Post by Woody Williams on Mar 25, 2007 6:36:14 GMT -5
Text for the Day -- John 12:1-8
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Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of
Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner
for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table
with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard,
anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was
filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of
his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was
this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given
to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but
because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal
what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so
that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the
poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Devotional
----------
Loving God and loving your neighbors (especially the poor) are not
competitive activities. They are one and the same continuous action.
Jesus receives the gift of love from Mary and sees it as a
pre-figuring of his death and burial. The poor are with us always and
the same love should be extended to them in forms of justice and
mercy.
Prayer
---------------
Help me, Lord, not to excuse myself from loving either God or my
neighbor. Amen
----------
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of
Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner
for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table
with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard,
anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was
filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of
his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was
this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given
to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but
because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal
what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so
that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the
poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Devotional
----------
Loving God and loving your neighbors (especially the poor) are not
competitive activities. They are one and the same continuous action.
Jesus receives the gift of love from Mary and sees it as a
pre-figuring of his death and burial. The poor are with us always and
the same love should be extended to them in forms of justice and
mercy.
Prayer
---------------
Help me, Lord, not to excuse myself from loving either God or my
neighbor. Amen