Here’s a readers’ theatre setting of Luke 7:36-8:3,
the suggested gospel reading for Proper 6 C.
It is set for three voices.
Readers’
Theatre: Luke 7: 36 – 8: 3
One: One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have
dinner with him,
so Jesus went to his home and sat down to
eat.
When a certain immoral woman from that city
heard he was eating there,
she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled
with expensive perfume.
Then she knelt behind him at his feet,
weeping.
Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped
them off with her hair.
Then she kept kissing his feet and putting
perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw
this, he said to himself,
Two: If this man were a prophet,
he would know what kind of woman is touching
him.
She’s a sinner!
One: Then Jesus answered his thoughts.
Three: Simon, I have something to say to you.
Two: Go ahead, Teacher.
Three: A man loaned money to two people—
500 pieces of silver to one
and 50 pieces to the other.
But neither of them could repay him,
so he kindly forgave them both, canceling
their debts.
Who do you suppose loved him more after that?
Two: I suppose the one for whom he canceled the
larger debt.
Three: That’s right.
Now look at this woman kneeling here.
When I entered your home,
you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust
from my feet,
but she has washed them with her tears and
wiped them with her hair.
You didn’t greet me with a kiss,
but from the time I first came in, she has
not stopped kissing my feet.
You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to
anoint my head,
but she has anointed my feet with rare
perfume.
I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have
been forgiven,
so she has shown me much love.
But a person who is forgiven little shows
only little love.
One: Then Jesus turned to the
woman, and said,
Three: Your sins are forgiven.
One: The men at the table said among themselves,
“Who is this man that he goes around
forgiving sins?”
But Jesus just looked at the woman and said,
Three: Your faith has saved you; go in peace.
One: Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the
nearby towns and villages,
preaching and announcing the Good News about
the Kingdom of God.
He took his twelve disciples with him,
along with some women who had been cured of
evil spirits and diseases.
Among them were Mary Magdalene,
from whom he had cast out seven demons;
Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager;
Susanna; and many others who were
contributing from their own resources
to support Jesus and his disciples.
