Worship

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   When Marth and Mary, and Lazarus honored Jesus with a supper in his honor, Mary poured very costly fragrant oil over the feet of Jesus filling the house with the scent of its perfume. True worship always has this effect. (See John chapter twelve) The problem was that Judas Iscariot protested though, pretending to be concerned that the money could have been saved and spent on the poor. The passage tells us immediately that Judas had little or no concern for the poor but would have preferred to steal the money for his own purposes, as he was inclined to do from time to time. It is estimated that the ointment would have cost about a year's wages for an everyday common laborer. Surely Jesus saw through the words and annoyment of Judas to his true motive, yet he graciously answered the question of Judas anyway, when he could have bluntly exposed him. Perhaps Jesus answered the question for the benefit of those listening, and for those like us who would be listening, and because it was a legitimate question in the minds of some and continues to be to this very day, and this was as good a time and place to answer it as any. "The poor you have always with you, but you do not always have Me," he answered. Also he defended Mary directly and stood up for her, telling Judas to leave her alone.
It is also true that we do not always have each other on this side of eternity. That being true, we need to treasure the moments we have together in each other's company, even as Mary and her siblings treasured those times with Jesus. May we also stand up for each other when needed as Jesus stood up for Mary. More than most, Mary understood the real purpose for Christ's coming. It was to die for our sins and be resurrected. As Jesus said, she was anointing him for burial. Similarly we don't know how much time more we have to enjoy the fellowship we enjoy with each other. Some have already been snatched from our midst with little if any noticed warning. Things can always change and change in a hurry! This realization only ought to make our shared experiences even more precious to us as family members and as friends, and as brothers and sisters in Christ.

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