The Parable of the Two Debtors #39

The Parable of the Two Debtors is a short story Jesus told to a Pharisee named Simon while a woman known as a sinner was washing Jesus’s feet with her tears. Two people owe a moneylender different sums, neither can pay, and he cancels both debts. The parable appears only in the Gospel of Luke (7:41-43), inside the account of a dinner (Luke 7:36-50), and it teaches how forgiveness and love are bound together.

The Parable

Jesus says, “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?” (Luke 7:41-42). He asks Simon which of them will love him more. Simon answers, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt,” and Jesus says, “Thou hast rightly judged.” (Luke 7:43).

Context

Simon had invited Jesus to dinner. A woman of the city, known as a sinner, came in with an alabaster flask of ointment, stood behind Jesus weeping, wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them (Luke 7:36-38). Simon thought that if Jesus were a prophet he would know what kind of woman this was (Luke 7:39).

Jesus turns to the woman and contrasts her actions with Simon’s. Simon had given him no water for his feet, no kiss, and no oil for his head, while she had not stopped washing, kissing, and anointing his feet (Luke 7:44-46). A denarius was about a day’s wage, so the larger debt was well over a year’s earnings and the smaller about two months’, and neither could be repaid. Greeting a guest with water, a kiss, and oil was ordinary hospitality, and Simon’s omission was a quiet slight.

The scene should not be confused with the anointing at Bethany recorded in Matthew, Mark, and John, which happens in a different place and with different details (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8). Luke’s woman is not named, and later tradition that identified her with other women has no basis in the text.

Meaning

Jesus says her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much, but the one who is forgiven little loves little (Luke 7:47). He then tells her directly that her sins are forgiven, and when the guests wonder who he is to forgive sins, he says, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace” (Luke 7:50).

The grammar of “for she loved much” is debated. Many Protestant interpreters, following the logic of the parable, read her love as the evidence and result of forgiveness she has already received. Others, including some Catholic interpreters, note that the Greek can be read in a way that ties love to forgiveness more directly, while agreeing that the parable places the initiative with the creditor’s grace. In every reading, the debt cannot be repaid and the cancellation is a gift.

The parable also exposes Simon. He believes he owes little and so shows little love, while the woman’s extravagant response reflects how much she knows she has been forgiven. Jesus’s authority to forgive sins is part of what provokes the guests, and Luke leaves that question hanging.