The gospel and the poor

[NJA]

What personal instruction do you get from this passage?

Matt. 26:6-13: "Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment,
and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
But when his disciples saw it, they had INDIGNATION, saying,
To what purpose is this WASTE?
For this ointment might have been sold for MUCH, and given to the poor.
When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman?
for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world,
there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her."

(also recounted in Mark 14 & John 12)

 

[timewerx]

The context of generosity in the New Testament is about serving one another (our Brothers and Sisters in the faith).

The verses you quoted above fits perfectly in the picture.

We are not required to be generous to everyone including the poor. HOWEVER, when a brother or sister is in need, we should NOT neglect them especially if we have the resources to do so. Neglecting a Brother or Sister in need is a sign we don't love God and have not been born-again yet and probably unsaved still.

1 John 3:17-18.
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4:20
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen
.
.

 

[EpiscipalMe]

Mark 12:29-31
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

These are he verses I find most applicable when thinking about how we treat anyone - poor or rich.

 

[NJA]

...
We are not required to be generous to everyone including the poor. HOWEVER, when a brother or sister is in need, we should NOT neglect them especially if we have the resources to do so. Neglecting a Brother or Sister in need is a sign we don't love God and have not been born-again yet and probably unsaved still.

OK, bearing in mind "it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence" (Mark 14v5) - that's about a year's wages . . . why did Jesus "need" to be lavished with the mother of all aromatherapy sessions?

Or if you don't like that description how would you about giving to spurious "needs" that a brother or sister may present?

I'm looking for practical applications ("personal instructions" that you, or someone you know has acted on) for this story

 

[timewerx]

Or if you don't like that description how would you about giving to spurious "needs" that a brother or sister may present?

Like a brother 'needing' a private jet as an extreme example? It does happen and I think you know what I'm talking about! Or let's take it down one notch -- A pastor asking for a very expensive church building upgrade.

The verses you quoted in your OP only applies to Christ. It was **needed** for the fulfillment Christ's mission on Earth.

It was a ONE-TIME need only. It won't happen again. Thus our generosity in these times can only extend in helping a brother or a sister's need a *real* need. If they're asking for something way beyond a need, then it's reasonable to deny.

We aren't supposed to attend to every plea for help (Jesus did not help the bad thief on the cross with Him). We still have to use our discernment, guided in big part by our knowledge of scriptures.

Jesus didn't appreciate expensive/lavish churches either..... They met in people's homes and that's what Jesus even commanded, go town-to-town, house-to-house. Jesus didn't tell us to build expensive churches and settle in there. You would end up with more money per head if we actually did that and provide more help to brother's and sister's in need. The church is the people, not buildings

 

[paul becke]

OK, bearing in mind "it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence" (Mark 14v5) - that's about a year's wages . . . why did Jesus "need" to be lavished with the mother of all aromatherapy sessions?

Or if you don't like that description how would you about giving to spurious "needs" that a brother or sister may present?

I'm looking for practical applications ("personal instructions" that you, or someone you know has acted on) for this story

You don't seem to have any sensitivity to the sublime beauty of mourning a good human being, when another person's considerations of excessive expense in honouring the deceased person simply does not register as being at all relevant. Quite the reverse. A category error, even. Disparate dimensions, never to meet.

While Mary Magdalene's mourning of Jesus prior to his voluntary passion and death, his unspeakable sufferings for our villainous sakes - and that, after a life of extraordinary self-sacrifice, as his few years of most arduous ministry would seem to indicate - surely invites Mary's level of generosity and more. Though I think she would have turned herself inside out for Jesus, if she could have. As would a fair few other women too, I suspect, though it would surely be fitting if her love for Jesus were extra-special.

This article I saved from a link at the 'spiritdaily.com' website is only tangentially related to this topic, in that it gives thumbnail sketches of the lives and mystical gifts of a lot of female mystics, also deeply into kenosis for Jesus' sake. I found the initial one, relating to St Therese Neumann particularly fascinating regarding her ability to identify a piece of the true cross - even from which part of the cross it was taken.

I expect we'll have the 'loopy', atheist, Usual Suspects on here before long, trying to get us to prove the miraculous gift of hierognosis - the mystical ability to recognise blessed items. The mere fact of the supernatural reality of 'blessings', would be enough for them to have a fit with their leg up !

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

We are not required to be generous

Perhaps,
yet YHWH is extravagantly generous with every one of His children.

And YHWH requires self-sacrifice clearly , as Jesus taught all His disciples
and extravagant generousity in ACTS , with the glory and attention all to the Father in Jesus,
was spontaneous, not by rule or law or compulsion.

When God's People Obey Him , Delighted in Him,
every need is met exravagantly perfectly and generously without even thinking as if it is 'charity'(a bad way of describing righteousness)
or any self-thinking that 'this is good to do' -- no, that does not even enter into the thoughts.... rather the spontaneous without hesitation giving out of ones self as if there was no other possible choice,
as JESUS did not consider any other possible choice to do or to escape the cross even, when the Father sent Him, He went totally willingly....
and the believers in/ throughout the NEW TESTAMENT likewise gave their own lives totally willingly not under compulsion....
laid down their lives totally willingly without drawing back to destruction.....

gave their own lives daily for one another, considering OTHERS NEEDS as MORE IMPORTANT than their own....

 

[timewerx]

Perhaps,
yet YHWH is extravagantly generous with every one of His children.

And YHWH requires self-sacrifice clearly , as Jesus taught all His disciples
and extravagant generousity in ACTS , with the glory and attention all to the Father in Jesus,
was spontaneous, not by rule or law or compulsion.

You misunderstood my post back there because I agree with you here.

1 John 3:16 -- the verse before the one I quoted talks about laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ. The context of those verses revolve around that one.
.
.

 

[Ahermit]

What personal instruction do you get from this passage?

The woman was loving the Love that loves her. She was in a state of grace and in communion with God. Then the disciples interrupted that from their indignation (fear of unworthiness). Jesus commended her for her truth and love, but rebuked the disciples for their denial and fear.

 

[Faith Alone 1 Cor 15:1-4]

If Jesus wanted every poor to stop being poor he would simply insteed of making bread and fish for 5000 men, make bread and fish for everybody.

Point is it's not his duty to feed poor but it's our duty , he come as servant to us to teach us how to be servant to others , read what he said when he was washing apostoles feet .

About the oil , it wast to fulfill prophecy i believe .

 

[NJA]

....
Point is it's not his duty to feed poor but it's our duty , he come as servant to us to teach us how to be servant to others , read what he said when he was washing apostoles feet .

"I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him."

It wasn't the master's duty to do what he could for the poor but it is the servants'?