Sorry that this post is later than usual. I’ve been somewhat pre-occupied over the last several days: some nefarious code appeared on a handful of pages of The Billabong. The problem has been eradicated and we’re a safe site again. Well, as safe as any site, I guess.
LUKE 7:36-8:3
Simon invited the Teacher to a meal
to find out more about him?
to raise his own profile
among his peers?
to honour the Teacher?
All three perhaps
and more.
Into this genteel, privileged company
a woman came:
a woman of no good standing in the town
clutching a stone jar
alabaster
with ointment rare.
With her tears she washed
the Teacher’s feet;
with her hair she dried them
and with the costly contents
of her alabaster jar
she anointed them.
People aren’t always
who they appear to be:
we never are.
The host was disdainful
of the prophet Teacher
and the woman.
Despite the seemingly proper dinner party
the host neglected
the ordinary customs of welcome
to his ‘honoured’ guest:
good manners lost in the wake
of ulterior motive,
unfounded assumption.
And the woman of no good standing
honoured the forgiving one
in costly vulnerability.
© Jeff Shrowder, 2013.
More for Sunday 11C…