"A cold Pharisee like you, so sure that nothing is wrong with you, is a great deal worse off than this poor, sinful woman. You have got all your sins still to worry about, and you don't even know it!"
But Jesus did not say it. He left Simon to think that out for himself. Instead, he spoke to the woman,
"Your sins are forgiven."
The other people in the room began to mutter to themselves:
"There he goes—forgiving sins again! What right has he to forgive anybody's sins?"
But Jesus paid no attention. He spoke once more to the woman at his feet:
"Your faith in me has saved you," he said. "Everything is all right now. Go in peace."
That was the end of the dinner party at Simon's house. But it was not the end of the talk and gossip about the kind of friends that Jesus made. Some thought he must be bad himself because he had so much to do with people to whom the Pharisees would not even speak. Everywhere he went, there was the same complaint.
Time and time again Jesus tried to explain why he was more interested in sinners than in anyone else. Why, the people that the Pharisees despised were the very people who needed his love the most! What could be better than to save somebody from an evil life?
Jesus told story after story, to show the Pharisees what he meant. One time he said: