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Gospel Reading - A woman’s ministry to Jesus

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for lunch and Jesus accepted the invitation. As they sat down to eat, ³⁷a woman of the streets — a prostitute — heard he was there and brought an exquisite flask filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸Going in, she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping, with her tears falling down upon his feet; and she wiped them off with her hair and kissed them and poured the perfume on them.

³⁹When Jesus’ host, a Pharisee, saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, “This proves that Jesus is no prophet, for if God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman this one is!”

⁴⁰Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“All right, Teacher,” Simon replied, “go ahead.”

⁴¹Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people — $5,000 to one and $500 to the other. ⁴²But neither of them could pay him back, so he kindly forgave them both, letting them keep the money! Which do you suppose loved him most after that?”

⁴³“I suppose the one who had owed him the most,” Simon answered.

“Correct,” Jesus agreed.

⁴⁴Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look! See this woman kneeling here! When I entered your home, you didn’t bother to offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You refused me the customary kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in. ⁴⁶You neglected the usual courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has covered my feet with rare perfume. ⁴⁷Therefore her sins — and they are many — are forgiven, for she loved me much; but one who is forgiven little, shows little love.”

⁴⁸And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹Then the men at the table said to themselves, “Who does this man think he is, going around forgiving sins?”

⁵⁰And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

8 ¹Not long afterwards he began a tour of the cities and villages of Galilee^a to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, and took his twelve disciples with him. ²Some women went along, from whom he had cast out demons or whom he had healed; among them were Mary Magdalene (Jesus had cast out seven demons from her), ³Joanna, Chuza’s wife (Chuza was King Herod’s business manager and was in charge of his palace and domestic affairs), Susanna, and many others who were contributing from their private means to the support of Jesus and his disciples.

1. Implied