CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 7:36. One of the Pharisees.—The invitation given by one of the Pharisees to Jesus would seem to belong to an early period of His ministry, before the enmity of that party against our Lord had grown intense. A certain coldness or ungraciousness seems to mark the conduct of this Pharisee in spite of his proffer of hospitality, as shown in the omission of acts of courtesy ordinarily rendered by host to guest. He may not have made up his mind about the Divine mission of Jesus, and may have given the invitation with a view of forming a definite opinion on the matter after intercourse with Him. Sat down.—Lit. “reclined.” The guests lay on couches with their heads towards the table in the centre and their feet towards the side of the room. This gave opportunity for the anointing of the feet that took place on this occasion.
Luke 7:37. A woman, etc.—A better reading (followed by the R.V.) is, “and, behold, a woman which was in the city, a sinner.” This lays greater stress upon her notoriety as a person of abandoned character. There is no ground whatever for identifying her with Mary Magdalene, as is done in the heading of this chapter and in Christian art. Mary Magdalene was delivered by Jesus from the state of demoniacal possession; but there is no reason for believing that there was any connection between that state and a vicious life. In Eastern houses, even at the present time, it is not uncommon for strangers to enter at the hour of meals, and to take part in conversation with the guests at table. Alabaster box.—Rather, “alabaster cruse” (R.V.), or “flask.”
Luke 7:38. His feet.—The sandals were put off on entering the room, and so the feet were bare. Her purpose, doubtless, was to anoint His feet; but her tears began to fall ere she began her task, and so she first wiped away her tears from His feet with her hair, then kissed His feet and anointed them. Weeping.—No doubt at the contrast between His holiness and her sinfulness. Kissed.—Lit. “kissed earnestly.”
Luke 7:39. If He were a prophet.—The question as to whether Jesus was a prophet sent from God was evidently pressing upon the mind of Simon. He decides it in the negative; he was sure a prophet would in virtue of his supernatural insight have known “who and what manner of woman it was that touched him,” and that he would instinctively have repelled a sinner.
Luke 7:40. I have somewhat, etc.—A courteous mode of bespeaking attention. Master.—. I.e. Teacher, or Rabbi.
Luke 7:41. Five hundred pence … fifty.—About £15 12s. 6d. and £1 11s. 3d. of our money.
Luke 7:42. Frankly forgave.—There is only one word in the original—“remitted,” but it involves the idea of free grace and favour.
Luke 7:44. Turned.—The woman was standing behind Him. Water for My feet.—The feet defiled on dusty roads, being only partially covered with sandals. It was customary to bring water to wash the feet of guests: see John 13:5.
Luke 7:44-46.—Observe the contrasts between the commonplace courtesies Simon had omitted and the extraordinary acts of reverence and devotion the woman bad done: water and towel contrasted with her tears and her hair, the kiss of welcome and the kisses lavished by her upon His feet, anointing-oil for the head and the precious ointment she poured upon His feet.
Luke 7:47. For she loved much.—“Not, because she loved much, as though her love was the cause of her forgiveness. This sense is directly opposed to the parable (Luke 7:42), which represents the debtors as unable to pay, and the forgiveness as free; to the next clause, which plainly makes the forgiveness the ground of the love, not the reverse; and also to Luke 7:50, which represents faith, not love, as the antecedent of forgiveness, on the side of the person forgiven. The clause is to be explained: ‘since she loved much,’ i.e. her sins which are many are forgiven (as you may conclude from your own judgment, that much forgiveness produces much love), since she loved much (as these manifestations indicate)” (Popular Commentary).
Luke 7:48. Thy sins are forgiven.—Her faith had virtually secured forgiveness, but her conscience still needed assurance of the fact, and this assurance Christ now gives.
Luke 7:49. Forgiveth sins also.—Rather, “even forgiveth sins” (R.V.).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 7:36-50
The Pharisee’s Mistake.—The picture of this sinful woman, with Christ and the Pharisee on either hand, is another of those instances which show the Gospel to be a book for all time. The two ways of dealing with sin are still to be met with—the hard repulsion of formal righteousness, and the sympathy of Divine love. Sympathy has wonderful eyes, but nothing is so blind as spiritual pride. Let us look at the mistake this Pharisee made—
I. As it regarded Christ.—He could not read Christ’s nature, and undervalued it. He imagined that Christ’s accessibility to this woman arose from want of knowledge, when it came from the greatness of His compassion. The forbearance of Christ had its source, not in ignorance, but in the deep, far-reaching vision of infinite Love, which wills not the death of any sinner, but that he should turn and live, and which made Him ready not only to rescue the lost and wipe away their tears, but to pour out His own soul unto the death to save them. But every man reads another by the heart in his own bosom; and the hard, self-righteous Pharisee is utterly unable to comprehend Him who does not break the bruised reed, and who has a joy greater than all the angels of heaven over one sinner that repenteth. “As the heavens are high above the earth, so are God’s thoughts higher than man’s thoughts.” He mistook also Christ’s way of rescuing from sin. If it entered into the Pharisee’s thought at all to rescue from sin, it would be by keeping the sinner back from him, thanking God, and even feeling a selfish kind of thankfulness, that he was not like him. The sinner must be made fully sensible of his exclusion from the sympathy of all good men, and no door of access can be opened till purity is restored. Any other way would seem encouragement to transgression. Christ’s way is the very reverse of this. His way was to come from an infinite height into this world, that He might be near sinners, able to touch them and ready to be touched. It was to take their nature upon Him in the very likeness of sinful flesh, that they might feel Him closer still, and that “He might not be ashamed to call them brethren.” It was “to become sin for them, though He knew no sin”—that He might bear it, first by pity, then by sacrifice, and at last by pardon. And now He carries out His plan in one of its applications when He draws the sinner near Him, and suffers her to clasp His feet that she may feel she is in contact with God’s infinite and saving mercy.
II. As it regarded the woman.—The Pharisee thought that as a sinner she was to be despised. He saw only what was repulsive in her, and had he confined his view to the sin his feeling had right with it. But he included the sinner. It was a look of pride without any pity; and pride, above all spiritual pride, without pity is as cold and blind as the polar ice. Such pride could not see a human soul with infinite destinies, though degraded, a precious gem incrusted with miry clay, yet capable of reflecting the brightest rays of the Divine glory. Surely we ought to feel that in every fellow-man, however degraded, there is a kindred and immortal nature which can never be cut off in this world from the possibility of the highest rise. Should not the thought of this community of nature melt our hearts when we look upon poor outcast humanity? and shall we ever think ourselves more pure than the Son of God, and seek to shake ourselves free from its touch? The Pharisee did not see that a new life had entered into the woman’s heart. A man who is so blind as not to perceive the deep capacity of the old nature will not discover the dawning tokens of the new. Was it nothing to find her pressing close to Christ, clinging to His feet, bathing them with weeping? The outward signs were before him, if he had known how to read them, of the greatest change that can befall a human soul. These sobs and tears, and this irrepressible emotion, are the cries of the new creature in Christ Jesus, which must find its way to Him who is its life and joy. Penitence was there, too deep for words, the broken and contrite heart which God will not despise, a loathing of sin which this Pharisee cannot understand, and a glowing love that made his frown forgotten in the irresistible attraction to a Saviour’s feet.
III. As it regarded himself.—The Pharisee showed that he did not know his own heart. Had he been better acquainted with it, he would have found sufficient there for dissatisfaction. If not committing the sins which he condemned, he might have known that he had the seeds of them in his nature. If he was keeping them down by inward struggle, this should have made him lenient; and if cherishing the love of them, he was a publican wearing a cloak. Every unrenewed heart has the fire of corruption smouldering, though it may not show the flame. The grace of God alone can extinguish the fire of any one sin, and even then the man is a brand plucked from the burning, ready to be rekindled, and therefore bound to humility. The man who is saved from sin by love is softened by the love which saves him; but the man who is kept from sin only by pride is made more hard. He may be as near the sin in his real heart as ever, but he maintains a false outward character, and builds an unsafe barrier in his nature against open sin by being very severe upon sinners. This is the reason why a mere external reformation brings in vanity and pride and all uncharitableness, sins which, if not so disreputable in the sight of men, are as hateful in the view of God. He did not see that in condemning this woman he was rejecting the salvation of Christ. If he could have established his point that it was unworthy of the Saviour to hold intercourse with sinners, what hope would there have been for him? Publican and Pharisee, open transgressor and moral formalist, can only enter heaven by the same gate of free unconditional mercy. Nay, had the Pharisee seen it, he was further from the kingdom of God than she with all her sins about her, and it was not so wonderful that Christ should permit this poor woman to touch His feet as that He should sit down as a guest at the Pharisee’s table. This, too, was in the way of His work, to bring in a contrite sinner with Him, and touch, if it might be, the hard, self-righteous heart. If the Pharisee had known himself and who it was that spoke to him, he would have taken his place beside her he despised. “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof.” He would have rejoiced in her reception as the ground of hope for himself, and as a proof that Christ is “able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him.” Let us trust that he learned this lesson.—Ker.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 7:36-50
Luke 7:36-50. “In the house of Simon.”—The love in religion makes it valuable. Religion without love is valueless. In this guest-chamber of Simon’s we see—
I. A want of love.—(l) In the host.
(2) In the reception.
II. An abundance of love.—On the part of one who was no guest. How does she show her love?
(1) Openly,
(2) humbly,
(3) generously.
III. The reason of love.—She had been forgiven. Forgiveness produces love.
IV. The reward of love.—The assurance of forgiveness. The remission of sins. The gift of peace.—Spence.
Three Portraits.
I. The penitent sinner.—
1. Her sorrow.
2. Her faith.
3. Her love.
II. The proud Pharisee.
III. The Divine Saviour.—Stock.
Forgiveness and Love.—Let those who cry out that there is no originality in the Gospels find a parallel to this story in any of the religions or philosophies of the world. Pardon for a notorious sinner was an unheard-of thing, and is so still outside of the Bible. Even the Pharisees of Christ’s day did not believe in it. But this was Christ’s very mission. All need forgiveness; and if we think we have been forgiven little, it only shows our little sense of sin.—Hastings.
The Greater the Forgiveness, the Greater the Love.—That Jesus called the sinful because He expected converts from that class to make the best citizens, we learn from this parable viewed in connection with its historical setting. On this occasion also He was on His defence for His sympathetic relations with social reprobates, and the gist of His apology was—the greater the forgiveness, the greater the love, and therefore the better the citizen, the test of good citizenship being devotion. Christianity believes in the possibility of the last becoming first, of the greatest sinner becoming the greatest saint. Jesus hints at this, “To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little,” suggesting the correlative doctrine, that to whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much; in other words, that from among the children of passion, prone to err, may come, when their energies are properly directed, the most devoted and effective citizens and servants of the Divine kingdom. It seems a bold and hazardous assertion, but it is one, nevertheless, which the history of the Church has fully justified.—Bruce.
Forgiveness the Cause and Measure of Love.
I. The outpouring of love which has grasped forgiveness.
II. The snarl of self-righteousness which has never been down into the depths.
III. The vindication, by forgiving love, of forgiven love.—Maclaren.
Luke 7:36. Wisdom justified of her Children.—The incident related in this section is an illustration of the truth of the principle laid down in Luke 7:35. “But wisdom is justified of all her children.” It tells of one who was attracted by the graciousness of Christ, which gave offence to many of the Pharisees, and whose penitence was rewarded by the forgiveness of her sins.
“One of the Pharisees desired Him.”—The state of this Pharisee’s feelings towards Christ is revealed in Luke 7:39. There was a conflict in his mind between reverence for Jesus as a possible prophet and prejudice against Him on account of some of His modes of procedure. He seems, too, to have received some benefit from Christ (Luke 7:42), and to have loved Him on that account, though his love was far from ardent (Luke 7:47). Probably his character and conduct are painted too black in popular sermons upon this incident. Jesus speaks to him in such a friendly manner that we can scarcely believe that Simon cherished any malevolent feelings towards Him.
“He went into the Pharisee’s house.”—The action of Jesus in acceding to the request to eat with the Pharisee is an illustration of the method followed by Him, as contrasted with that followed by the Baptist (Luke 7:34). We often read of His receiving invitations of this kind, but never of His refusing. He showed the same genial, kindly willingness to enter into social intercourse with Pharisees, as in the case of publicans and sinners.
Luke 7:37. “A sinner.”—The special sin of inchastity is implied in the designation. “She was a sinner; up to this time (in Pharisaic language) she had been so; and she was still a sinner before the eyes of the world, although before God the sanctifying change had already begun to take place, through repentance, forgiveness, and love in return for forgiveness” (Stier).
A Typical Case of Penitence.—Her name is not given, so she may be thought of as a typical case of penitence: each one who reads the story may think of himself or herself as standing in her place. She came to anoint Jesus in token of her gratitude to Him as her Saviour. Love does not need to be instructed how to express itself; it is skilful in finding out appropriate methods. Cf. Luke 17:15; Luke 19:35-37.
Luke 7:38. “Stood at His feet … weeping.”—As she stood behind Jesus her tears began to flow, perhaps involuntarily; they bedewed His feet; with her hair dishevelled in token of grief she wiped His feet, and finding she was not repulsed, she kissed them over and over again (Luke 7:45), and anointed them with the ointment she had brought. “Her eyes, which once longed after earthly joys, now shed forth penitential tears; her hair, which she once displayed for idle ornament, is now used to wipe the feet of Christ; her lips, which once uttered vain things, now kiss those holy feet; the costly ointment, with which she once perfumed her body, is now offered to God” (Wordsworth). See Romans 6:19, “As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”
Why she came to Christ.—The purpose of her coming was
(1) to show her love for Christ;
(2) to testify her sorrow for sin; and
(3) to obtain forgiveness. Her penitence was public, as her sin had been. Others sought bodily health from Christ; but we do not read of another who came to obtain from Him pardon of sin. Hers was a striking example of faith, love, and penitence, and she received a special reward. It would appear from a comparison of this chapter with Matthew 11 that Jesus had just issued the gracious invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, … and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Luke 7:28-29). Perhaps it was these words that gave her courage to act as she did.
Public Acknowledgment of Penitence.—A public acknowledgment of repentance and faith in Christ in some cases, as in this, is a trying ordeal: there is
(1) the opposition of evil associates to be overcome—their solicitations, attempts to dissuade, and their mockery to be resisted; and
(2) the contempt and distrust of those who have been upright and virtuous to be encountered, and their confidence to be won. This latter trial is the harder to be borne.
A Theme for Artists and Poets.—The scene so exquisitely described by St. Luke has inspired both painters and poets, and given them a subject excelling most others in human and religious interest. The sonnet by Hartley Coleridge is well known:
“She sat and wept beside His feet. The weight
Of sin oppressed her heart; for all the blame
And the poor malice of the worldly shame
To her were past, extinct, and out of date:
Only the sin remained—the leprous state.
She would be melted by the heat of love,
By fires far fiercer than are blown to prove
And purge the silver ore adulterate.
She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair
Still wiped the feet she was so blest to touch;
And He wiped off the soiling of despair
From her sweet soul, because she loved so much.”
Dante G. Rossetti, who was both a poet and a painter, has taken the same subject and handled it with great power, though he follows the opinion that the woman was Mary Magdalene. In the drawing by which he has illustrated the incident, Mary has left a procession of revellers, and is ascending by a sudden impulse the steps of the house where she sees Christ. Her lover has followed her, and is trying to turn her back. The poet represents her as saying:
“Oh, loose me! Seest thou not my Bridegroom’s face
That draws me to Him? For His feet my kiss,
My hair, my tears He craves to-day: and oh!
What words can tell what other day and place
Shall see me clasp those blood-stained feet of His?
He needs me, calls me, loves me: let me go!”
Nature of Repentance.—Repentance as exemplified by this woman is characterised
(1) by deep grief and self-loathing;
(2) by wisdom in applying to the true source of forgiveness;
(3) by love to the Saviour; and
(4) by courage in braving the scorn of others and in overcoming false shame.
Luke 7:39. “If He were a prophet.”—An ordinary prophet might be unacquainted with the previous character and conduct of the woman; but such a prophet as the people took Jesus to be, and as He gave Himself out to be, could not. So far Simon was right in his surmise. To Simon it appeared clear
(1) that such a prophet would have known, and
(2) would have repulsed, one so sinful. He made three mistakes:
(1) he imagined that the holy must necessarily shun all intercourse with the sinful;
(2) that this woman was still “a sinner”; and
(3) that he himself was holy. The attitude he took up was that described in Isaiah 65:5, “Stand by thyself: come not near to me; for I am holier than thou”—an attitude and language hateful to God “as smoke in the nostrils.” The Pharisee, in fact, mentally put the Lord into this dilemma—either He does not know the true character of this woman, in which case He lacks that discernment of spirits which pertains to a true prophet; or, if He knows, and yet endures her touch, and is willing to accept a service at such hands, He lacks that holiness which is no less the note of a prophet of God: such, therefore, in either case He cannot be” (Trench.)
“Which touched Him.”—Touching—this is all that the Pharisee fixes on: his offence is merely technical and ceremonial.—Alford.
A Third Alternative.—The Pharisee omitted a third alternative—viz. that Jesus both knew what the woman was or had been, and permitted her action; and that it was possible for Him to justify His procedure.
Luke 7:40-43. Important Truths and Warnings.—This parable and the narrative in which it is found contain truths which we are very apt to neglect, and suggest warning of which we stand in constant need.
I. For observe, first, that flagrant sinners are much more likely to discover that they are sinners than moralists and ritualists.
II. Observe, secondly, that the much and the little of sin are for the most part measures of conscience, not of iniquity.
III. Observe, thirdly, that Christ does not teach us to run into sin, but to hate hypocrisy—the worst of sins.
IV. Finally, Christ specially warns us against forming those hard judgments of our brethren which of all men the “unco guid” are most apt to form.—Cox.
Luke 7:40. “I have somewhat to say unto thee.”—Christ adopts the same mode of rebuke as that made use of by Nathan to David. He tells an apologue, and asks a question which leads to Simon’s pronouncing judgment against himself (cf. 2 Samuel 12:1-7). Jesus “answers” him—i.e. answers his thoughts, which were revealed by his very looks.
Luke 7:41. “Five hundred pence and … fifty”—We must beware of understanding by the two debtors persons who differed from each other in positive sinfulness—the one, say, with five hundred accumulated offences, the other with but fifty. They were persons with differing consciousness of sin—the one of whom knew that his guilt was very heinous, the other having no such impression of himself. As a matter of fact it often happens that the debtor owing five hundred pence is in outward conduct more blameless than the other; for those who strive to serve God faithfully have an acuter sense of their sinfulness than others who make no such endeavour. In the present case the debtor owing the five hundred pence (the woman) was more guilty than the one owing fifty (Simon). Sense of guilt is a feeling we may all experience: our actual guilt or the number of our offences is known only to God.
The Aim of the Parable.—The aim of the parable was
(1) to explain the strange behaviour of the woman,
(2) to turn the tables on the fault-finder,
(3) to defend the course of conduct which excited the Pharisee’s sensoriousness.
Luke 7:42. “Frankly forgave them both.”—Forgiveness is the free gift of God. It is not the woman’s love that wins forgiveness; but that love springs from the consciousness of having been forgiven.
Luke 7:43. “I suppose.”—There is a touch of superciliousness in Simon’s reply, “I suppose.” His phrase implies that he thought the question one easily answered, and did not perceive how the decision he gave condemned himself. In like manner there is a strain of sarcasm in the words of Jesus—“Thou hast rightly judged.” It is a phrase used by Socrates when he has entangled his adversary in discussion.
Luke 7:44-46. “I entered into thine house.”—Christ contrasts the love manifested by the penitent woman with the coldness and discourtesy of him who thought himself her superior. In the one case there was exceptional and almost extravagant manifestation of devotion, in the other an omission of the ordinary civilities shown by hosts to guests.
1. The woman washed His feet with tears (“the most priceless of waters,” “the blood of the heart”), and wiped them with her hair; Simon had not offered the customary water and towel for washing and wiping the feet of guests.
2. The Pharisee had given no kiss of welcome, but she had passionately and often kissed His very feet.
3. Simon had not given even common oil for the head, but she had anointed His feet with precious ointment.
Dignity and Humility.—The Lord Jesus receives the expressions of love and honour with equal dignity and humility; He would have suffered Himself to be kissed even by the cold-hearted Simon, as He does not withdraw His feet from the tears of the woman who was a sinner. He is so humble in His majesty, and so majestic in His humility, that—shall we say like a child or like a sovereign?—He complains before a whole company of men, who were watching His words, that certain marks of respect had been culpably withheld from Him; and every one must be made to feel that He does this, not for His own sake, but for the sake of men.—Stier.
The Rebuke of Simon’s Under-breeding.—There was something deeper than humour here, but humour there also was. Spoken in semi-public, how it must have taken down the rich and patronising Pharisee to have it flashed in upon him that the seeming-humble carpenter and peasant of Nazareth knew what a gentleman meant, and who was not a gentleman. And not only so, but it was inevitable that the “odious comparison” to her advantage with “the woman” would draw down on Simon alike the observation and laughter of all who heard.—Grosart.
The Explanation of Simon’s Discourtesy.—If we should say that Simon thought that he was a gentleman, and that our Lord was not, we run the risk of offending our own sense of propriety; but we are probably not far from the truth. Simon treated our Lord with personal rudeness just because He was poor. And our Lord felt it, and called attention to it plainly and pointedly.—Winterbotham.
The Pharisee Unconscious of Sinfulness.—The Saviour might come into that house of the Pharisee—and no signs of peculiar honour shall greet or repay His presence—no water for His feet—no anointing of oil—no reverent kiss of welcome. This is natural, for Simon feels himself no sinner, nor counts it, therefore, any great thing to be privileged to entertain the sinner’s Friend.—Vaughan.
Simon made to reprove Himself.—Jesus with tact first asks leave to speak, when He has to administer reproof, puts that reproof into a parable, and makes Simon thus administer his own reproof.—Blaikie.
Luke 7:47. Love and Forgiveness.—We have here three persons who represent for us the Divine love that comes forth amongst sinners, and the twofold form in which that love is received.
I. Christ here stands as a manifestation of the Divine love towards mankind.
1. This love is not at all dependent upon our merits or deserts—“He frankly forgave them both.”
2. It is not turned away by our sins: the self-righteous man had contempt for the sinner, the holy Saviour had love.
3. It manifests itself first in the form of forgiveness—only on this ground can there be union between the loving-kindness of God and the emptiness and sinfulness of our hearts.
4. It demands service: that rendered by the woman is accepted, Simon is reminded of his omissions.
II. The woman here stands as a representative of the penitent lovingly recognising the Divine love.
1. All true love to God is preceded in the heart by a sense of sin and an assurance of pardon. Gratitude to God as the Giver of blessings can scarcely be called love, if there be not along with it a recognition of His holiness and mercy towards the penitent.
2. Love is the gate of knowledge—it led her to truer knowledge of Christ than the Pharisee possessed, and it revealed to her her own state.
3. Love is the source of all obedience. Love prompted her expressions of devotion to Christ, love justified them, His love interpreted them and accepted them.
III. Simon here stands as a representative of the unloving and self-righteous man, all ignorant of the love of Christ. He is a fair specimen of his class: respectable in life, rigid in morality, unquestionable in orthodoxy; intelligent and learned, high up among the ranks of Israel. Yet the want of love made his morality and orthodoxy dead and dry encumbrances. The Pharisee was contented with himself; and so there was no sense of sin in him, therefore there was no penitent recognition of Christ as forgiving and loving him, therefore there was no love to Christ. Hence there was neither light nor heat in his soul; his knowledge was barren notions, and his laborious obedience to the law led him to a fatal self-righteousness.—Maclaren.
Luke 7:47. “For she loved much.”—The difficulty in connection with the interpretation of this verse all depends upon the meaning to be given to the word “for”—“for she loved much.” Does this mean “she has been forgiven because she loved much”? To hold that it does would violate the statement in Luke 7:42, that the debtor had nothing wherewith to pay his debt—i.e. no ground on which he could claim forgiveness. “For” here means that Jesus is arguing from the effect to the cause: her great love shows that she is conscious of having been forgiven a great debt. It is the same kind of statement as if we were to say—“The sun must have shone, for the day is bright.” The majesty of Jesus is displayed in the manner in which He accepts the adoration and love of the penitent, and in the exercise of the Divine prerogative of forgiving sins which He does not hesitate to employ. The great lesson is commended to all who are penitent to show their gratitude by loving much.
Luke 7:48. “Be of good comfort.”—By simple decree given as He sat at the table He blotted out the record of this woman’s sins; His knowledge of her sincere penitence being absolute, and His authority to act in God’s name supreme.
Luke 7:49. “Who is this that forgiveth sins also?”—The astonishment shown by those who were present, at the claim to forgive sin, was most natural, for the majority of those there evidently hesitated to regard Him as the penitent woman did. We need not credit them with malignant unbelief: they were amazed at a claim which doubtless many of them soon came to see was fully justified. The answer to their question would have been, “It is the Son of man” (cf. Luke 5:24).
Luke 7:50. “Thy faith hath saved thee.”—“Thy faith which anticipated pardon from Me, and brought thee to Me with public signs of penitence and love, hath saved thee.” Christ mercifully ascribes to faith those benefits which are due to Himself as the efficient and meritorious cause, and are apprehended by the hand of faith as the instrument on our part by which they are supplied.—Wordsworth.
“Go in peace.”—Lit. “into peace”—the state of mind to which she might now look forward. Four great blessings were therefore bestowed by Jesus upon this penitent:
1. He accepted the expressions she gave of love and devotion;
2. He approved her conduct and defended her cause;
3. He assured her of forgiveness;
4. He dismissed her with a word of benediction. The whole incident is one calculated to comfort the penitent, and to assure them of the love of Christ for them in spite of their deep unworthiness. Yet we need to keep in mind that there is a higher blessing attaching to those who are consecrated in life to Christ from the first than can be known by those who have sunk deeply in the mire of sin. None need, therefore, think lightly of the evil courses from which this woman was redeemed. “Though the love of the reclaimed profligate may be and is intense of its kind (and how touching and beautiful its manifestations are, as here!), yet that kind is not so high or complete as the sacrifice of the whole life—the bud, blossom, and fruit—to His service to whom we were in baptism dedicated” (Alford).
Peace with Pardon.—“Saved!” This poor, shame-soiled, sin-ruined thing that the Pharisee would have thrust out of his house into the street—saved! No return to the old life. An heir of heaven. Christ touched the sinful soul, and it was transformed into beauty. The woman has been in glory for eighteen centuries. This is what Christ can do, will do, for all who creep to His feet in penitence and faith. Peace came with the forgiveness. No peace till forgiven. No peace for uncancelled sin. But when Christ has forgiven, we should be at peace. What is there to fear now or ever? With our King’s pardon we need not be afraid.—Miller.
“Saved.”—The cheering word meant much. The expression “saved” is not to be restricted to the one blessing of forgiveness of sins, though that is specially included, as it was expressly mentioned just before. Jesus meant to say that faith would do, had already done in principle, for the sinful woman, all that needed to be done in order to a complete moral rescue.—Bruce.