Any time you WANT!

Reflecting on Mark 14:1-11

"The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want." (Mark 14:7)

If the poor are always with us, should we be as concerned about them?
Some people use this line to justify the existence of poor people.
Jesus isn’t affirming the rightness of poverty, but our problem.
The poor are always with us because collectively humans don’t care.
Ever since we doubted God’s goodness in Eden, we’ve become self-serving.
“You can help them anytime you want” says it all.
Most of the time, most humans do not want to.

The disciples left their jobs to follow Jesus.
If they wanted to, they could make money to help the poor.
But their sacrifice of everything for Jesus mattered more, to them.
Did the good news of the kingdom motivate them for the poor?
Or was it for position or other benefits for themselves?

We should always be concerned about the poor.
Which is also good reason to be passionate about Jesus.
Jesus represents God’s love and concern for the poor.
Jesus is God With Us, devoting Himself to helping the poor.
Helping the oppressed, the persecuted, the abused, the weak.
Those who love the poor will also love Jesus, and join Jesus.

In Luke 7:36-50, we see the back story of this moment.
This women herself was poor, and likely surviving through prostitution.
This perfume was her ‘tools of the trade’, how she made a living.
She was not a wicked immoral sinner, she was a desperate child of God.
Meeting Jesus changed everything for her.
For the first time in her life, a man looked at her as a human.
He loved her as a person, and treated her with grace and respect.
He communicated love and forgiveness from God, and it overwhelmed her.
She was a poor person that Jesus loves and helps.
Her story is the gospel, how God transforms us with love.
Her response of love is how God wants us all to respond.

It is self-serving human nature that makes poverty a constant.
It is God and neighbor-serving love that actually does something about it.
Jesus leads the way, and if we really want to, we can join Him.
Yet the poor among us can also show us how little we do care.
Worse-case scenario, maybe some Jesus followers are more like Judas.
When push comes to shove, this is not about others.
His ‘concern’ about the waste and the poor was not real.

I’ve heard people complain about ‘mission trips’.
‘Use that money to help the poor instead!’
Which would also be good, but do people who say this actually do that?
As they go on their vacations, or buy their next big purchase?
Not all mission trips are good or helpful.
And their motivations may be mixed, somewhat self-serving.
But many are motivated by love, and may develop a heart for the poor.
Some, not all, have become servants of the poor because of mission trips.
They continue to give, and advocate, and serve, doing what they can.

This is the real test for those who complain about the waste of money.
How are they spending their money, how are they helping the poor?
Nothing is stopping us now to help the poor still with us.
“You can help them any time you want.”

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You love all people, rich and poor, and want all people to be equally blessed. You sacrificed Yourself for us, becoming poor to help us. May this great love encourage us as we consider Your love for us. May it also inspire us as we consider Your love for those who live in poverty.

Give me a heart that doesn't just criticize other; give me a heart that wants to help, and actually does something about it.