Someone Jesus defended
The Weeping Woman at Simon's House
A woman known in town as a sinner slipped into a Pharisee's dinner, stood behind Jesus weeping, wet His feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with perfume. It was scandalous. The host despised her presence and doubted Jesus for allowing it. But her tears spoke of a love born from great forgiveness.
“And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.”Luke 7:44
Who was against them
Simon the Pharisee had invited Jesus to eat but withheld the ordinary courtesies of a host, no water for the feet, no kiss of greeting, no oil for the head. When the woman began to weep over Jesus' feet, Simon said nothing aloud, but he judged in his heart. If this man were truly a prophet, he thought, He would know what kind of woman was touching Him, for she was a sinner. Simon condemned two people at once: the woman for her past, and Jesus for failing to recoil from her. To him her reputation defined her entirely, and holiness meant distance from such people. He assumed that a genuine man of God would share his disgust and push her away rather than let her hands come near.
How Jesus defended them
Jesus read Simon's thoughts and answered them with a story about two debtors, one owing much and one little, both forgiven freely. Which would love more? The one forgiven more, Simon admitted. Then Jesus turned toward the woman and made Simon look at her. Point by point He contrasted them: Simon gave no water, but she washed His feet with tears; no kiss, yet she had not stopped kissing His feet; no oil, but she anointed them with perfume. Her many sins were forgiven, He said, and that was why she loved so much. To her directly He spoke words of release: her faith had saved her; she could go in peace. He defended her tears as the truest worship in the room.
The Christ who stands with the lowly
This is the Christ who is not defiled by the sinner's touch but heals it. Where Simon saw contamination, Jesus saw contrition and love. He was not embarrassed by her weeping or her reputation; He welcomed both and set her free. Here the gospel shines: those who know they owe much love much, and the proud who feel little need feel little love. Jesus did not wait for the woman to clean herself up before He received her. He met her in her tears and pronounced her forgiven. This is the God who justifies the ungodly, who lets the broken come close, and who would soon take every debt she owed, and Simon's too, upon Himself at the cross.
Questions people ask
Who was the sinful woman who washed Jesus' feet?
Luke does not give her name, only that she was known in the town as a sinner, a phrase that likely points to a life of sexual shame. She was an outsider to respectable religious society. Tradition sometimes links her to Mary Magdalene, but the Bible never makes that connection. What matters is her deep repentance and the love it produced.
Did the woman earn forgiveness by her love and tears?
No. Jesus made clear the order: her many sins were already forgiven, and that is why she loved so much. Her tears were the response to grace, not the price of it. He told her plainly that her faith, not her weeping, had saved her. Love overflows from forgiveness received; it does not purchase it.