Wednesday, May 10, 2006
HEART WATER
Vv. 37-38 And behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38. and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume.
“And behold” is Luke’s exclamatory remark to draw his readers attention to what is about to take place and to pay close attention to the details.
There was a woman in the city who was a sinner (sinneress). The three individuals in these passages are now set on a stage of a dinner with the religious. We find the innocent Jesus, Simon the Pharisee who is holding this banquet and woman of the city well known as a harlot, who never utters a word in this account.
Being a woman in the city she would be keenly aware of local social events. In this case she learned that Jesus was the Pharisee’s invited guest and that He was reclining at the table in his house. This “sinneress” is informed and is set to a mission by compulsion. She has determined to boldy go into a den of separatists with her offering: She brought an alabaster vial of perfume. Alabaster is a soft stone used for carving figurines. The vial of the same material would contain a costly perfume that would have a long cylindrical neck. To access the contents the neck of the vial would have to be broken and the entire sum of the contents used. Perfumes were used to mask body odors of the rich and also to ceremonially make one presentable to God.
She enters into this hostile territory with a single vision; Jesus. The entry to the dining area would be open to the street and from such she makes her entry and is immediately drawn to Jesus without respect of her reputation. She would traverse the wall to where He would be eating to find herself standing behind Him at His feet. Spontaneously she breaks into weeping tears that Luther calls “heart water”.
“And behold” is Luke’s exclamatory remark to draw his readers attention to what is about to take place and to pay close attention to the details.
There was a woman in the city who was a sinner (sinneress). The three individuals in these passages are now set on a stage of a dinner with the religious. We find the innocent Jesus, Simon the Pharisee who is holding this banquet and woman of the city well known as a harlot, who never utters a word in this account.
Being a woman in the city she would be keenly aware of local social events. In this case she learned that Jesus was the Pharisee’s invited guest and that He was reclining at the table in his house. This “sinneress” is informed and is set to a mission by compulsion. She has determined to boldy go into a den of separatists with her offering: She brought an alabaster vial of perfume. Alabaster is a soft stone used for carving figurines. The vial of the same material would contain a costly perfume that would have a long cylindrical neck. To access the contents the neck of the vial would have to be broken and the entire sum of the contents used. Perfumes were used to mask body odors of the rich and also to ceremonially make one presentable to God.
She enters into this hostile territory with a single vision; Jesus. The entry to the dining area would be open to the street and from such she makes her entry and is immediately drawn to Jesus without respect of her reputation. She would traverse the wall to where He would be eating to find herself standing behind Him at His feet. Spontaneously she breaks into weeping tears that Luther calls “heart water”.
# posted by Castusfumus : 3:29 PM
