This Sunday we’ll be reading the rest of Luke 7, so, it will be v36-50.
The passage is the account of a dinner party thrown by a Pharisee named Simon. It’s a party Jesus is invited to…maybe even as the guest of honor. The cultural etiquette was different from our day. In that culture, dinner parties were often held in courtyards or in rooms adjacent to courtyards. The general public could stop by and observe, or listen to the guest of honor if he happened to be a rabbi or respected teacher.
The diners would recline on couches that surrounded a table called a triclinium .
While the dining customs and etiquettes are vastly different from ours, the odd behavior of the woman and her crashing this party would have been just as awkward and weird as it would be today. There are so many ways to look at this scene…we can view it from the Pharisee’s vantage point, and consider his rudeness and self righteousness. We can see it from Jesus’ standpoint, the total grasp he had on the situation, and his willingness to associate with people who are marginalized. Or we can consider it from the woman’s perspective…her lavish expression of love and devotion.
This Sunday, I’m going to focus on the woman’s expression of honor and love to Jesus. We’ll consider the implications to our own lives as we seek to be people who honor and worship our Lord. What do you notice about her, about Jesus’ reaction to her, about the Pharisee’s reaction to her. How would we apply her expression of worship to our own? Those are the things to think about and discuss for Sunday. See yaz then!
WONDERWHAT 
1st a question. Is this women the same who was to be stoned or do we know?
Honor and worship? Honor and worship?
First I see that the honor and worship is not taking place inside a temple or church, but rather in a common everyday setting, a home. It begs for me two questions. 1. Are we as 20th century christians limiting honor and worship to a single day a week, and a common gathering place, and assuming that God is appeased with that offering? 2. Is that really honor and worship?
I have to think back, but I can recall two times that Jesus was in a temple worshipping, but so many times that He was outside of the temple going about His Father’s work. The woman was so careless in returning love for love that she didn’t appear to notice who else was there, but Jesus. She was living like a sparrow. Her eyes were on Jesus and she knew that Jesus’s eyes were on her.
I wish that all the many times I am brought to tears by the over whelming love of Christ I could look on those tears as a tithe from my heart, just as this women did.
This sinful woman realized that Jesus was pouring out his love and forgiveness to her, even while she was still a sinner and she was humbled and overwhelmed with appreciation. I am overwhelmed also, sometimes even beyond belief, that he could love me even though I am a sinner. I want to show my appreciation to him in all that I do each day by loving him and loving others.