Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• The theme of the section of Luke we will read this week and throughout the month of June centers around the idea of Jesus as the one who continues the work of the prophets and fulfills their words, and yet is greater than all the prophets. This story addresses the “more than a prophet” statement directly. Simon the Pharisee questioned that if Jesus was really a prophet, he would have known the sort of woman who was touching him. Jesus responded by proving not only did he know who the woman was, but he forgave her sins, thus he was greater than a prophet. This story then completes the period of Jesus being more than a prophet, and leads in to the next question the Gospel of Luke addresses, if Jesus is not a prophet, who is he?
• This question of who is Jesus was already asked in the text immediately preceding this one. John the Baptist sent disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the one John had been waiting for (remember at the announcement of John’s birth, it was foretold that John was to turn many to prepare for Jesus, since Jesus is doing things that are so unexpected for a Messiah, John is confirming that Jesus is in fact the correct one). In v. 33-34, there is also a lean toward the table fellowship and the condemnation by the Pharisees that is the hallmark of much of the rest of Luke. John did not eat or drink, and was accused of having a demon. Jesus will eat and drink; and that too will be condemned. The problem then is not Jesus but the Pharisees, since no action is correct.
• A dinner at the home of a public figure like a Pharisee would be a much more public occasion than we think of a dinner party today. More like a block party then a party at your home. So it would not have been a surprise that an uninvited guest like the woman was there, the surprise would have been her actions.
• What the woman's "many sins" were is never mentioned in the story, though history, and some translations, have called her a prostitute and/or insinuated the sins to have been of a sexual nature. It is possible this assumption comes from the woman’s actions, touching Jesus feet, letting down her hair, which would have violated social conventions. Both acts had sexual undertones. But there is nothing in the story to allow us to assume what the woman's sins were.
• Verse 47 is the crux of the story. Since the statement of her sins being forgiven comes after, the English rendering can leave the question of where her sins forgiven because she showed great love, or did she show great love because her sins where forgiven. But the parallel between the first and second sections of verse 47 clear that question. The woman’s gratitude is in response to her forgiveness, not in order to obtain forgiveness. It is Luther’s “freedom of a Christian” doctrine, that Christians act out of love in the world as a response to the love they have already received from God. The public declaration of the woman’s forgiveness by Jesus is more for the sake of the hearers than the woman herself. Her preparedness in bringing of the jar demonstrates her already having experienced Jesus’ acceptance and forgiveness.
• In 8:1, “it came to pass,” translated “soon afterwards” is a phrase that indicates a transition in Luke’s Gospel.
• The list of named women in 8:2-3 functions as an important corrective to the idea that all the followers of Jesus were men. These women (and by extension, other women) were part of the followers of Jesus.
• 8:3, “provided for them out of their resources.” Proper use of resources is an important mark of discipleship in Luke/Acts. This also serves to validate these women’s place as proper followers.
Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
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