John 12:1-11
Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” A few days ago we saw the “Passover Plot” being hatched – the chief priests and the Pharisees plotting together to kill Jesus. The argument put forth was that one man could die instead of the whole nation. Well, today that plot has expanded, adding Lazarus to the chief priests’ hit list. However, Lazarus was not added to the list to “save a nation”, but only for the chief priests to “save face” since many Jews were believing in Jesus because of Lazarus. Various traditions have Lazarus living some thirty years after his resurrection. There was one interesting bit of information I found online: “According to tradition, <with one exception> Lazarus never smiled during the thirty years after his resurrection, worried by the sight of unredeemed souls he had seen during his four-day stay in Hades.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_of_Bethany Interesting.
There was one other peculiar item that I saw much earlier this year, that I reported on May 26 – that Judas Iscariot was the only non-Galilean of Jesus’ twelve apostles. That is interesting in and of itself, but for this lone non-Galilean to be the keeper of the moneybag is even stranger! Were Galileans not to be trusted? Recall, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Finally, during my undergraduate years I wrote a paper based on verse 8: For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. Written for a course on the Economics of Poverty, my paper was titled “Him, His Work, His Church, and His Poor”. The thesis of the paper was to rebut the notion that there will always be poor people, so why bother trying to help them or eliminate poverty. I remember getting very positive comments on the paper from my professor!
Slava Bohu!
Fred, I also looked at “the poor you will always have”. But I have thought of it in relative wealth terms. Some poorer than others. I understand more about widows and orphans and being totally destitute, from a 3rd world, 1st century perspective now. Would love to see your thinking!
Jesus’ statement had a second part, though, with the use of the money for him recognizing him as Messiah and preparing for his funeral. It was said in a very specific context.
Prior to retirement I worked with many poor people. My conclusions were severe poverty among mentally ill people living on city streets; abject poverty in foreign countries and poor people in US that may or may not have some form of assistance. Through prayer and change of lifestyle we may be able to rescue poor people that come into our lives, but there will always be others who take their place among the poor. It’s a tough subject.
I agree, Jim. I need to know more abut your pre-retirement background! We cannot do everything, but as you say, through prayer and lifestyle change and the Holy Spirit, we can help those that come into our lives. Perhaps a big lifestyle change for each one of us (that is, me) is to come into contact with “some” poor regularly, rather than stay only with those who are like us. So that we can come alongside as neighbors and partners, not simply “throw money”, but walk the talk. This small step may be as tough or tougher for us/me than solving the wider problem.
Unfortunately, your use of the term “Passover Plot” is misguided. See my comment on the February 27, 2019 post.