Finding common ground in God’s story: Experiencing Luke 7:36–50 with the first-century hearers

Abstract

Luke designed the narrative of Luke 7:36–50 in a way that heightens the tension for his first-century audience. The polarity emphasized in the narrative—a sinful woman at a Pharisee’s dinner table—corresponds well to the experience of first-century Christians who share meal fellowship with a diverse range of Christ-followers. This expository retelling highlights elements in the structure and rhetoric of Luke’s storytelling in order to help twenty-first-century readers of this passage understand how early hearers would have experienced the story.