The poor will be with you

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always." – John 12.1-8

If we don’t take the context into account we might get the wrong idea about what Jesus is saying here. It was coming up to Passover. Jesus time on earth was limited, only a few days were left. He went to his friends’ house where Martha (of course) served dinner. Lazarus was there as well. Mary came up and anointed Jesus’ feet with very expensive oil. Her act was one of veneration. She was acknowledging who Jesus was. The fragrance of the oil filled the house.

Judas Iscariot was keeping the money bag and seemed appalled. ‘Why is she doing that? We could have sold that and given the money to the poor!’

Good point, right? And then Jesus said ‘Leave her alone. She is doing this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor to take care of, but I am leaving soon.’

Except for one little point we might think this very hard and calloused of Jesus. That point is the real reason Judas said this.

He said what he said ‘not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and he kept the money box, and he used to take what was in it.’

Judas didn’t care at all about the poor. He was the ultimate hypocrite. All he saw was money he could have stolen being wasted on Jesus’ feet.

It is obvious Jesus cared for the poor. Our responsibility to care for the poor is given all throughout the word of God. It is a priority for us.

I think another point here though is that we must balance our work for the poor with our worship of Christ. We should never do one to the exclusion of the other. Mary's act was one of worship. We cannot afford to leave that undone while feeding the poor. 

One more little thing before I close – Jesus was right. We still have the poor with us. What are we doing for them today?