The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  OT: 2 Kings 4:1–7

  NT: Matt 26:6–13; Mark 14:3–9; Luke 5:20; 8:48; John 11:2; 12:1–8

  Catechism: Jesus dines with Pharisees, 575, 588; prayer of the forgiven sinner, 2616, 2712; sacrament of forgiveness, 1441, 1481

  Lectionary: Luke 7:36–8:3: Eleventh Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C)

  [7:36–38]

  The unexpected role reversal just described, where sinners listen but religious leaders reject God’s plan (7:29–35), is now illustrated in another meal scene (see 5:29–39). A Pharisee invites Jesus to dine at his house (see 11:37–54; 14:1–24). Such a scene would have recalled for Gentile readers the Hellenistic symposium, in which a distinguished host invited guests to a banquet, including a chief guest known for wisdom. Something would then trigger a discussion, in which the chief guest would have the last word.9 Here the actions of a sinful woman prompt the discussion. Why would such a woman drop in uninvited? Possibly, it was a public event where people could come just to listen to the guest teacher. Since Jesus was known to be a friend of sinners (7:34), the woman may have dared to seek him out. She may also have known others who were present.10 The banquet was served on low tables and the guests reclined on their sides with their feet behind them, such that the woman stood behind Jesus at his feet. She had brought an alabaster flask of ointment, a hint of what she would do.

  The woman’s actions are more startling than her surprising entrance. Luke focuses attention on her actions by stringing them together using the conjunction “and” (partially lost in most translations): weeping she began to wet his feet with her tears and she wiped them with her hair and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. The verb tenses also indicate ongoing actions—in other words, she kept on doing these things. Also surprising, however, is what the Pharisee was not doing. The word “Pharisee” occurs four times (vv. 36–39), each time connected either with his invitation or his house, as if to suggest what he should be doing—namely, offering the gestures of hospitality expected of a host toward an honored guest. As Jesus will explain (vv. 44–46), she makes up for what he failed to do in hospitality. Moreover, though her actions are often interpreted as immodest (e.g., letting her hair down in public in order to dry Jesus’ feet), her gestures are, on account of her weeping, more likely those of “grief, supplication, and gratitude.”11

  [7:39]

  The reader is now given an insider’s view of the reaction of the Pharisee. He has already judged what sort of woman this is—namely, a sinner—and now he passes judgment on Jesus, who despite his reputation as a prophet (7:16) seems unable to perceive the woman as he does. Through the Pharisee’s wrong judgment, the question of Jesus’ identity is again raised (see 7:19).

  [7:40–43]

  Ironically, Jesus demonstrates that he is a prophet by perceiving the thoughts of Simon the Pharisee (see John 4:16–19). As the honored guest, he now exercises his role of teacher by telling a parable, an indirect way for him to address the situation. In the parable, a creditor cancels the unequal debt of two people (five hundred days’ wages and fifty). In saying that the creditor forgave the debt, the verb charizomai is used, which can mean remitting debts, as here, or forgiving sins (2 Cor 2:10; Eph 4:32; Col 2:13; 3:13). As used in the parable, the word is a synonym for aphiēmi, “forgive” (Luke 7:47–49). In view of Jesus’ jubilee mission of proclaiming liberty (4:18; Lev 25:10), the parable is thus declaring the remission of the debt of sin!12

  Jesus lets Simon draw the lesson of the parable by asking him which debtor would love the creditor more. With his answer about the person whose larger debt was forgiven, Simon shows that he has now judged rightly, although he does not yet grasp the parable’s application.

  [7:44–46]

  Jesus bluntly clarifies its application, explaining how the two debtors represent the woman and Simon. Jesus details the Pharisee’s omissions of hospitality by comparing them to the woman’s acts of devotion. She in effect behaved as the true host. Whereas he provided no water for washing, no kiss, and no oil to anoint his head, she did more than the equivalent of these, as she bathed his feet, did not cease kissing them, and anointed them.

  The emphasis on Jesus’ feet is noteworthy. In the Greek text, the word occurs seven times in the passage. It calls to mind a text from Isaiah: “How beautiful . . . are the feet of the one bringing good news, / Announcing peace, bearing good news, / announcing salvation, saying to Zion, / ‘Your God is King!’” (Isa 52:7 [emphasis added]).13 Jesus is the one who will announce peace and salvation to the woman (see Luke 7:50). His jubilee proclamation of liberty again provides the key for understanding (4:18–19; Isa 61:1–2).14 By liberating the woman from her sins, Jesus will bring her salvation.

  [7:47]

  Jesus explains that the forgiveness of debts in the parable refers to sins that are forgiven (verb aphiēmi, four times in Luke 7:47–49; see 5:20–24). By forgiving sins, Jesus is carrying out his jubilee mission of proclaiming “liberty” (noun aphesis, 4:18; 24:47).

  The next part of the verse has been interpreted in two different ways. The NABRE translation, hence, she has shown great love, implies that her love is the result of forgiveness received. However, the word “hence” can also be translated “because” (NJB), which seems to say just the opposite, that her love was the cause of forgiveness. The first view is the one supported by the parable, where love follows as a response to debt-forgiveness. The end of the verse also supports this view: the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.

  LIVING TRADITION

  Giving Jesus Good Hospitality

  St. Teresa of Ávila (speaking of herself in the third person) explains that receiving the Eucharist is like having Jesus enter our house:

  When she received Communion, this person . . . strove to strengthen her faith so that in receiving her Lord it was as if, with her bodily eyes, she saw him enter her house. Since she believed that this Lord truly entered her poor home, she freed herself from all exterior things. . . . She strove to recollect the senses so that all of them would take notice of so great a good. . . . She considered she was at his feet and wept with the Magdalene,a no more nor less than if she were seeing him with her bodily eyes in the house of the Pharisee. And even though she didn’t feel devotion, faith told her that he was indeed there. . . . Receiving Communion is not like picturing with the imagination, as when we reflect upon the Lord on the cross . . . when we picture within ourselves how things happened to him in the past. In Communion the event is happening now, and it is entirely true. There’s no reason to go looking for him in some other place farther away. . . . Now, then, if when he went about in the world the mere touch of his robes cured the sick [Luke 6:19; 8:43–48], why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while he is within us and that he will give what we ask of him, since he is in our house? His Majesty is not accustomed to paying poorly for his lodging if the hospitality is good.b

  a. In the past, the unnamed sinful woman was often identified with Mary Magdalene (see Luke 8:2).

  b. Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection 34.7–8, in The Collected Works of Saint Teresa of Avila, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez, 3 vols. (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1976–85), 2:171–72.

  Earlier, Jesus said that he came to call “sinners” to “repentance” (5:32), and later he will send his disciples to preach “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins” (24:47). The woman, despite being known as a sinner (7:37, 39), is one of those who listened (see 7:29) and repented. Her conversion included her coming to faith (v. 50). Her tears and loving actions are then the fruit that give evidence of her repentance (3:8). In contrast, the Pharisee, like those mentioned earlier who rejected God’s plan (7:30), did not think he needed to repent. Consequently, he could be forgiven little and, as a result, showed little love.

  [7:48–50]

  In words that echo those spoken to the paralyzed man (5:20, 23), Jesus gives assurance to the woman that her sins are forgiven.15 As before, the people question: Wh
o is this who even forgives sin? Though “God alone can forgive sins” (5:21), readers already know that Jesus is the “Son of God” (1:35). The question can thus be left unanswered. Jesus lets the woman go: Your faith has saved you; go in peace. He will say exactly the same words in the next chapter to a woman whom he heals (8:48). Here, as with the paralyzed man and his friends (5:20), it is faith that leads to forgiveness and salvation. In sum, Jesus praises both the woman’s faith and her love. As Paul teaches: “in Christ Jesus,” what counts is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

  The chapter began with stories of a man with faith (into whose house Jesus does not enter) and a weeping woman, leading to the recognition that Jesus is a prophet. The chapter now ends with a story of a man (into whose house Jesus does enter) and a weeping woman with faith, leading to the recognition that Jesus is a prophet. Amid questions about his identity, Jesus is vindicated as a prophet and, indeed, more than a prophet.

  Reflection and Application (7:36–50)

  Pride and humility. St. Augustine explains the contrast between the end and the beginning of Luke 7: “The teacher of humility . . . sat down in the house of a certain proud Pharisee called Simon. And though he was sitting in his house, there wasn’t anywhere in his heart where the Son of Man might lay his head. . . . Into the centurion’s house, on the other hand, he never entered, and he took possession of his heart. . . . This man’s faith is discerned and praised in an act of humility.”16 Am I humble like the centurion or proud like the Pharisee? Is there room in my heart for Jesus?

  Go in peace. In the sacrament of penance, Jesus forgives a person’s sins through the ministry of a priest. To conclude the celebration of the sacrament, the priest says to the penitent Jesus’ final words to the woman, after he had forgiven her sins: “Go in peace” (Luke 7:50).

  1. James D. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 310.

  2. A similar passage in John’s Gospel (John 4:46–54) concerns the sick son of a royal official.

  3. Jubilees 22.16.

  4. The Roman Missal (Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing, 2011), Communion Rite.

  5. The commentary on this passage and the next draws on Jean-Noël Aletti, Le Jésus de Luc (Paris: Mame-Desclée, 2010), 111–22.

  6. 4Q521 (Messianic Apocalypse) 2 II, 1–12, in The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, ed. Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 2:1045.

  7. Gerd Theissen, The Gospels in Context: Social and Political History in the Synoptic Tradition, trans. Linda M. Maloney (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 26–42; Morten Hørning Jensen, Herod Antipas in Galilee, 2nd ed. (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010), 205–6, 231–32, 297.

  8. David E. Garland, Luke, ZECNT (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 316.

  9. E. Springs Steele, “Luke 11:37–54—A Modified Hellenistic Symposium?,” JBL 103 (1984): 379–94.

  10. In John 12:1–8, the woman anointing Jesus is Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who is at table, and of Martha, who is serving. The event occurs in Bethany shortly before Passover (see Matt 26:6–13; Mark 14:3–9). Luke omits an anointing scene in his passion narrative in favor of this one here, situated in an unnamed city and having a different narrative purpose. Despite the different contexts, there are interesting similarities. Luke and John both say that the woman anointed Jesus’ feet (Matthew and Mark say head) and wiped them with her hair (John 11:2; 12:3 RSV). Moreover, Luke later mentions Martha’s sister Mary, and like the woman here, she is at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:39).

  11. Charles H. Cosgrove, “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,” JBL 124 (2005): 689.

  12. James A. Sanders, “Sins, Debts, and Jubilee Release,” in Luke and Scripture: The Function of Sacred Tradition in Luke-Acts, by Craig A. Evans and James A. Sanders (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 84–92.

  13. Garland, Luke, 325–26.

  14. According to Jewish expectation at Qumran (11Q13 II, 15–25), the messianic figure who proclaims the jubilee in Isa 61 was identified with the messenger of Isa 52 who announces redemption (Isa 52:7–10). See John Sietze Bergsma, The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran: A History of Interpretation (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 289.

  15. The verb form in v. 48 is the same as in v. 47, where the NABRE translates “have been forgiven.”

  16. Augustine, Sermon 62.1, in Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, 11 vols., WSA III/3 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1990–97), 3:156–57.

  Jesus’ Parables and Power

  Luke 8:1–56

  With parables and powerful miracles, Jesus continues his ministry in and near Galilee. Accompanying him are the apostles and also a group of women disciples (8:1–3). In his teaching (8:4–21), Jesus insists on the importance of properly hearing the word of God. In his miracles (8:22–56), he manifests extraordinary power over the forces of nature, evil, sickness, and death. There is an emphasis on responding to Jesus with faith (8:12–13, 25, 48, 50). The miracles again raise questions of Jesus’ identity (8:25, 28), pointing ahead to Peter’s confession in Luke 9.

  Women Journey with Jesus and the Twelve (8:1–3)

  1Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve 2and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

  NT: Matt 27:55–56; Mark 15:40–41; 16:9; Luke 23:49, 55–56; 24:1–11; Acts 13:1

  Lectionary: Luke 7:36–8:3: Eleventh Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C)

  [8:1]

  As in an earlier summary (4:43–44), Luke reminds readers that Jesus’ mission is preaching and proclaiming the good news, as he defined it in his Nazareth discourse (4:18–19). The content of his preaching continues to be the kingdom of God (4:43). With him are the Twelve apostles (6:13–16).

  [8:2–3]

  Also with Jesus are some women who have benefited from his healings and now express their gratitude in service. These women “from Galilee” will follow Jesus even to his death and burial (23:49, 55–56) and will be the ones who discover the empty tomb, hear the announcement of the resurrection, and report it to the apostles (24:1–11). Three are named here, though there are many others. Most familiar is Mary, called Magdalene, who is mentioned again in Luke’s resurrection narrative (24:10) and frequently in the other Gospels.1 She is from Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the lake. Jesus had freed her from a severe case of possession by seven demons (see 11:26).

  The two other named women are Joanna and Susanna. Joanna is also mentioned in Luke’s resurrection narrative (24:10). Since she and Mary Magdalene thus accompany Jesus for a good portion of his public ministry, they may well be among Luke’s “eyewitnesses” (1:2) on whose testimony his Gospel is based, especially Joanna, who is mentioned only by Luke.2 In particular, since she is the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, she may be—like Manaen, “a close friend of Herod the tetrarch” (Acts 13:1)—a source of Luke’s special passages about Herod (Luke 13:31–33; 23:6–15). Her association with Herod’s household also indicates that Jesus’ followers included people of high social and economic standing. Hence, with their resources, she and the other women provided for them. What is emphasized here is their financial support.

  Luke’s complementary depictions of men and women include even the itinerant groups of disciples that accompany Jesus. As Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). By reaching out to Gentiles, the poor, and women, Jesus challenged the social conventions of his time.

  The Parables of the Sower and of the Lamp (8:4–18)

  4When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to
him, he spoke in a parable. 5“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. 6Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

  9Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. 10He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that ‘they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.’

  11“This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. 12Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of trial. 14As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. 15But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.