A woman anoints Jesus
John 12 :1-11 (New Living Translation)
1Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in
Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2A dinner was
prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with
him. 3Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from
essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her
hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who
would soon betray him, said, 5“That perfume was worth a year’s
wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6Not that he cared
for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’
money, he often stole some for himself.
7Jesus replied, “Leave her alone.
She did this in preparation for my burial.8You will always have the poor among
you, but you will not always have me.”
9When all the people heard of
Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus
had raised from the dead. 10Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus,
too, 11for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and
believed in Jesus
This act and Jesus' response to it do not teach us ignore the poor so we can spend money extravagantly for Christ. This was a unique act for a specific occasion--an anointing that anticipated Jesus' burial and a public declaration of faith in Him as a Messiah. Jesus' words should have taught Judas a valuable lesson about the worth of money. Unfortunately, Judas did not take heed; soon he would sell his master's life for thirty pieces of silver.
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