Blessed are the Poor

My Lenten reading today was from St. John’s gospel, and told about Jesus visiting once again with his BFFs Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. In this story, Mary is anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive oil.

Poor Mary just can’t get a break. If it isn’t Martha complaining that Mary is neglecting her work and making her do it all, it’s Judas Iscariat pointing out the costliness of the oils being used to anoint Christ’s feet.

At the risk once again of a bolt of lightening coming through my roof, I must say that I always kind of understood what Judas meant. After all, Jesus preached again and again about helping the poor. And yet, he allowed Mary to use this expensive oil on Him. I always thought it was kind of extravagant.

Phew. So far, no lightening.

But today I thought further about it. Perhaps what Jesus was saying was that we should help the poor all we possibly can, but don’t forget to spend time nurturing our relationship with God. Sometimes it may seem extravagant to sit quietly and pray when I could be cleaning the house or folding the laundry. But in order to have the desire, the will, the strength, the ability to help those in need, I need to work on my relationship with God.