Mark 14:1-11
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
1 Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 2 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Luke 21:1-4
The Widow's Mite
1 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
Luke 18:9-14
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
A jar of expensive perfume, made of nard was poured on Jesus' head...And someone says the perfume was worth a year's wages and could have been given to the poor...Jesus said the poor we will always have, but He would not always be with us physically...And He says this in such a way that it seems like these things are a matter of fact -which they are...The context He uses in this particular case seems to be that the poor we will have throughout our history...And as we look back two thousand years ago, the poor we still have...He said it in such a way that it seems there will always be people less fortunate than one another...
Jesus certainly knows about the poor, and we see this with His different statements in the gospels...
Maybe Jesus was the only One to really observe the giving of the widow...The poor widow winds up giving all the livelihood she had...But she gave it generously away...She gives us a lesson in giving and Jesus is aware of her giving so generously...
I once knew a man, who had children...He told me a story of how him and his children would sit down regularly and donate money and be charitable to different organizations...I never ask him the amounts and whether the donations were large or small, but learned that what not the reason for this teaching to his children...I ask him the purpose of the family sitting down and deciding on who to give a donation to...He said he was teaching his teaching how to be charitable and teaching them how to give...
All these lessons and teachings about charity that I have learned I have never forgotten, yet I am not as generous as my friend, as the widow, and charitable giving is a stumbling block for me...I can say I grew up poor, but the widow was poor...And Jesus grew up poorer than I grew up...And so I pray to the LORD, have mercy on me Father, I am a sinner...