Dances with midges

By swiftmidges

Exasperation?

This is a window from St Paul's and St George's Scottish Episcopal Church in Edinburgh. This window was the backdrop to my view during the three days of the General synod, and as I listened to much business and took part in worship, this was what I was looking at. It is (I believe) the episode from Luke's gospel when Jesus is invited to dinner by some Pharisees. Simon the Pharisee does not greet Jesus with a kiss, or wash his feet, or anoint his head. But a woman (we assume of low repute!) comes in, kisses his feet, washes his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints them with expensive oil. The Pharisees are scandalised (they are on the left, without haloes - you can just see one). The disciples are there - I wonder if the window is blurring the account with the later episode of Jesus' anointing by another woman and their objection to the waste of the expensive oil. Either way, Jesus seems to be doing a forehead slap at the futility and lack of understanding of someone about him. Pharisees or disciples - they all get it wrong time and time again. So there is hope for us, even if our Lord may be exasperated with how we carry on at times...

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