³³ For John the Baptist used to go without food and never took a drop of liquor all his life, and you said, ‘He must be crazy!’^{[a] 34} But I eat my food and drink my wine, and you say, ‘What a glutton Jesus is! And he drinks! And has the lowest sort of friends!’^{[b] 35} But I am sure you can always justify your inconsistencies.”^[c]

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for lunch and Jesus accepted the invitation. As they sat down to eat, ³⁷ a woman of the streets—a prostitute—heard he was there and brought an exquisite flask filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Going in, she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping, with her tears falling down upon his feet; and she wiped them off with her hair and kissed them and poured the perfume on them.

³⁹ When Jesus’ host, a Pharisee, saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, “This proves that Jesus is no prophet, for if God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman this one is!”