Missionary Renegade: The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 27 April 2016 - "A disturbing dinner intrusion"

Daily Scripture: Luke 7:36 One of the P’rushim invited Yeshua to eat with him, and he went into the home of the Parush and took his place at the table. 37 A woman who lived in that town, a sinner, who was aware that he was eating in the home of the Parush, brought an alabaster box of very expensive perfume, 38 stood behind Yeshua at his feet and wept until her tears began to wet his feet. Then she wiped his feet with her own hair, kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them.
Reflection Questions:
Luke called the uninvited woman at Simon the Pharisee’s home “a sinner.” Women in that day had many fewer options (they couldn’t, for example, embezzle, or run a dishonest business), so the term “sinner” almost always meant a prostitute. As she entered the scene, something important had already happened (we’ll find out more later in the story). Without a thought for how it would look, she began to express her profound love and gratitude to Jesus.

There was no air-conditioning in New Testament times. It was common in the rather warm climate for the doors and windows to stand open, especially in larger homes, to catch any cooling breeze. Yet it took boldness for this “woman from the city” to walk directly into the Pharisee’s dinner party when she saw Jesus there. Do you believe her tears were more likely a sign of sadness or joy? How would you expect Jesus to respond to her actions?
Scholar William Barclay wrote, “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.”1 Have you ever sensed that you are limiting your expression of love and gratitude to Jesus out of a fear about “how it will look”? How important is it to you to care about what other people will think of you?

Today’s Prayer:
Lord Jesus, keep me as attuned as this woman was to your presence. And help my heart to feel, and express, the same kind of love for you that she showed. Amen.
1 William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 95.Insights from Rev. Steven Blair

Rev. Steven Blair is the Congregational Care Pastor of Live Forward and Live Well Emotional Wellness Ministry. www.cor.org/liveforward
In Patriarchy, men make the rules which conveniently benefit men. Women were left with fewer rights and less access to income, leaving many to prostitution as a last resort. In this story, a woman who likely was also a prostitute finds Jesus. She uses the perfume from an alabaster jar to anoint Jesus’ feet along her hair to wipe them. Her extravagance revealed a direction change. Her expensive perfume was an important part of her business. When she poured out her perfume, she both anointed Jesus feet and showed that she was wanting to change paths due to Jesus. Jesus knew that THIS was her moment, the moment she would look back to where it all began to change.
Jesus lifts up the woman as an example to follow. What do you need to pour out at Jesus’ feet today? (Pride, Unnecessary Belongings, Guilt, Hate, Apathy,etc?
This could be YOUR moment.
Kneel and pray.