Mark 14:6-9 (ESV)
But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. [7] For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. [8] She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. [9] And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
“You will always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them.” Jesus is honored by what the woman has done. She has anointed him beforehand for burial. But he acknowledges the concerns of others. There are always poor. It doesn’t matter what you do, there are poor. The poor get richer, but they are still poor. It is more or less a relative term. Today we consider poor people who have comforts the pharaohs couldn’t dream of. And they still need our help. We should do good for them. By doing so we do good for Christ.
Jesus knew his time ws short, he considers this a preemptive embalming of sorts. Of course they didn’t have embalming in his day, but they still prepared bodies for burial. Her random act of kindness becomes a prophecy of what is to happen.
2 comments:
May I ask a question, Pastor? What's your view of charity work in Utah? I'm guessing the Salvation Army and others have a presence. How about the LDS? Is their relief for members alone...or everyone? From their doctrine, I get the feeling that the Mormons probably provide help for the needy, but would then expect recipients to pull themselves up in short order. That may be an unfair assumption, though. Just curious.
Well Marke,
That's a pretty good question. The Salvation Army does have a presence, but a fairly small one. Their is the food bank and all that. Our church does what we can to support the food bank. There are also homeless shelters in Salt Lake.
The LDS have a huge "charitable arm" DI as they call Deseret Industries, as well as other programs. They help you more if you are LDS. And if you do get into their charity programs, their is a lot of pressure not only to pull yourself up in short order, but to become LDS, and begin tithing... No free lunch in Utah.
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