530 John J. Kilgallen The motive for making the event into a story about Jesus might be that the writer wanted to deepen his church’s conviction that Jesus did have the knowledge traditionally associated with prophecy. Close to this motive is another: that the story offers a defence of Jesus against enemies of the Christians’ claims about his knowledge. Too, one can understand the effect on the believer of the woman’s actions as acts of ‘love’ of Jesus; the suggestion of encouraging piety is always a possible motive for telling a Gospel story. Close to this perspective is the possibility that the writer means to underline, at least in a secondary way, the ironic contrast between ungenerous (because unbelieving) host and the ‘sinner’. 2. A later Sitz-im-Leben It is this last possibility that might move a later writer to add to the existing story a comparison such as we have in vv. 41-43. The manner of writing the earliest story is geared to showing a Jesus who, like a prophet, has penetrating knowledge of the state of the woman’s soul. A later writer, taking advantage of the direction of certain details of the story, draws from the story a further explicit meaning. That is, in his words to Simon, Jesus has con- trasted strongly the kindnesses shown him by the woman and the lack of kindness shown him by the Pharisee. Thinking of these details makes one realize that imbedded in the story is a teaching about the state of Simon’s soul. Thus, one deserves to make clear that the woman has been forgiven her many sins, and that Simon has not, on the basis of his lack of respect for Jesus, been forgiven his few (4) sins (5). A second writer would bring out a contrast that was already implicit in the story; he could do this in more than one way, but, granting the hypothesis of an addition, he does it by a parable (6). The parable —————— Evangelio según San Lucas (Barcelona 1979) 3/1, 218: “El amor de la pecadora es al mismo tiempo, motivo y consecuencia del perdón”; also, L. GARCÍA-VIANA, Evangelio según San Lucas (MNT 3; Salamanca n.d.) 84-85. PLUMMER, Luke, 209, had earlier noted that “The connexion apparently is that she is an illustration of ver. 35”. Probably this ear- lier forgiveness, then later gratitude means to see v. 35 as a kind of introduction of the woman’s story: she “justifies God who is Wisdom” — cf. C. TALBERT, Reading Luke (SPCK; London 1982) 85, “…for God to be justified means for him to be acknowledged as right in the positions taken in the ministries of John and Jesus”; “Tambien ella va a ser así ‘hija de la Sabiduria”, M. TUYA, Evangelios (Biblia Comentada 11; Madrid 1964) 815. FITZMYER, Luke, 684 suggests: “Better perhaps is the connection [v. 34] with [Jesus’] con- sorting with ‘sinners’”; also, GARCÍA-VIANA, Evangelio , 74, and D. BOCK, Luke 1:1–9:50 (Grand Rapids 1994) 689. Cf. R. MEYNET, Vedi Questa Donna? (Milano 2000) 149, where he uses the descriptive term “Una Parabola in Atto”; indeed, the main thesis of his book is to note a quality of parable about vv. 36-50 in regard to the previous verses. (4) Some authors would prefer to translate ojlivgon…ojlivgon (47b) as “nothing”: he is forgiven nothing who shows no love. Cf. G. ROSSÉ, Vangelo secondo Luca (Roma 2003) 83. (5) Jesus does not put into question the good deeds Simon can claim to have done; thus, he is a man of few sins. Cf. PLUMMER, Luke, 214: As regards v. 47b, “…i.e. who thinks he has committed little which could need forgiveness; it is said with evident refer- ence to Simon”. R. FABRIS, Luca (Assisi 2003) 163 speaks of Simon in terms of “un’espe- rienza limitata di perdono”. (6) That an early church writer would be so creative and free-spirited to make up a parable for this occasion seems unlikely; the best one can say is that someone inserted into this story a parable of Jesus that originally was said in different circumstances.