Jesus said: "you will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." Is this egotistical?

Question

To just cast aside anyone that's poor in such a cavalier, inhumane way. Doesn't this indicate a lack of empathy on the part of the son of God? (Especially after wasting a year's salary on something so vain when it could have helped the poor).

John 12:3-8
“Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” Then one of Jesus’ disciples asks: “Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages.” Jesus replied: "you will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

Terry: Thank you! Finally someone who hasn't been brainwashed around this place.

Hi Linz: Welcome to the dark side!

Okay to pacify all the people who got hung up on the Judas part, I should have quoted from Matthew 26: 8-9 instead. It clearly states it was ALL the disciples who had a problem with this.

"When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.""

Answer 1

Wow, is this for real? I can't read that and interpret it as anything BUT egotistical. I'm bothered by this...

Answer 2

Good point.

Even though the Christians say that Judas was just concerned with the money, doesn't the question remain? Why would Jesus not have it used elsewhere? And why would Jesus, God or not, care about perfume on his feet? That's a cultural thing, nothing more. Wouldn't water have worked just as well? I guess the symbolism or the cleanliness outweighed the importance of the suffering people.

So, the Christians have a response, but not a good one so far.

Edit:
To Vol: What you say is correct, but a problem still remains.
To apicole: Well done... though if we say that the story actually took place, I still question the interest Jesus had in symbolism over actually helping people.

Answer 3

The fact that the gift was "perfume" has a deep spiritual meaning. It is not common to use perfume even in our days, when it is so readily available and inexpensive, to wash our feet. Also the phrase that " The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." has a deep "symbolic" meaning.

Here is then, my contribution to the question you ask.
Just as when you breathe a wonderful " expensive " perfume all your "physical senses" are aroused by its delicate fragrance, the moral teachings that Jesus brought, awakened and aroused the "spiritual senses" of His disciples. Not only of the disciples, but of all the people: "and the room was filled with the fragrance ".

Now Mary is giving a gift which shows by it's very choice, and the way it is offered, that she has understood the deep essence and meaning of what Jesus has given them in a "spiritual way". So by accepting the gift Jesus acknowledges that He knows that she has understood what His mission is all about.

By saying that you will have always the poor among you but not me, He is basically telling them that you are "missing the point" about the meaning of the gift.
Therefore the "perfume" symbolizes the moral and spiritual teachings of Jesus.
The one who did object to the "gift" is the one who, as proven later, had not really understood the teachings.
So it is not an egotistical assertion in my view. And I am not even a Christian.
.

Answer 4

First of all, it was Judas who asked - that dude had money issues. It is believed that he was not all that interested in the poor, but more interested in the money.

Certainly not egotistical. Jesus was fully aware of Who He is, and knew that His physical presence was soon to go away. He wanted to spend time with them before He left and He knew that their time was better spent with Him.

He did not cast aside the poor, by any means. He simply put Judas in his place. Jesus was compassionate toward the poor and needy. Many who came to Him were such. He also said that the "true religion" was "feeding the widows and orphans". He also said, "if you have done so to the least of these, you have also done so unto Me", referring to the people who need food, clothing or are in prison.

Jesus was likely communicating, "Why are you suddenly so concerned with the poor? Where was this concern before? They are always around you, and now that you see the potential for money, you are concerned that they should get it?" No, this was certainly not a dismissal of the poor, but a rebuke toward Judas Iscariot.

Answer 5

Assuming this quote is verbatim, or as close to verbatim as you can get from a Book that has undergone many translations of stories written a generation after the (assumed) facts, I think it means that the poor are real, and any society will always have a number of poor people in their midst. However, the people's belief in Jesus and his divinity will not always be as strong among his followers as it was during his lifetime. In other words, a class of doubters will arise.

Answer 6

Well, you need to look at the context of his saying that. Why were the disciples so worried about the poor to attack this women for showing love to Jesus. Concern over the poor is good but it is not more important than Jesus, who always showed plenty of time for the downtrodden.

Answer 7

It was a symbol of love toward Jesus.

And you should be ashamed of taking "clips" from the passages to try and prove a point...lets look at the WHOLE passage...

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 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.

"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. " It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."



So...you conveniently left out the part about how Judas was the one who asked about the money for the poor, whose intention was to take the money for himself anyway.

And you left out the part about him telling Judas to leave her alone. Your clipping suggest that Judas asked Jesus why the perfume wasnt sold...when he was actually talking to Mary.

It was a sign of love from Mary that he *allowed* to happen. It was important to her to show Jesus how she felt. The most important part of the act was the fact that she used her own hair to wipe his feet. It would be like someone trying to give you a kiss and you turning away from them. So, instead of disrespecting her and not accepting her gift, he let her do it.

The last part is a comment that he wasnt going to be on the earth for much longer. A sign that he knew his end would come soon. So, this perfume...(which was to be used to cover his body when he was dead)...was used to wash his feet by a person that loved him.

Quit trying to make it into something that it wasnt, you fascist pig.

And you are no better than a conspiracy theorist by clipping information out of the phrases so that they support your views.

You know...terrorists in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. do the same thing to skew the views of others to make them join their cause and fight against the United States.

Congratulations, I hope you feel better.



EDIT: I am not religious, but I believe in the truth. I do not state that the bible is a "live by this or die" document for everyone, but I will not sit by while some idiot skews it into something it isnt.

Answer 8

There were millions of individual poor people and families that were not going to always be around. Jesus was saying, "There will be more poor people after them. You can help those poor people later, instead of these poor people now."

Answer 9

Egotistical? are you .....?
you see people, this is a prime example of someone with a bigger vocabulary than a capacity to reason.
Jesus knew that time was short and there were many things to impart.
It's called effective time management.
Why feed the hungry, if you really don't yet understand WHY you must? Was Jesus to maximize his impact by just directing objectives like a taskmaster, or would the impression last longer if he focused their attentions on the why, the how, and the for Whom?

Answer 10

Christ speaks to his disiples and simply states that I am not always going to be in this physical place here with you. Thus he sends what on the day of Pentacost? The Holy Ghost, he will be with you. For the Comfortor which is the Holy Ghost, Him will I send. You can hack anything that is said or written if you don't know the source. If you don't believe in it, then leave it alone.

Answer 11

Rick Warren is a wolf in sheeps clothing that scripture talks approximately. he's in simple terms certainly one of a number of who will deliver religions at the same time interior the lat days to herald regards to the single international church headed by way of the fake prophet. subsequently the Lord suggested pop out from among them and get carry of no longer of her plagues. e book of Revelation.