Luke 7:39 — Community Reflections

LUKE 7:39 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.”

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is — that she is a sinner — Simon's internal reasoning is the argument from holiness: a genuine prophet would know this woman's reputation and would not permit the contact. The argument is ironically self-defeating — Jesus does know who is touching him, which is exactly what makes the scene theologically significant.

Church Fathers on Luke 7:39

Having said just before, And the people that heard him justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John the same Evangelist builds up in deed what he had proposed in word, namely, wisdom justified by the righteous and the penitent, saying, And one of the Pharisees desired him, &c.
Bede · 8th century

This account is full of precious instruction. For there are very many who justify themselves, being puffed up with the dreamings of an idle fancy, who before the time of Judgment comes, separate themselves as lambs from the herds, not willing even to join in eating with the many, and hardly with those who go not to extremes, but keep the middle path in life. St. Luke, the physician of souls rather than of bodies, represents therefore our Lord and Savior most mercifully…
Gregory of Nyssa · 4th century

A woman of corrupt life, but testifying her faithful affection, comes to Christ, as having power to release her from every fault, and to grant her pardon for the crimes she had committed. For it follows, And behold a woman in the city which was a sinner brought an alabaster box of ointment.
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

Read all 35 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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