campbell, who translates the words, Therefore her love is great, observing, “The whole context shows that the particle οτι is illative, and not causal, in this place. The parable of the debtors clearly represents the gratuitous forgiveness as the cause of the love, not the love as the cause of the forgiveness. And this, on the other hand, is, Luke 7:50 th, ascribed to her faith.” Observe, reader, 1st, The Pharisee doubted whether Jesus was a prophet or not, nay, he, in effect, denied it; but Christ here shows that he was more than a prophet, that he was one who had power on earth to forgive sins, and to whom the affections and thankful acknowledgments of penitent sinners were due; in other words, that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, whose sole prerogative and right it was, in conjunction with the Father, to forgive men's sins. 2d, In testifying that this pardoned sinner loved much, because she had had much forgiven, and in signifying that to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little; he intimated to the Pharisee, that his love to Christ was so little, that he had reason to question whether he loved him at all in sincerity; and consequently, whether indeed his sins, though comparatively little, were forgiven him. From this we learn that, instead of grudging great sinners the mercy they find with Christ upon their repentance, we ought to be excited by their example to examine ourselves, whether we be indeed forgiven, and do at all love Christ. “Our Lord did not make the application of this parable more directly, but left Simon to do it, because he could not but see that if love invites love, and merits a return, Jesus would have been ungenerous had he treated this woman with rudeness and contempt. Having expressed greater love to him, she deserved higher returns of gratitude from him than even Simon himself; for which reason he was not to blame when he allowed her to wash his feet with her tears, wipe them with the hairs of her head, kiss them, and anoint them with fragrant ointment.” And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven Having vindicated her, he spake kindly to her, and assured her, in express terms, that her sins, of which he knew she had truly repented, were actually forgiven.