The Evidence of Jesus and the Woman Who Loved Much: Luke 7:21–38
The Evidence of Jesus and the Woman Who Loved Much: Luke 7:21–38
Page: 93 | Passage: Luke 7:21–7:38 | Generated: March 2026
DIRECT ANSWER BLOCK
Luke 7:21–38 contains Jesus’s answer to John the Baptist’s question — a list of miracles as evidence of his identity — followed by his eulogy of John, a rebuke of his generation’s spiritual stubbornness, and the opening scene of a sinful woman anointing his feet in a Pharisee’s house.
KEY VERSE
“And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.”
— Luke 7:48 (KJV)
DEVOTIONAL BODY
What the Evidence Shows
When John’s disciples arrive with the question — “Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” — Jesus does not answer with a theological argument. He points to what is happening in real time. “And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight” (Luke 7:21). Then he sends back the answer: “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached” (7:22).
This is deliberately echoing the language of Isaiah 61, the messianic prophecy. Jesus is not just healing people — he is making a claim. Every restored eye, every healed limb, every leper returned to community, every dead person brought back is a sentence in the argument: this is who I am. And then he adds something quietly significant: “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (7:23). The original word for “offended” is the Greek skandalon — a stumbling block. Jesus knows that what he is and what he does will cause some to stumble. He offers a blessing to those who do not.
The Verdict on John
When the messengers leave, Jesus turns to the crowd and speaks about John in terms that begin to reveal how radically different the kingdom operates. John was not a reed shaken by the wind — not malleable, not socially accommodating. He was not a man of soft clothing in a palace. He was a prophet, Jesus says, and more than a prophet (7:26). He was the messenger described in Malachi: the one sent to prepare the way.
And yet: “He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (7:28). This is one of the most striking sentences in the Gospels. Not that John was lesser, but that the kingdom itself is a different order of magnitude. John stood at the threshold; those who have entered through Christ stand inside the house. The least of them — not the greatest, not the heroes — is positioned where John could only point toward.
But the generation that heard both John and Jesus refused both. D.L. Moody, in The Way to God, wrote of Jesus’s compassion and power: “He spake; and the dead arose.” The contrast Jesus draws is with a generation that piped and no one danced, mourned and no one wept. They found John too severe and Jesus too free. No response could satisfy them because they had already decided not to respond. “Wisdom is justified of all her children,” Jesus says (7:35) — meaning the fruit of wisdom vindicates the wisdom itself. Those who belong to wisdom recognize her; those who do not, will always find something to object to.
The Alabaster Box
The scene shifts dramatically. Jesus is at dinner in a Pharisee’s house when a woman enters who is known in that city as a sinner. She brings an alabaster box of ointment. She stands behind Jesus at his feet, weeping, and her tears begin to fall on his feet. She wipes them with her hair, kisses his feet, and anoints them with the ointment (7:37–38).
This is an intrusion into a proper religious meal. The Pharisee, Simon, watches and draws his conclusion silently: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner (7:39). The logic is impeccable by the standards of separation from impurity. But the logic misses everything.
Spurgeon, reflecting on this woman in Morning and Evening, wrote: “Love the person of your Lord! Bring forth the alabaster box of your very choicest love, and let it be poured out upon his blessed person.” What the woman understood — and what Simon did not — was that the presence of Jesus was not contaminated by her sin; her sin was being absorbed into his forgiveness. She was not defiling him. He was meeting her.
The Weight of a Great Debt Forgiven
Jesus does not expel the woman. He tells a parable. A creditor had two debtors — one owed five hundred pence, the other fifty. When he forgave them both, which loved him more? Simon answers correctly: the one forgiven most. “Thou hast rightly judged,” Jesus says (7:43).
Then he turns to the woman — in the presence of Simon — and catalogs the ways his host had failed in basic hospitality: no water for feet, no kiss of greeting, no oil for the head. The woman had done all three, with tears, hair, and costly ointment. “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (7:47).
This is the moral calculus of grace: the one who understands the size of what has been forgiven will love in proportion. Simon’s small welcome for Jesus revealed his small sense of his own need. The woman’s extravagant love revealed the depth of her forgiven debt. The passage does not tell us what Simon felt afterward. It tells us what Jesus said to the woman: “Thy sins are forgiven.” And then, a moment later: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace” (7:50).
CALLOUT
“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” — Luke 7:47
The equation runs in both directions. Awareness of a great forgiveness produces great love. A tepid religious life often traces back not to lack of sincerity but to a lack of honest reckoning with how much has been forgiven. The woman at Simon’s table understood the size of her debt — and that understanding produced everything else.
APPLICATION
Three things Luke 7:21–38 invites you to do:
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Let the evidence answer your doubts Jesus answered John’s question from prison with a list of what was actually happening. When doubt rises in your own experience, go back to what you have seen — answered prayers, changed lives, moments of genuine grace. Evidence is not a lesser form of faith; it is the form Jesus himself offered.
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Reckon honestly with the size of your forgiveness Simon’s small love corresponded to his small sense of debt. Ask yourself: have I ever sat with the actual weight of what has been forgiven? Not as a guilt exercise, but as an accounting that produces gratitude. The woman’s love was proportional to her honesty about her need.
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Bring your best, not your leftover The woman did not bring cheap oil. She brought the alabaster box — the finest thing she had. Whatever you offer to Jesus this week, bring from the best, not from what remains after everything else has been spent.
FAQ BLOCK
Q: Why did Jesus say “blessed is he who is not offended in me” in Luke 7:23?
Jesus used the Greek word skandalon — a stumbling block. He knew his identity, methods, and teachings would cause some to stumble rather than believe. He was not simply giving a compliment to the faithful; he was naming a real risk. The one who receives the blessing is the one who encounters Jesus as he is and does not find him an occasion for stumbling.
Q: What did Jesus mean when he said the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist?
Jesus was not diminishing John but elevating the kingdom. John was the greatest prophet who pointed toward what was coming; those who have entered the kingdom through Christ are positioned inside what John could only foresee. The least in the kingdom occupies a greater vantage point — not through personal greatness, but through where they stand in redemptive history.
Q: Who was the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’s feet in Luke 7?
The text identifies her only as “a woman in the city, which was a sinner.” She is not named. She had heard Jesus was dining at Simon the Pharisee’s house and came with an alabaster box of ointment, weeping and anointing his feet with her tears and the ointment. Jesus forgave her sins and commended her faith. She is distinct from Mary Magdalene, though some traditions have confused the two.
Q: What does the parable of the two debtors teach in Luke 7:41–43?
Jesus uses the parable to explain why the woman’s love was so extravagant: she had been forgiven a great debt. The one forgiven the larger amount loves the creditor more. The parable reframes the entire scene: the woman’s behavior was not scandalous excess — it was the natural response of someone who understood the magnitude of their forgiveness. Simon’s mild welcome reflected a correspondingly mild sense of his own need.
CALL TO ACTION
The woman at Simon’s table brought everything she had because she understood everything she had been given. If you are still working out the size of what you have been forgiven — and most of us are — a pocket New Testament is one of the best places to sit with that reckoning. Let us send you one.
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