She loved much

Simon the Pharisee had invited Jesus to eat. A woman of the city, whose reputation everyone at the table knew, came in with an alabaster flask, stood behind Jesus weeping, wet His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them. Simon concluded silently that a real prophet would have known what she was.

Jesus knew exactly what she was, and He knew what Simon was. He told a short parable about two forgiven debtors and asked which would love more. Then He turned to the woman and said her sins, which were many, were forgiven. Her tears were not the price of forgiveness. They were what forgiveness looks like when it is received by someone who knows how much she needed it.