Dinner with a Sinner

Gospel: Luke 7: 36-50

This dinner party at the house of a Pharisee is filled with irony.  The Pharisee sees himself as one without sin hosting a meal with Jesus whom the Pharisee sees as an equal.  Along comes a woman to wash the feet of Jesus, a woman with an apparently notorious reputation.  The Pharisee is horrified by her washing Jesus' feet, though we might wonder what this woman is doing inside the house of the Pharisee in the first place if she is what he claims her to be.

Nevertheless, Jesus provides a short parable on two debtors to put everyone in their place.  In the parable both people are debtors, both sinners.  The one with the lesser burden sees themselves as sinless.  They have no gratitude for their sin being forgiven, their debt lifted.  Meanwhile, the one with the great burden realizes the debt has been removed and is grateful.  The Pharisee and the woman are both sinners.  One remained so, the other liberated from the burden.  

In response to her being forgiven, the woman washes the feet of Jesus, i.e. she goes to serve others in the most humble way - in the way that Jesus himself will model at the Last Supper to his disciples.  When we become conscious of being forgiven the debt we have incurred, when the burden is lifted from us, we too must respond as the woman and wash the feet of others, to serve the needs of others humbly and lovingly.