A Woman Receives Forgiveness and Peace

I want to tell you a true story from the Bible about Jesus forgiving a sinful woman. Before I start, I want to give you good news. God created you and He loves you. God knows everything about you, even your innermost thoughts. God wants to establish a relationship with you. God shows us His love through Jesus. Here is the story.

One day, a religious teacher invited Jesus for dinner. Jesus went to his house and sat down for the meal. An immoral woman with a bad reputation heard that Jesus was there. While they were eating, this woman came into the room. She brought a jar made of alabaster. It contained an expensive perfumed oil. The woman knelt at Jesus’ feet and started to cry. Her tears wet Jesus’ feet. She dried his feet with her hair, kissed his feet and poured the oil on them.

When the religious teacher saw this, he said to himself, “If this man really came from God, he would know what kind of woman she is.” Jesus knew the man’s thoughts and told this parable:

“Two people owed money to a certain lender. One owed him 500 silver coins. The other owed him 50 silver coins. Neither of them had the money to pay him back. So he forgave both their debts. Which of them will love him more?” The religious teacher replied, “I suppose the one who owed the most money.”

Jesus said to him, “You are right. Do you see this woman? I came to your home. You did not give me water to wash my feet. But this woman has wet my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You did not kiss me, but this woman has not stopped kissing my feet since I came to your house. You did not put olive oil on my head, but this woman poured perfumed oil on my feet. Therefore I tell you this: Her many sins have been forgiven. Her great acts of love show that she understands how much she has been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other dinner guests began to talk about this among themselves. They said, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

That is the Bible story about Jesus giving forgiveness and peace to a sinful woman.