A woman who can crash the Pharisee party with an alabaster jar of ointment is not a “Pretty Woman” as prostitutes in the first century were slaves in the same way they are today. So a woman of means with an expensive gift embarrasses the proper Pharisee who is no small potatoes himself as he is able to host a party that scores the guy from Galilee. It’s springtime in the Hamptons. Simon probably deals with her (or her husband) on the side because people of means often set aside philosophy for profit. But the woman of means not included on Simon’s guest list acts in a way that is scandalous. It could be that her weeping at Jesus feet has more to do with Simon than it does with her and Jesus’ word “your faith has saved you” sets her free from a system where she is identified as “that sort of woman.” Of course Simon puts the onus on Jesus “if this man were a prophet” because Simon knows who she is and would have kicked her to the curb. The turn-about-is-fair-play is that Simon has violated all the laws of hospitality that the unnamed woman has broken. Jesus compares Simon’s neglect of proper things with “that kind” of woman attending to things frowned upon. Imagine that. Laws broken can be laws obeyed.
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