This is another powerful lesson on the power of God to forgive. Jesus shows that the faith of a “sinful woman” is respected by God more than the lukewarm faith of religious people. The complete lesson download below includes coloring pages and learning actives to help you share this message with the children.
Lesson: Jesus says the Sinful Woman is an Example of True Faith
Luke 7:37-48 Sunday School Lesson for Kids
Target Ages: This lesson is broadly elementary (age 6 – 12), please modify as needed for preschool or preteen students. It’s ideal for children’s church or Sunday School. Like all our lessons, this material is 100% free to use in your ministry.
Lesson Aim #1: The children will show a basic knowledge of this passage by …
- Acting out the Bible story as a group
- Responding to the STAND or SIT activity below
Lesson Aim #2: The children will explore their trust in Jesus, by …
- Completing the group activity below – NEVER and NO WAY
- Group discussion about Jesus being the best friend.
Materials Needed:
- Bible for the teacher and preferably every student, depending on teaching context.
- Perfume (optional) for acting out the story or using as a prop during the lesson
- J is for Jesus Coloring Page – attached in the PDF download above
- C is for Christ Coloring Page – attached in the PDF download above
Activity to Introduce this Bible Lesson
Tell the children you are going to plan a simple game called “Would You Ever” to see how loyal you are to your friends. Read the following statements to the class and ask for a show of hands if they children would do that statement for their best friend. For each item, choose one child to explain their answer. The goal of this introduction is to get kids thinking about the concept of doing hard things to help a friend.
Activity: Would You Ever?
- Share your lunch with a friend who forgot their lunch box? (ask for raised hands)
- … even if that mean you would be hungry? (ask for hands – then ask why?)
- Help your friend finish their chores faster so you could play? (ask for raised hands)
- … even if he had a lot of chores? (ask for hands – then ask why?)
- Let your friend borrow your favorite toy and take it home? (ask for hands)
- … even if you always played with it before bedtime. (ask for hands – then ask why?)
- Give your friend that same toy if they asked to keep it? (ask for hands)
- … even if he already had more toys than you? (ask for hands – then ask why?)
- Tell the mean kids to stop being mean to your friend (ask for hands)
- … even if they would start picking on you instead? (ask for hands – then ask why?)
Sunday School Lesson (Luke 7:37-48) Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
The following are talking points for the passage, please use your own teaching talents to make it your own and engaging for your specific class. Eye contact with the kid is much more important than reading from our lesson script.
(SAY) Your friends must be happy to have such loyal people as friends. In the Bible passage today, we are going to see how Jesus was willing to do hard things to help his friends too. Let’s look at the passage together. (READ)
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
(SAY) Can you imagine someone just showing up to the party without an invitation? This woman was determined to come see Jesus – no matter what anyone said about her. She loved Jesus and wanted to give him this present.
But not everyone was happy she came. (READ)
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
(SAY) The people at the dinner said didn’t like to when “sinners” came around. They even said bad things about Jesus because he was nice to this woman.
But Jesus wasn’t surprised at all, he already knew that was going to happen. He wanted to show everyone that God loves “bad people” and the people who think they are “good people” need to remember that only God is perfect.
Here is what he said. (READ)
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
(SAY) He tells a story to better explain the situation. Long ago, when you owed someone money but didn’t pay it back, they could make you work for them like a slave. In this story Jesus talks about a someone who forgave a debt – and how the people who owed the money were so happy to be free. But the one who owed the most money was more thankful.
Let’s see what else Jesus says. (READ)
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
(SAY) That may sound a little strange, but Jesus is saying people who need God’s forgiveness (the bad people) usually love God more than the people that think they don’t need God’s forgiveness.
This woman, who everyone was saying was a bad person – Jesus said she was the best person in God’s eyes because her faith was real. He erases her sins and gave her a new start in life.
(SAY) Was Jesus mad at the woman? (allow for responses)
No, he was happy and told eceryone to stop being mean to her.
When we read about these things, we need to remember that Jesus is the best friend we can ever find. We can trust him to always keep his promises and do whatever it takes to make sure we get to heaven with Him.
Let’s pray.
Lesson Aim #1 – Activities to teach understanding
Acting out the Bible Story: Have the children role play through the key parts of this story as you narrate or read the passage again. If you group is large, you can repeat until everyone gets a turn. The point is to review the passage with class involvement. You can ask questions as appropriate to reinforces the teaching.
Stand or Sit: Lesson Review: For each of the following statements ask the students to stand for true and sit with arms folding for false. This is a more active way to do “true or false” lesson review questions. For false answers you can ask a volunteer to give you the right version of the Bible story.
- Did the people want this woman at the dinner party. (TRUE – STAND UP)
- Jesus went to visit Simon the Leeper. (TRUE – STAND UP)
- The lady poured dollar tree perfume on Jesus, to save money. (FALSE – SIT DOWN)
- The disciples were happy the lady loved Jesus so much. (FALSE – SIT DOWN)
- Jesus said the perfume would make the leaders like him better. (FALSE – SIT DOWN)
- Jesus said the woman was forgiven by God. (TRUE – STAND UP)
- This lady thought Jesus would make her rich. (FALSE – SIT DOWN)
- Jesus wants us to love him with true faith, like the woman. (TRUE – STAND UP)
Lesson Aim #2 – Activities that help children explore trusting Jesus…
NEVER and NO WAY – Group Activity: Read the following statements to the class, ask them to complete the statements by choosing: Never and No Way. The goal is to help kids think about how Jesus can be trusted in every life situation. To make it visual, write the following on a marker board and have the children complete the phrase with a different color marker.
- Jesus will _______ turn his back on his friends – NEVER
- Satan can _________ make Jesus stop loving us – NEVER
- There is __________ to earn God’s love – NO WAY
- Because God __________ stops loving us – NEVER
Feel free to add your own (I ran out of time so didn’t get test this this part in my teaching).
Discussion While Coloring: If time allows, you can lead a group discussion while the children are working on their coloring sheets (J is for Jesus, C is for Christ). Use the following talking points to help direct the conversation. This is just a starting point, take up any line of conversation the Holy Spirit may be using to encourage the children in their relationship with God.
- Why do you think Jesus is welcoming the children?
- What does it mean to be Jesus friend?
- Do you think you could ever do something to make Jesus not like you anymore?
- Why does the artist draw Jesus kneeling to welcome the children? Isn’t he very important like a president?
- What does the word “Christ” mean?
- How can you help your friends learn about Jesus?
Coloring Page Activities for this Sunday School Lesson
J is for Jesus (Bible Alphabet Coloring Page)
C is for Jesus (Bible Alphabet Coloring Page)
Luke 7:36-50 (NIV) Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
This is a great lesson for our Sunday School Class. Not only are they learning God word they get a chance to do hand on in role playing where they can grasp the lesson at there level. Love it