S
Sakari
Guest
Luke 7:36-50 tells us of a sinful woman who met Jesus in a Pharisee's house. How did this woman manage to enter the house? She was not invited (indeed, why should she be), we are told that she found out afterwards that Jesus was sitting at dinner table in Simon's house. She just walks in, right to the dining quarters! Obviously she knew Simon, at least she knew where to find him.
Was Simon her creditor? For some reason, Jesus tells Simon the short parable of a certain creditor who had two debtors. Also, we are told that Simon did invite Jesus, and yet he failed to bid him properly welcome  no water for his feet, no welcoming kiss, no oil for anointing his head. Did Simon invite Jesus against his own will, perhaps urged by his acquaintances, asking Jesus to act as arbiter in the woman's case (her failure to pay back what she owed)?
I doubt this. Pharisees, by and large, distanced themselves from sinners, and as such the woman is described. Whether it was otherwise possible for a pharisee to act as moneylender is one thing, but it would be quite another thing for him to lend money to a sinner.
Was the woman a maid-servant in Simon's house? After all, she did what servants do. Was she in the city market place buying provisions for the household when she learned of the famous guest who had just arrived? Hardly that. She would have been informed earlier and she would have been there waiting for the guests. And naturally, a sinner for maid-servant would be out of the question in a Pharisee's house.
Then there is the distant possibility that the woman was a prostitute and Simon was her customer. In this case she could have come to the house to confess all publicly, even under threat of getting punished. Or was she Simon's ex wife whom he had abandoned because of adultery, she now seeking after his forgiving her?
Was Simon her creditor? For some reason, Jesus tells Simon the short parable of a certain creditor who had two debtors. Also, we are told that Simon did invite Jesus, and yet he failed to bid him properly welcome  no water for his feet, no welcoming kiss, no oil for anointing his head. Did Simon invite Jesus against his own will, perhaps urged by his acquaintances, asking Jesus to act as arbiter in the woman's case (her failure to pay back what she owed)?
I doubt this. Pharisees, by and large, distanced themselves from sinners, and as such the woman is described. Whether it was otherwise possible for a pharisee to act as moneylender is one thing, but it would be quite another thing for him to lend money to a sinner.
Was the woman a maid-servant in Simon's house? After all, she did what servants do. Was she in the city market place buying provisions for the household when she learned of the famous guest who had just arrived? Hardly that. She would have been informed earlier and she would have been there waiting for the guests. And naturally, a sinner for maid-servant would be out of the question in a Pharisee's house.
Then there is the distant possibility that the woman was a prostitute and Simon was her customer. In this case she could have come to the house to confess all publicly, even under threat of getting punished. Or was she Simon's ex wife whom he had abandoned because of adultery, she now seeking after his forgiving her?