Wealth, Charity, Poverty and Oddity

Matthew 26

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, ⁷a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. ⁹"This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

Found this on Wikipedia. It's very interesting. Jesus felt this woman was incredibly important. Why? Because she was honoring him, is my guess. Jesus was only here for a short time, so perfuming his body for burial was necessary.

I can sort of get that, in some sense. Not so much the part about why it was superior to feeding the poor. Well, yes, actually. Jesus could feed the poor by breaking food apart into many pieces. Jesus could feed the poor by blessing them so that they will be fed somehow. And, Jesus could feed the poor by, well, commanding his servants to sell their possessions and feed the poor.

But, when we look to Luke 18...

22And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

This seems likely to be why his disciples complained about the perfume. Jesus had commanded thusly and they understood that. So, why the exception in the case of the woman?

Perhaps because Jesus simply needed to be prepared for death. But why would an all-powerful and all-loving God, come in the flesh to save our souls, care about perfume on his corpse?

Treating dead bodies with chemicals seems to be an important and age-old human tradition. During this time period, it was perhaps better understood why perfuming was appropriate. This may have been a hint toward his resurrection, as well.

In any case, we have here a teaching about expensive valuables being sold and the money given to the poor. However, in honoring Christ, an exception is made wherein it is more righteous to honor he who will not always be with you, rather than serving the poor, who will always be.

This presents some interesting issues. First off, does it mean that even though we are to give to the poor, it is never going to put an end to poverty? Wouldn't ending all poverty be best? Or, perhaps ending all richness would be best? The rich, after all, are unlikely to get into Heaven, and are not perfect in deed for as long as they will not give up their wealth in God's name:

24Jesus looking at him said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

I always wonder how Republicans can be so duped by the religious right-wingers as to believe that capitalism and the extravagant wealth that comes from it are good, and that taxing them heavily is wrong (despite what we know about taxes) while socialism is bad. I'm not a socialist myself, but I would think if I believed in Christ, I would have a certain amount of respect for the view, if still not sharing it.

The poor will always be with you, and the rich must give away their possessions. Interesting cultural landscape this seems to describe.

One thing I'd like to point out here, which I think is pivotal, is this idea that the use of valuables, of niceties, of extravagance, in honoring Christ; specifically, wherein you are to help the poor, but it is less important than honoring Christ with your possessions. What does this sound like?

The Pope, bless his heart, helps the poor by living in a castle. The history of Catholicism, which, like it or not, is part and parcel to the history of Christianity (that and 1500 years of poor people who had never read the Bible, then some Protestants near the end) is laden with the bilking of the poor, the hoarding of wealth, the depriving of education and liberty, and the exalting of holy men who we "will not always have". The poor are perpetuated by superstition, ignorance and religious authority. To this day, dirtbags fleece people in the name of God while preaching to be fighting poverty. They, too live in extravagance.

If you are a Christian, and this doesn't upset you - make you want to fight to put an end to it - I have no respect for you. If Jesus were real, this is one of the guys he would have thrown out of the temple.

Yeah... think about it.