How To Act

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HOW TO ACT

John 12:4-8

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "[It was intended] that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." 

NIV

We are still at the dinner experience and Mary has just poured this expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. Then of course none other then Judas Iscariot pops up about how that could have been sold and used to care for the poor. We, of course, know the character of this man, but it is unlikely his fellow disciples did at this time. He was in charge of the money for the group, the treasurer of the band of brothers and we see he was dipping his hand into the kitty for his own use. There is a lesson we can learn from Judas before we get to the one within the words of Jesus. There is nothing new about people within the church being covetous, as Judas was there before them. But we can see the pitfalls of such desires. Judas used the work of God, caring for the poor, as an excuse for his greed. It seems he has also preceded others in that complaint as well. We would do well to learn this lesson so we too are not entrapped by greed. In Paul’s letter to Timothy he instructs him that godliness with contentment is great gain. He goes on to tell Timothy that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and clothing we will be content with that. Then he makes it clear that People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. Paul tells Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil. There are some believers who have actually wandered from the faith in pursuit of money and pierced themselves with much grief. This was the life and death of Judas Iscariot; we cannot afford to allow it to be ours. As to those words of Jesus, which may have been misunderstood and used by some to insist we do all we can to help the poor. This is not a bad desire or action, as we are instructed in other scripture to look after those with less, but here it is not about the poor of whom there will always be, but it is about Jesus, and that he would not be with his disciples in the form he was now in for much longer. He was telling them he was going to die, he was going to be gone from them and so why get all up in arms over what Mary did. Some scholars’ say she did not use it all, but used a portion which the remaining amount she used on the day of his embalmment in the grave. But either way, it was as if it was done in a prophetic manner. The lesson here is for us is not to be cheap with Jesus; of course we should not confuse church with Jesus, as some churches are not about Jesus, but about churching. This is where we really need the gift of discernment, so as not to be like Judas, but also not to be entrapped by others filled with greed. Mary’s love for Jesus was all that mattered to her, she did not concern herself with what others thought, or did, she acted out of love for Jesus and Judas acted out of self-interest. The question is how do we act?