What Is the Story of the Woman Washing Jesus' Feet?

Understanding Luke 7:38

The story of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus's feet is one of the most emotionally powerful scenes in the Gospels. Recorded in Luke 7:36-50, it is a story about sin, forgiveness, gratitude, and the relationship between how much we have been forgiven and how deeply we love. It is also a story about two radically different responses to Jesus — the Pharisee's cold propriety and the woman's extravagant devotion.

The Setting

A Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to dinner. In first-century Jewish culture, meal invitations were semi-public events — the dining room often opened onto a courtyard, and uninvited guests could enter to listen to the conversation. Meals were eaten reclining on couches around a low table, with feet extending outward.

Simon's invitation was not necessarily an act of devotion. Pharisees often hosted traveling teachers to evaluate their teaching. The text later reveals that Simon did not extend to Jesus the basic courtesies of hospitality — no water for His feet, no kiss of greeting, no oil for His head (vv. 44-46). This was either deliberate rudeness or calculated indifference. Simon was willing to have Jesus at his table but not willing to honor Him.

The Woman

Into this setting came a woman described simply as one 'who lived a sinful life in that town' (v. 37). Luke does not name her or specify her sin, though the description has traditionally been understood as indicating sexual sin — possibly prostitution. She is not identified as Mary Magdalene (a common but unsupported tradition) or as Mary of Bethany (whose anointing in John 12 is a different event).

The woman brought an alabaster jar of perfume — an expensive item, possibly representing her savings or even the tools of her trade. She came to Jesus not with a speech or a request but with tears.

'As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them' (v. 38).

Every detail of this verse is significant:

She stood behind him at his feet. Because diners reclined with their feet extending outward from the table, the woman could approach Jesus's feet without pushing past the other guests. Her position — behind Him, at His feet — expressed humility and reverence.

She wept. The tears were not planned. The Greek suggests she began weeping so profusely that her tears fell on His feet. These were tears of repentance, gratitude, and overwhelming emotion in the presence of the one who could forgive.

She wiped His feet with her hair. For a Jewish woman to let down her hair in public was an act of profound intimacy — even scandal. Hair was covered in public; letting it down was reserved for the most private settings. The woman did not care about propriety. She had no towel, so she used the most personal thing she had.

She kissed His feet. The Greek indicates repeated, continuous kissing — not a single peck but an ongoing expression of devotion.

She poured perfume on them. The perfume was costly. She poured it on His feet — the lowest, dirtiest part of a person in a sandal-wearing culture. What would normally be applied to the head, she lavished on His feet. Nothing was too good, no gesture too extravagant.

Simon's Reaction

Simon's response was internal but devastating: 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is — that she is a sinner' (v. 39).

Simon's logic was clear: a real prophet would know this woman's character and would recoil from her touch. The fact that Jesus allowed it proved (to Simon) that Jesus was no prophet. Simon judged both the woman (she is a sinner) and Jesus (he is not a prophet) in a single thought.

Jesus, demonstrating that He was indeed a prophet, read Simon's thoughts and responded — not with a rebuke but with a story.

The Parable of the Two Debtors

'Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?'

Simon answered, perhaps reluctantly: 'I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.'

'You have judged correctly,' Jesus said (vv. 41-43).

The parable is simple but the application is explosive. The woman with the great debt is the sinful woman. The one with the smaller debt is Simon. Both are debtors — both are sinners in need of forgiveness. The difference is not that one is righteous and the other is not. The difference is that one knows how much she has been forgiven, and the other does not.

The Contrast

Jesus then turned to Simon and made the comparison explicit:

'Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet' (vv. 44-46).

Three failures of hospitality by Simon, three extravagant gestures by the woman. Simon gave Jesus nothing; the woman gave Jesus everything. Simon treated Jesus as a curiosity; the woman treated Him as a savior.

Jesus then delivered the theological punchline: 'Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little' (v. 47).

This is one of the most important sentences in the Gospels about the relationship between forgiveness and love. Jesus was not saying the woman earned forgiveness through her love. The parable makes the direction clear: the debtor loved because the debt was forgiven, not the other way around. The woman's lavish love was evidence of forgiveness already received, not a payment to earn it.

Simon's coldness was not because he had less sin but because he had less awareness of his sin. He saw himself as essentially righteous — a man with a small debt, barely worth mentioning. Because he did not grasp the depth of his own need, he could not experience the depth of gratitude that fuels radical love.

The Declaration

Jesus then spoke directly to the woman: 'Your sins are forgiven' (v. 48). The other guests murmured: 'Who is this who even forgives sins?' (v. 49). The question was exactly right. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus was making an implicit claim about His own identity.

Finally, Jesus said: 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace' (v. 50). The woman's salvation was attributed to faith — not to tears, not to perfume, not to the act of anointing. Her extravagant actions expressed her faith, but it was the faith itself — trust in Jesus's power and willingness to forgive — that saved her.

Theological Significance

The story confronts every reader with a question: Which person are you — Simon or the woman? Those who see themselves as basically good, who come to Jesus as evaluators rather than supplicants, will love little. Those who know the weight of their own sin and have tasted the staggering grace of forgiveness will love extravagantly — not as payment but as overflow.

The great danger is not being a great sinner. The great danger is being a small sinner in your own estimation — someone who believes they owe God fifty denarii when in fact the debt is five hundred. Simon's problem was not that he had less sin but that he had less honesty about it.

The woman came with nothing to offer except tears and perfume. She had no reputation to protect, no dignity to maintain, no theological arguments to present. She simply fell at Jesus's feet and loved Him with everything she had. And Jesus declared that this — this broken, messy, undignified, socially scandalous devotion — was the truest response to grace.