READING AND REFLECTIONS FOR THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2020 

 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 11          Psalm 118: 14 – 29          Luke 7 : 36 – 50 

The Collect :

Forgiving God,

Your mercy endures forever:

Make us know the extent to which we are forgiven;

that by your grace we will become a forgiving people,

through Jesus Christ our Lord;

Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, now and for ever.

Amen

The Gospel scene is the courtyard of the house of Simon the Pharisee. The houses of well-to-do people were built round an open courtyard in the form of a hollow square. Often in the courtyard there would be a garden and a fountain; and in the warm weather meals were eaten there. It was the custom that when a Rabbi was at a meal in such a house, all kinds of people came in–they were quite free to do so–to listen to the pearls of wisdom which fell from his lips. That explains the presence of the woman. 

When a guest entered such a house three things were always done. The host placed his hand on the guest’s shoulder and gave him the kiss of peace. That was a mark of respect which was never omitted in the case of a distinguished Rabbi. The roads which were dust tracks, and shoes were strap sandals. Cool water was poured over the guest’s feet to cleanse and comfort them. Either a pinch of sweet-smelling incense was burned or a drop of attar of roses was placed on the guest’s head. Good manners demanded that these happened, and in this case not one of them was done. 

In the east the guests did not sit, but reclined, at table. They lay on low couches, resting on the left elbow, leaving the right arm free, with the feet stretched out behind; and during the meal the sandals were taken off. That would explain how the woman was standing beside Jesus’ feet. 

The woman a notoriously bad woman, a prostitute. No doubt she had listened to Jesus speak from the edge of the crowd, she lived her life from and on the edge of society.  She had certainly glimpsed in him the hand which could lift her from the mire of her ways. Round her neck she wore, like all Jewish women, a little bottle or vessel of concentrated perfume; they were called alabasters; and they were very costly. She wanted to pour the expensive perfume on his feet, as this is all she had to offer. When she saw him her tears fell on his feet. For a Jewish woman to appear with hair unbound was an act of the gravest immodesty. The fact that this woman loosed her long hair in public showed how she had forgotten everyone except Jesus. 

This woman is prepared to lose all that she has and who she is, to Jesus, the man she has in the past caught a glimpse of, as she stood and lived on the edge of society.  Her actions portray a woman who has nothing to lose, only to gain as she lavishly throws herself and all she has at the feet of Jesus.  Pouring herself out to him, the life she has chosen or the life that has chosen her. Jesus acknowledges her for who she is as she seeks in quiet humility forgiveness from him.   “Your sins are forgiven” .

She pours her last, onto the feet of Jesus, are we prepared to pour the last and place it at the feet of Jesus knowing that through God’s grace we are forgiven?

Francis of Assisi could say, “There is nowhere a more wretched and a more miserable sinner than I.” 

We Pray :