A Certain Moneylender Had Two Debtors - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Luke 7:36-50 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/28/2021 in Novato, CA.















Sermon Manuscript







We come today to as passage that is a memorable, remarkable, even startling, display of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. And Jesus gives this short but fitting parable to help interpret this whole interchange between Jesus, Simon the Pharisee, and this sinner of a woman. In this parable, Jesus envisions a moneylender who cancels the debts of two people who couldn’t pay their bills. One owed fifty denarii but the other five hundred. A denarii was approximately a day’s wage back then, so both debts were significant, but one far worse. Jesus teaches that the one who had a much bigger debt forgiven will naturally be more full of love toward the lender. Jesus speaks here of the gratitude and appreciation one person has for another who shows them such kindness and mercy. This parable then teaches something about all the parties in this passage.







Let us then begin by considering who is this sinner of a woman. That’s how she is described in verse 37. Jesus is the guest of this Simon the Pharisee. Jesus is there reclining at the table which was a common posture in such a setting. And herein enters this woman described as a sinner and she proceeds to anoint Jesus and shower him in acts of love. Let us begin in thinking about this woman by saying that we should resist the proposal of some to identify her as Mary of Bethany. That’s the Mary who was the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We find, for example, her mentioned by name as anointing Jesus with oil in John 12. There are two similar accounts in Matthew 26 and Mark 14. While Mary of Bethany is not mentioned by name in those Matthew and Mark accounts, they are so similar, and can be more easily harmonized, and so likely are all the same event. Taking those three passages together, apart from today’s passage, there, we see Jesus anointed by Mary at Simon the leper’s house in Bethany. Judas Iscariot then complains that such expensive ointment should have been sold and given to the poor instead of wasting it on Jesus. Jesus then defends and commends Mary’s action. So then, there have been some who have claimed our passage for today is another parallel account to that. However, while there are some similarities, the differences suggest this is a different occasion. Yes, the host’s home in both accounts was named Simon – yet that was such a common name. Yes, there was an alabaster jar of ointment – but if you were going to store ointment for anointing, an alabaster jar would have been common enough. Mary’s anointing was at Bethany in Judea, the context here suggests our passage’s anointing happened in Galilee. The three accounts for Mary of Bethany all deal with the very different concern about the ointment being wasted, versus our passage showing this hostile Simon being concerned about an unclean sinner touching Jesus. That’s not a concern you’d expect him to have if he himself was also a leper. In Mary’s accounts, she doesn’t seem to be an uninvited guest. And everything we know about Mary of Bethany speaks of high character, in contrast to this passage’s sinner of a woman. So, there is seems there is a much stronger case to be made against seeing this passage as a parallel of Mary of Bethany’s anointing.







So then, we should also say that that there is not sufficient evidence to identify this sinner of a woman with Mary Magdalene. While Mary Magdalene has also been proposed as the identity of this sinful woman, and while acknowledging that she is mentioned in the very next chapter, there is absolutely no textual reason to draw that conclusion.







So then, we are left with this woman being an otherwise unknown person to us,

Further episodes of Reformed Sermons and Sunday Schools at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Petaluma, CA

Further podcasts by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Website of Rev. W. Reid Hankins