36 One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table. 37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

He said, “Teacher, say on.”

41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?”

43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.”

He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Luke 7:36-50 - World English Bible

Jesus lived in two worlds, one of the righteous, one of the sinner. He invited the sinner to repent and enter the realm of the saved. The Pharisees who claimed the sphere of the holy ejected the sinner into the outer world, into quarantine, then drew a broad, sharp line between those on the inside where God dwelt and those on the outside where only darkness loomed. The holy vs. the profane, the righteous vs. the sinner, the clean vs. the unclean. In the time of Jesus, Jews saw society in those terms. Jesus had the audacity of erasing that line and creating a community of saved sinners.

The story of the repentant prostitute was a case in point. Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, thus inviting the Lord into the home of a righteous man. But, this sinful woman violated that sanctuary when she entered to wash the feet of the Lord; when she touched the Lord, she made him unclean. Of course this raised eyebrows, but Jesus responded with a parable about a lender who forgave a debt. That story acted as a metaphor for the forgiveness the woman sought. But, just to drive the point home, the Lord chided Simon for his lack of hospitality, implying that the woman's repentance acted as hospitality. When the woman sought forgiveness, she welcomed Jesus into her life; she became a disciple.

How do we break down walls between people? Jesus showed us the way. Extend forgiveness and express repentance through hospitality. In essence, they are all the same.

How do you reach out to others? How does that outreach involve forgiveness, repentance and hospitality?