bad she is!_

Jesus did not need to be told what Simon was thinking. Still sitting
there, while the woman clung to his feet, Jesus spoke.

"Simon, I have something to say to you."

"Yes, Rabbi?" Simon replied. "What is it?"

"Let me tell you a story," Jesus said. "There was once a moneylender
who had two men owing him money. One of them owed him five hundred
dollars, the other owed him fifty. Neither of them had anything with
which to pay him back, so the moneylender told them both to forget
about the debt--that they didn't need to pay. Now tell me--which of
those two men will love the moneylender most?"

Simon answered,

"Why, I suppose the man who owed him the most."

"That's right," Jesus replied. "Now, Simon," he went on, "look at this
woman. When I came to your house today, you didn't even give me any
water to wash the sand off my feet, though that is what is done in
friendly homes. But this woman has washed my feet with her own tears,
and dried them with the hair of her head. You have scarcely been
polite to me; but this woman has done nothing but kiss my feet. You
never thought of putting ordinary olive oil on my head; but this woman
has put precious ointment on my feet.

"You think this woman is a great sinner," Jesus continued, "and so she
is. She has done many things that are wrong. But her sins have been
forgiven her. I have brought her to a new life, and she doesn't have
to worry any more about the sins of the past. That is why she loves me
so much. But, of course, a person who hasn't had his sins forgiven
isn't going to know much about love."

Jesus turned away from Simon. He might have added:

"A cold Pharisee like you, so sure that nothing is wrong with you, is
a great deal worse off than this poor, sinful woman. You have got all
your sins still to worry about, and you don't even know it!"

But Jesus did not say it. He left Simon to think that out for himself.
Instead, he spoke to the woman,

"Your sins are forgiven."

The other people in the room began to mutter to themselves:

"There he goes--forgiving sins again! What right has he to forgive
anybody's sins?"

But Jesus paid no attention. He spoke once more to the woman at his
feet:

"Your faith in me has saved you," he said. "Everything is all right
now. Go in peace."

That was the end of the dinner party at Simon's house. But it was not
the end of the talk and gossip about the kind of friends that Jesus
made. Some thought he mu