The Anointer, The Sinner

Luke 7:36-50

Dena Williams

The Gospel of Luke, Fall 2012, Iliff School of Theology

INTRODUCTION

The Gospel of Luke includes much material about women found nowhere else in

Scripture. The Gospel also includes more stories, parables, and descriptions of women

than any of the other synoptic Gospels.1 According to Jane Schaberg, Luke contains 42

passages about women, 23 of which are unique to Luke.2 It is important, therefore, to

consider how Luke portrays women, and how various scholars interpret Luke’s portrayal

of women. This paper considers the story of one woman, the anointer in 7:36-50. Form

and literary criticism, and a word study are used to analyze the text and to consider how

Luke portrays the anointer, in particular, to examine Luke’s description of the anointer as

a “sinner”.

Luke describes the anointer as “a woman who was in the city, a sinner”. Traditional

interpretations of Luke’s description of the anointer lead to her identification as a

prostitute or someone guilty of sexual sin, which is not stated in the text. An analysis of

Luke’s description of the anointer as a “sinner” does not support the supposed portrayal

1 Turid Karlsen Seim, ‘The Gospel of Luke’, Searching Scriptures, Volume 2, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, editor (New York: Crossroad Publishing 1994) p 728.2 Jane Schaberg, ‘Luke’, The Women’s Bible Commentary, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox 1992) p 279.

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by Luke of the anointer as a prostitute or guilty of sexual sin. This paper does not include

consideration of other factors long considered to contribute to an understanding of the

anointed woman as a prostitute such as: the phrase “in the city”, her unbound hair, access

to perfume, apparent wealth, intrusion or presence in Simon’s house, her tears and kisses.

THE TEXT

Luke 7:36-50

My Translation

Now a certain one of the Pharisees was asking that [Jesus] might eat with him. And

entering the Pharisee’s house, [Jesus] reclined at the table. And, look, a woman who was

in the city, a sinner, knowing that [Jesus] reclines at table in the Pharisee’s house,

bringing an alabaster [jar] of perfume, standing behind him at his feet, crying tears, she

began to wet his feet and with the hairs of her head, she was wiping [them], and kissing,

and anointing his feet with the perfume.

But seeing [this] the Pharisee, having invited [Jesus], spoke to himself saying, “If this one

was a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman is touching him,

because she is a sinner.” And answering him, Jesus said, “Simon, I have something to say

to you.” And [Simon] says, “Teacher, speak.” [Jesus said], “Two [people] were debtors

to a certain creditor; the one owing five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. They, not

having [the money] to repay [the creditor], he forgave both [people]. Which of them will

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love [the creditor] more? Simon, answering, said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave

more [debt].” And [Jesus] said to him, “You judged correctly.”

Turning to the woman, [Jesus] said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your

house; you did not give me water for my feet. But she, with her tears wet my feet and

with her hair she wiped [them]. You did not give me a kiss, but she, from [the moment] I

entered did not stop kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she, with

perfume, anointed my feet. For this reason, I say to you, her many sins have been

forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, [that one] loves little.” And

[Jesus] said to the [woman], “Your sins have been forgiven.”

And the ones reclining [at the table] with him began to say among themselves, “Who is

this [one] who even forgives sin?” And [Jesus] said to the woman, “Your faith has saved

you. Go in peace.”

Narrative Summary and Location in Text

Jesus accepts the invitation of Simon, the Pharisee, to eat with him at his house. The

woman comes to where Jesus is reclining at the table and washes his feet with her tears,

dries them with her hair, kisses his feet, and anoints them with perfume. Simon speaks

an aside questioning why Jesus does not have knowledge of the woman washing his feet,

because she is a “sinner”. Jesus apparently overhears Simon and tells a parable. Jesus

points out to Simon that he did not offer him water or a kiss, but the woman offers both.

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Jesus declares the woman’s sins forgiven. The others at the table seem to express

surprise that Jesus can forgive sin. Jesus tells the woman her faith has saved her and to

go in peace.

The story of the woman who anointed Jesus comes early in Luke’s Gospel, indicating its

importance to the Lukan narrative. The infancy narrative, baptism, temptation, teaching

in the synagogue at Nazareth, the disciples’ call, healings, the miracle of fish, Levi’s

banquet, plucking grain on the Sabbath, the sermon on the plain, and an exchange with

John the Baptist precede this story. The infancy narrative and the beginnings of Jesus’

ministry, in other words, are all that come before the story of the woman who anointed

Jesus’ feet. Now Jesus “when he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people,

he entered Capernaum” where this story takes place. Luke Timothy Johnson finds the

placement of the story an example of Luke’s pattern of prophecy and subsequent

fulfillment.3 In 5:31 Jesus describes himself as one who has “come not to call the

righteous but sinners to repentance.” In 7:36-50 Jesus’ prophecy is self fulfilled as the

woman is forgiven.

Luke often relates stories in pairs. The first person and the only one forgiven before the

anointing woman is an unnamed paralytic, a man brought to Jesus by his friends. The

anointer, then, is the second person and the first woman in the narrative who receives

forgiveness. The paralytic is forgiven on the basis of his friends’ faith. The woman is

forgiven on the basis of her own faith. A common denominator in this pair of stories is,

3 Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina Series, Volume 3, (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press 1991), p 129.

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then, faith and forgiveness. Luke sets the stage for a major theme; he continues to show

that sins are forgiven by faith, that faith is salvatory, throughout the Gospel.

The immediate location of the story of the anointing woman begins when Jesus ends the

sermon on the plain and enters Capernaum. The story is preceded in Chapter 7 by the

healing of a centurion’s slave, the widow’s son, an exchange with and discourse

regarding John the Baptist. The pericope ends with a geographic transition of the sort

common to Luke, “Soon afterwards, he [Jesus] went on through cities and villages,

proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” (8:1)

THE ANOINTER AS SINNER

Many scholars discuss the meaning of Luke’s description of the anointer as “a woman

who was in the city, a sinner”. Historically the phrase, “a woman who was in the city, a

sinner” is interpreted to indicate the anointer is a prostitute, guilty of sexual sin.4

Although this view is often negated in most recent scholarship,5 Louise Schotroff

resolves the issue by claiming the woman is a prostitute, but not repentant. She claims

the story demonstrates Jesus’ mercy and respect for prostitutes in contrast to Simon’s

4 Johoachim, Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1963), p 126.5 Cosgrove, Charles H., ‘A woman’s unbound hair in the Greco-Roman world, with special reference to the story of the “sinful woman” in Luke 7:36-50’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 124, Winter 2005, pp 675-692. Note: In this example of recent scholarship, Cosgrove convincingly refutes the notion that because the woman “loosed her hair” she is, therefore, a ‘sinner’ by way of being a prostitute, an often-cited piece of evidence in traditional literature.

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prejudice against the anointer.6 Schotroff does not present an argument as to why she

understands the anointer to be a prostitute based on the text, but argues as though the

woman is a prostitute. Although she discusses the text as though the woman’s sin is

sexual misbehavior, even this scholar does not show how this interpretation is evident in

the word “sinner”. There is, indeed, no evidence in the Gospel writer’s use of the word

“sinner” to substantiate sexual misbehavior on the part of the anointer.

Occurrence and Usage of “Sinner” in Luke

Luke is particularly fond of the word, “sinner”. He uses it 18 times in his Gospel

compared to Matthew (5 times) and Mark (6 times). Table 1 shows how the word is used

in each instance. A review of the verses reveals no example of “sinner” used to describe

a person or persons who specifically commit sexual sin. There is, therefore, no instance

elsewhere in the Gospel to justify the specific assignment of sexual sin to a sinner,

including the anointer. Luke often pairs “sinner” with “tax collector” and seems much

more concerned with monetary sins against the poor than with prostitution or sexual

misbehavior, which he never mentions. He also connects the word “sinner” with a

disciple, lenders and borrowers, gluttons, drunkards, martyrs and those who crucified

Jesus—a wide variety of sinful people none of whom are specifically named as

prostitutes or among those who exhibit sexual misbehavior.

6 Louise Schotroff, “Through German and Feminist Eyes: A Liberationist Reading of Luke 7:36-50”, Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago 1994.

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Table 1

“Sinner” in Luke

Text Speaker Usage5:8 Simon Peter Reference to self5:30 Pharisees, scribes Paired with tax collectors5:32 Jesus Contrasted to righteous,

Called to repentance6:32 Jesus Sinners love others who

love them6:33 Jesus Sinners do good to others

who do good to them6:34 Jesus Sinners lend to those who

will repay6:34 Jesus Sinners receive loans from

sinners7:34 Jesus quotes crowd

including tax collectors, Pharisees, lawyers

Paired with gluttons, drunkards, tax collectors

7:37 Narrator Woman who was in the city7:39 Simon, the Pharisee What sort of woman she is13:2 Jesus Galilean martyrs15:1 Narrator Paired with tax collectors15:2 Pharisees Jesus welcomes and eats

with15:7 Jesus Joy over 1 repentant,

contrasted with 99 righteous who need none

15:10 Jesus Joy over repentant18:13 Tax collector “God be merciful . . .”, tax

collector refers to self19:7 “All” who saw Zacchaeus

and Jesus talkA rich tax collector

24:7 Two men in dazzling clothes

The crucifiers

Dena Williams, 2012

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Meaning of “Sinner” in Luke

Dwayne Adams describes 5 potential meanings for the word “sinner” in Luke: a

synonym for common people, a person who is known to be immoral or a member of a

profession known for dishonesty or immorality or married to such a person, a gentile or

Jews who associate with gentiles, sinner as a literary device, not used in an historically

defined manner (Luke implies Pharisees as the “bad guys” and sinners as, ultimately, the

“good guys” in his Gospel.), a marginalized person in society (similar to Luke’s use of

the word “poor” to describe a category of people).7 The anointer might be a commoner,

immoral or married to an immoral person such as a tax collector, a gentile or a Jew who

associates with gentiles, one of Luke’s “good guy” sinners, a marginalized person in

society. It is possible, then, she is immoral and her sin involves sexual behavior. There

is, however, no particular indication she is immoral and certainly no indication she is a

prostitute.8

Meaning of ‘Sinner’ in Other Ancient Literature

Teresa Hornsby surveys the use of the word ‘sinner’ from its first known occurrence in

Aristophanes to Luke’s contemporaries. She observes two primary connotations: (1) “the

sinner always stands in opposition to the righteous, the ‘good’, or the ‘normal’, even

though the categories ‘sinner’ and ‘righteous’ shift according to context and to who is

7 Dwayne Adams, The Sinner in Luke, (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications 2008), pp x-xiv.8 Ibid., pp 142-143. Note: Dwayne Adams concludes, unfortunately, “She was most likely a prostitute or an immoral woman, but the specific nature of her sins is not stated.” His argument is incomplete and unconvincing.

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applying the label.”, and (2) the ‘sinner’ is the one who ‘misses the mark’ as in an archer

who fails to hit the mark with an arrow, one who is off-center and imperfect. She finds

no evidence in the materials from this period of the word ‘sinner’ automatically

connected with sexual misbehavior. She finds simply, “The ‘sinner’ is thus everything the

good person, or the normal person, or the pure person is not.” 9

CONCLUSION

Luke’s use of the word ‘sinner’ to describe the anointer carries no absolute connotation of

prostitution or sexual misbehavior. Historically, nevertheless, the focus of this periscope

is on the anointer, the woman and her sin, whether or not it is sexual. Table 2 shows the

title of the periscope in numerous versions of the New Testament. The title focuses on

the woman in nearly every case and most often identifies her as ‘sinful’. In contrast,

Barbara Reid makes the following point: “The point of the story is found not in the

interaction between Jesus and the woman but in the exchange between Jesus and

Simon.”10 Hornsby writes: “. . . Luke is the only one [of the Gospel writers] not to

connect the anointing to Jesus’ death. Luke, instead, calls the anointing woman a sinner

and contextualizes the story in terms of repentance and forgiveness.”11

Table 2

Names for the Pericope, Luke 7:36—50

9 Teresa Hornsby, ‘The Woman is a Sinner/The Sinner is a Woman’, A Feminist Companion to Luke, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, (New York: Sheffield Academic Press 2002) p 125.10 Barbara Reid, “Do You See This Woman?”, Biblical Research 40 1995, p37. 11 Hornsby, “The Woman is a Sinner . . .”, p 131.

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VERSION TITLE OF PERICOPENew International Version Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

English Standard Version A Sinful Woman Forgiven

New King James Version A Sinful Woman Forgiven

Latter Day Saints A woman anoints Jesus’ feet, and he forgives her sins.

New Schofield Reference Edition Jesus Anointed in Pharisee’s House

New Revised Standard Version A Sinful Woman is Forgiven

1611 King James Version Christ . . . sheweth by occasion of Marie Magdalene, how he is a friend to sinners…

La Santa BibliaEdicion Especial con Referencia

Jesus en el hogar de Simon el fariseo(Jesus in the home of Simon the Pharisee)

Dena Williams 2012

The story and the parable Jesus tells are primarily about repentance, faith and

forgiveness, a theme the writer returns to often in this Gospel. As mentioned in the

introduction to this paper, Johnson points out in 5:31 Jesus’ self description as one who

has “come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” is self fulfilled as the

woman is forgiven.12. She is forgiven; her faith has saved her. In the single story of

forgiveness that precedes this pericope in Luke, the paralytic is forgiven on the basis of

his friends’ faith. Soon after the story of the anointer, Jesus asks his disciples, “Where is

your faith?” In this case, the disciples’ faith is required to save them in their boat from a

windstorm on the lake. (8:22)

12 Johnson, p 129

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This paper shows the description of the anointer as ‘sinful’ in no way indicates she is a

prostitute, guilty of sexual sin. It seems the story of repentance, faith, and forgiveness is

often lost in the apparent preoccupation of readers through the centuries with the nature

of the anointer’s sin. It may be easier for readers to focus on her sin than to repent of

their own, find faith, and accept the forgiveness offered by Jesus to the anointer and to all

sinners, regardless of the nature of their sin.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Dwayne, The Sinner in Luke, Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications 2008

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Cosgrove, Charles H., “A Woman’s unbound hair in the Greco-Roman world, Journal of Biblical Literature, 124, Winter 2005

Hornsby, Teresa, “The Woman is a Sinner/The Sinner is a Woman”, A Feminist Companion to Luke, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, NewYork: Sheffield Academic Press 2002

Johnson, Luke Timothy, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina Series, Volume 3, Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press 1991

Johoachim, Jermias, The Parables of Jesus, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1963

Reid, Barbara, “Do You See This Woman?”, Biblical Research 40 1995

Schaberg, Jane, “Luke”, The Women’s Bible Commentary, Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox 1992

Schotroff, Louise, “Through German and Feminist Eyes: A Liberationist Reading of Luke 7:36—50, Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago 1994

Seim, Turid Karlsen. “The Gospel of Luke”, Searching Scriptures, Volume 2, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, editor. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1994

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