The Parable of Two Debtors is a parable of Jesus. It appears in Luke 7: 36-7: 50, where Jesus uses the parable to explain that the woman who has anointed him loves him more than his master, for he has been forgiven of the greater sins.
Similar anointing in Matthew 26: 6-13 and Mark 14: 3-9 may not refer to the same event, and this parable does not become confused by the parable of a forgiving servant, in which a king forgives his servant, and the waiter in turn can not have compassion on someone with a lower debt.
Video Parable of the Two Debtors
Narration
This parable is told in response to a reaction not spoken by the host of Jesus, named Simon (and sometimes identified with Simon the Leper):
One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the house of the Pharisees, and sat at the table. Look, a woman in a city who was a sinner, when she knew that she was lying in the house of the Pharisees, she brought a bottle of alabaster ointment. While standing beneath her feet as she wept, she began to wet her feet with her tears, and she rubbed her with the hair of her head, kissed her feet, and anointed them with ointment. Now when the Pharisee who invited him saw him, he said to himself, "This man, if he is a prophet, will see who and what kind of woman touches him, that he is a sinner." Luke 7: 36-39, World English Bible
According to Luke, Jesus responded as follows:
Jesus answered, "Simon, I want to tell you something."
He said, "Master, say it."
"Certain lenders have two debtors, who owe five hundred denarii and fifty others, and when they can not pay, he forgives them both. Which of them loves them most?"
Simon replied, "He, I think, to whom he forgives most."
He said to him, "You have decided correctly." Turning to the woman, she said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I go into your house, and you give me no water for my feet, but she has wiped my feet with her tears, and wiping them with her hair, you do not gave me a kiss, but he, since I entered, did not stop kissing my feet.You did not anoint my head with oil, but he had anointed my feet with ointments, his sins, many, forgiven, because he was very much loved. to whom little is forgiven, who loves little. "He said to him," Your sins are forgiven. "
Denarius in this parable is a coin worth of a laborer's daily wage. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the woman is identified with Mary Magdalene, although Orthodox and Protestant churches generally disagree. By the time standard, Simon the Pharisee was a bad host: at least he should have provided water so that Jesus could wash his dusty feet, and the kiss would be a normal greeting.
Maps Parable of the Two Debtors
Interpretation
The parable does not seem to be an attack on the Pharisees, but an attempt to teach Simon to see the woman as Jesus saw it. The description of the lady shows that she is a famous prostitute, although this conclusion is disputed. If he is a prostitute, his presence pollutes the purity of the Pharisee's ritual. Joel B. Green notes that "it is and easy enough to dismiss such a person as immoral and also unclean and distorted, without grappling with the social reality faced" by the woman, who may have been forced into this life by economic circumstances. , or have been sold into sexual slavery.
By affirming her pardon, possibly given to him by Jesus at the previous meeting, Jesus invited Simon to realize his new identity and "embrace him in the community of God's people." Barbara Reid writes:
The question the story raises is: can Simon see differently? Can he see what Jesus sees: a forgiving woman who shows great love? If he can see it in this way, then he can feel Jesus right: not only as a prophet, but also as an agent of God's forgiveness.
By responding to Simon's unspoken thoughts, Jesus was demonstrating the prophetic abilities that the Pharisees opposed, while the parable invited him "to reconsider the meaning of this woman's actions-not debt repayment, as if she were a slave girl or a prostitute, but an expression of love that flows from the freedom of having all debts canceled. "John Calvin writes about Jesus' words (" Therefore, I tell you, many of his sins have been forgiven - for he loves "):
With these words it is clear he is not the cause of forgiveness, but the proof. The similarity is borrowed from the case of a debtor, to whom the debt of five hundred pence has been forgiven. It is not said that the debt is forgiven because he is very loving, but that he is very loving because it is forgiven. The similarity should be applied in this way: You think this woman is a sinner; but you should admit he is not a sinner, with respect that his sins have forgiven him. Her love should give you proof that she has received forgiveness, that love is an expression of gratitude for the benefits received. This is the argument a posteriori , where something is indicated by the result it generates. Our Lord clearly proves that he has received forgiveness, when he says, "Your faith has saved you." [Luke 7:50] By faith, therefore, we are forgiven: by our grateful love, and bear witness to the goodness of God's love.
Ambrose, however, made her love the conditions for his forgiveness:
If, then, anyone, after having committed hidden sins, will continue to diligently do penance, how will he receive the reward if it is not returned to the fellowship of the Church? I am willing, indeed, that a guilty person should wish for forgiveness, must seek it with tears and a groan, must seek it with the help of everyone's tears, must plead for forgiveness; and if the fellowship is postponed two or three times, that he should believe that his plea is not urgent enough, that he should raise his tears, must come again even in bigger trouble, hold the feet of the faithful with his hands, kiss them, wash them with water eyes, and do not let them go, so the Lord Jesus may say about him as well: "His much forgiven sins, for he is very loving."
Calvin's interpretation may be further supported by the metaphorical and Greek texts, where "because he loves" can be read as a result, not the cause, "many of his sins have been forgiven." Many modern translations, both Protestant and Catholic, rewrite verse 47 for clarity, for example:
"So I'm telling you that all his sins have been forgiven, and that's why he has shown great love, but anyone who has been forgiven just a little will show little love." (Contemporary English Version)
"So I tell you, many of his sins have been forgiven, so he has shown great love, but the little forgiven, loves little." (New American Bible)
C.S. Lewis makes the following point, "Being a Christian means forgiving the unforgivable because God has forgiven the unforgivable in you." - C.S. Lewis
Popular art and culture
While the parable itself is rarely illustrated in art, there are many illustrations of anointing, by Sandro Botticelli, Antonio Campi, Dirk Bouts, Onofrio Avellino, Cigoli, Nicolas Poussin, Bernardo Strozzi, and Peter Paul Rubens, among others. In some paintings, yellow dress marks the work of a former woman as a prostitute. In Armenian religious art, this anointing episode is described differently from that in other Gospels. Painting 1891 by Jean BÃÆ'Â © raud brought an episode to the 19th century, with reprobate prostitutes represented by the famous prostitute Liane de Pougy, who eventually became a tertiary Dominican.
This parable is included in the drama of medieval mystery and then of Mary Magdalene, like the game of Lewis Wager 1550-1566.
See also
- The Life of Jesus in the New Testament
- Ministry of Jesus
References
External links
- Bible Art at WWW: The Sinful Woman
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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