Scripture · Luke 7:36-50
Luke 7:44 · The woman at Jesus’ feet in Simon’s house
Mary Magdalene in the House of Simon the Pharisee
And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.”
Jesus’ robes and halo belong to a biblical picture; the coffee cups and evening dress belong to a Paris dinner. Jean Béraud brings the encounter in Simon’s house into his own century, placing a woman in white at Jesus’ feet while the guests turn to watch. Luke 7:44 asks whether Simon has really seen her.
What does Mary Magdalene in the House of Simon the Pharisee show?
The woman’s white gown and long translucent train lie across a red carpet. Jesus opens His hands above her while men in dark formal clothes gather around the white tablecloth. A crumpled red wrap rests on a nearby chair. The contrast between her position on the floor and the assembled guests gives the room a sharp division of attention.
Béraud gives biblical figures the faces of contemporaries. France’s national Joconde catalogue identifies Ernest Renan as Simon the Pharisee and Albert Duc-Quercy as Christ. These likenesses make the fashionable room more than a backdrop: the Gospel’s question has been placed among recognizable people of the painter’s time.
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What does Luke 7:44 mean?
Simon has invited Jesus to eat. A woman known in the town as a sinner comes with perfume, weeps at His feet, and wipes them with her hair. Simon privately judges both her and Jesus. Jesus answers with a story about two forgiven debts, then turns toward the woman while speaking to Simon.
Verse 44 begins the comparison between Simon’s welcome and the woman’s care. Jesus calls attention to her tears, kisses, and perfume before declaring forgiveness and sending her away in peace. The painting’s traditional title calls her Mary Magdalene, but Luke 7 leaves her unnamed. Mary Magdalene is named among Jesus’ companions in Luke 8.
Béraud’s watching dinner guests give Luke 7:44’s question a contemporary audience: what does it mean to see the person at Jesus’ feet?
Sources
Musée d’Orsay — La Madeleine chez le Pharisien. Owning museum record for the 1891 painting, current dimensions, medium, and inventory number.
French Ministry of Culture — Joconde catalogue. The subject field explicitly identifies Renan as Simon the Pharisee and Duc-Quercy as Christ. Physical measurements follow the museum’s newer record.
Luke 7 — Berean Standard Bible. Simon’s invitation, the unnamed woman’s care for Jesus, and the question in verse 44.
Luke 8 — Berean Standard Bible. Mary Magdalene is named in the next chapter; the text does not name the woman in Luke 7.
Also from Luke:The Angel Appearing to ZachariasAnnunciation