Beginnings

Happy Father's Day!!!

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner." Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "speak." "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Luke 7:36-8:3

Christ in the House of Simon*

BOUTS, Dieric

1440-1450

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Berlin, Germany

* The identification of the "woman who was a sinner" in the Luke 7:36-8:3 passage has had a long and complex exegetical history. In the last fifty years, since Vatican II and the emergence of a scholarly focus on the women of the New Testament, consensus has formed that this "woman" was likely not Mary Magdalene, as earlier tradition had assumed. A thorough, lengthy discussion of this has been provided by Carla Ricci in her work, Mary Magdalene and Many Others.

“As for Mary Magdalene, the first woman mentioned as following Jesus, the identification of her with the sinner has led to her being regarded as a prostitute and as such she has been treated for centuries in the liturgy, in literature, and in art. So we need to note, besides the silence about women shown in the texts, plus the absence of comment on this, the additional phenomenon of the “exegetical distortion”, noticeable here specifically applied to women, and in this case to Mary Magdalene." [from Mary Magdalene and Many Others: Women Who Followed Jesus. by Carla Ricci, Augsburg Fortress, 1994, p. 31-32.]

See: http://books.google.com

http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20130615660888671&code=ACT&RC=54212&Row=4