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Tag: series

  • For you will always have the poor – 3

    For you will always have the poor – 3

    For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ – Deuteronomy 15:11

    Certainly Jesus could have been referring to this command of Moses.

    Thus far we have examined two of the three reports of Jesus telling us that the poor are always with us. (Our Lord means no disrespect.) Before moving on to His point in the anointing with oil and returning to the final quote, let’s take a brief Biblical look at the needy.

    Psalms

    9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

    10:2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
    let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.

    14:6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
    but the LORD is his refuge.

    113:7 He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap

    Proverbs

    14:21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
    but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

    19:1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
    than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

    28:6 Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity
    than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

    Judge rightly between the words of Jesus  and the integrity of the one who remarked that the extravagant anointing of Jesus kept help from the poor.

    “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” tweet=”Luke 6:20
    Luke 6:30-36

    Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

    And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

    30 hour famine - prayer for the poor“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

    But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

    Who has the LORD chosen?

    Has the Lord not chosen the poor, the humble and the least of those among men a His own servants?

    “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” tweet=”But you have dishonored the poor man. James 2:5-6a 

    Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. – Colossians 3:12-14

    To be continued…

  • For you will always have the poor – 2

    For you will always have the poor – 2

    “For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.” – John 12:1 NKJV

    This remark of Jesus cuts right to the quick, does it not? A sense of urgency here: the Son of Man is about to depart from the company of those the Lord came to save.

    An earlier story (in the home of Lazarus)

    Once again, I ask us to examine the 5 W’s of the gospel accounts.

    In the first part of this series we examined the gospel of Mark.

    We established some facts:

    1. It took place on Tuesday, two days prior to the Passover.
    2. It took place in Bethany, in the home of Simon the Leper.
    3. An unnamed woman came in and broke an alabaster flask, anointing Jesus’ head.
    4. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?” [Once more, ‘to themselves.’]
    5. Jesus praises the unnamed woman.

    Read carefully a similar, earlier incident from the gospel of John:

    John 12:

    Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

    Again, earlier – six days before the Passover, not two. And as we mentioned the Passover that year was a Thursday; therefore, most likely on the evening of the Sabbath, Friday, not the following Tuesday after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

    Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, for a final Sabbath meal with his dear friends.

    2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

    Once again, we are in Bethany, but with all certainty Lazarus is hosting the meal with Jesus as honored guest in his own home (not one of another resident of Bethany who will host them all just four days later). Martha, Mary, Lazarus and Judas Iscariot are all named in addition to Jesus.

    3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

    Some new detail

    In addition to naming Lazarus, Mary and Martha, we now learn that Mary anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. It is the act of a servant, an act of humility. Furthermore, we learn from the Apostle John, who wrote this account and knew the disciples well, that Judas complains about the value of the pure nard. It is Judas who suggests to all the value that could be uses for the poor; yet John reveals Judas’ motive in mentioning the poor, that Judas steals cash from this treasury of the disciples.

    4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

    7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

    Jesus, of course, ignores the false suggestion that Judas and the disciples can sell Mary’s expensive ointment for a profit to ‘help the poor.’ Jesus defends Mary’s generous and kind act of worship.

    I ask us, though: aren’t you and I just like Judas in that way?

    Don’t we so often accuse the generous act of another in a way to imply that we could be better stewards of their gift to the Lord?

    Jesus’ last Sabbath before the Sacrifice

    Exodus 16:26  שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תִּלְקְטֻהוּ וּבַיֹּום הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבָּת לֹא יִֽהְיֶה־בֹּֽו׃

    It is now Saturday, the Sabbath.

    9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

    10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

    The Triumphal Entry

    12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

    Jesus, the Twelve and some followers had traveled one final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, via Bethany. In preparation for the time at hand, they rest in the home of their risen friend, Lazarus.

    Do you remember what Jesus had assured Mary after Lazarus had been in the grave four days?

    (This was not the first resurrection Jesus caused, but it was the most recent.)

    John 11:

    25 Jesus said to her, [ctt title=”“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” tweet=”Do you believe this? – John 11:25-26 ESV” coverup=”Q4g8Y”]

    Do you believe this?”

    27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

    No words speak more of the life of one who believes than these:

    To be continued…

     

     

  • For you will always have the poor

    For you will always have the poor

    Why mention the poor?

    Once again, Jesus makes what appears to be an offhand remark about the poor. Jesus often criticized the leaders of Temple and Pharisees for their treatment of the poor; doesn’t this remark catch you off guard?

    It would be easy enough to lose the context of Jesus’ apparent ambivalence toward the poor in the rush of events surrounding Passover week. Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem has many seemingly more important things going on than what to us would first appear to be a slip of the tongue (sort of like cursing the fig tree).  Yet like in our previous series you may find some subtleties worthy of note that impact more than just the poor.

    The Gospel Quotes:

    Prior to examining Jesus’ point of the comment, which we will do later in this series, let’s begin quotes from the view points of three different gospel writers.

    Mark 14:7

    For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them.

    Matthew 26:7

    For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

    John 12:8

    For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

    The 5 W’s

    Now to discover the context we must examine all three stories asking:

    Who, what, where, when and why?

    You will find some variation in the three Gospel stories and some similarities. We begin today with Mark’s gospel.

    Mark 14:

    It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”

    We have the ‘when:’ two days before the Passover, which in this particular year with the Passover on a Thursday, was Tuesday.

    3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

    4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 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.”

    Where? In the house of Simon the Leper, in Bethany, near Jerusalem.

    Bethany is today el ‘Azareyeh (“the place of Lazarus”- the L being displaced to form the article).

    Who is present? Jesus, of course; Simon, host of the meal (who Jesus had likely healed from leprosy; ‘some,’ likely the Twelve and others; and an unidentified woman who enters Simon’s home.

    What happens? She pours out some very expensive oil on Jesus, an act of great humility and worship.

    (More about her and her gracious act later.)

    To be continued…