11th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love.

Lk 7:36—8:3

GOSPEL EXPLANATION

1. This episode of Luke is not the same as the episode recounted in Mt 26:6ff and Mk 14:3ff where a woman pours oil on his head in the house of Simon the Leper. This episode of Luke is also not to be confused with a similar even in John 12:1ff where the event took place in the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Here it was Mary who did the pouring of the ointment. For this reason we cannot identify the woman as Mary Magdalene. It is, therefore, a defamation to call Mary Magdalene a prostitute.

2. Banquet
• It is part of hospitality for the host to offer his special guest a kiss, to wash his feet which were dirty from travel and to anoint the head with oil. Simon the Pharisee did not do these for Jesus.
• Guests do not sit but recline on divans.
• The woman was called a sinner. She was probably guilty of public immorality. She was either a prostitute or a promiscuous woman. In fact, letting her hair down in public strengthens this suspicion.
• The ointment was costly. You had to work for 18 months to buy it.

3. Parable
• Debt of 50 and 500.
• The woman might be a sinner but you Simon are also a sinner, al-though not a big one. But while she has received forgiveness, you have not because you have not recognized you own sinfulness.