{"id":476,"date":"2011-11-03T11:05:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T11:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?p=476"},"modified":"2018-07-20T21:20:44","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T21:20:44","slug":"politically-incorrect-jesus-weird-sayings-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2011\/11\/politically-incorrect-jesus-weird-sayings-continued.html","title":{"rendered":"Politically Incorrect Jesus: Weird Sayings Continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You always have the poor with you, don’t you? \u00a0But you won’t always have me.” \u00a0<\/em>Matthew 26:11<\/p>\n

It’s a good thing Jesus isn’t running for office, because if he were, he’d probably lose. Can you imagine a political leader saying something to the effect of, “The poor are just part of the furniture, but I won’t be around forever?” \u00a0Weird.<\/p>\n

Of course the big difference here is that Jesus isn’t about to win an election. \u00a0Unless a placard on a cross, with “King of the Jews” as its inscription, qualifies. When he makes this statement, Jesus is preparing to die. Two days from now. \u00a0At Passover- a time of year that reminds the Jewish people that their God is One who frees God’s people from bondage and oppression. \u00a0In the same way that God brought Israel out from a life of back-breaking sweat and tears as slaves in Egypt to a wide, open, promised land of milk and honey.<\/p>\n

So this scene drips with irony. \u00a0Because what the disciples and gathered dinner guests cannot appreciate, in their lofty, high-minded “fury” that a woman would waste a whole jar of expensive perfume on Jesus’ head- (“this could have been sold for a fortune, and the money could have been given to the poor!,” they exclaim)- is that “the poor” in this case are right there in front of them. \u00a0In the form of a man who will unjustly die a criminal’s shameful death. \u00a0And in this nameless woman: her extravagant display of worship can only stem from a poverty of spirit; she, perhaps better than all of the others in the room, apprehends that it is only in the saving actions of Jesus that she has a name and identity as a beloved child of God.<\/p>\n

“I’m telling you the truth,” Jesus says. \u00a0“Wherever this gospel is announced in all the world, what she has just done will be told, and people will remember her (26:13).”<\/p>\n

But what are we to make of “the poor will always be with you”? \u00a0What is Jesus really saying here? \u00a0That we are to ignore the poor when we worship God? \u00a0That all God cares about is that we spare no expense in our worship? \u00a0If we were to make these conclusions we would be dismissing a host of passages in Scripture that define true worship as caring for the poor and needy. \u00a0This misses the point. \u00a0Of the many things that unite Jews and Christians, caring for the poor vies for first place.<\/p>\n

The text provides one clue as to what Jesus is really getting at. \u00a0When the disciples protest, “What’s the point of all this waste?,” and “This ‘Passion by Liz Taylor’ should have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor!,” we read that “Jesus knew what they were thinking (v. 10).”<\/p>\n

And they could have been thinking anything. \u00a0About their own embarrassment and awkwardness over the fact that this anonymous woman was touching Jesus. \u00a0About their annoyance, like jealous older brothers, that she, the younger sister, had stolen the show and was enjoying all of the attention. \u00a0About their shame that they had brought nothing to give. \u00a0About their pride that it was this lowly woman who brought everything.<\/p>\n

Whatever the disciples were thinking, it wasn’t really worshipful, as a free, authentic expression of gratitude and awe to God. \u00a0It wasn’t really beautiful, as an unnecessary, selfless demonstration of service. \u00a0It didn’t ring out with joy at simply being in God’s presence. \u00a0At simply being<\/em>. \u00a0Like a flower. \u00a0Or, a butterfly. \u00a0Or, a baby’s smile or cry.<\/p>\n

We, like the disciples, can find it easy to sugar coat our insecurities about the fact that we ultimately exist simply to glorify God. \u00a0We can do this best by looking at resources and the world around us, including our neighbors, as nothing more than a means to an end. \u00a0Valued only insofar as they produce something. \u00a0Made in God’s image only to the degree that they are beneficial to us.<\/p>\n

But this mode of being couldn’t be further from reality. \u00a0Because God created us and our world and saw that it “was good.” Not because we produced anything. \u00a0Not because we were to achieve something great or selfless or noble, like feeding the hungry or earning the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

But because God made us and fell in love with the work of His hands. \u00a0Like an artist or sculptor making out of nothing something that is beautiful. \u00a0That is how God looks at us. \u00a0And here Jesus is saying that our gratuitous response of praise and worship is most in keeping with how we were wonderfully made- most in alignment with reality. \u00a0The flower basks in the sun. \u00a0Because that is how it was made. The butterfly flits and dances over the flower. \u00a0Because that is how the butterfly was made. \u00a0The baby smiles or cries. \u00a0Because that is how she was made.<\/p>\n

And we? \u00a0We tell God how great God is- and that we don’t know where we would be without God. \u00a0We do it extravagantly. \u00a0Without self-consciousness. \u00a0Without asking whether our expression of worship is politically- or, for that matter,”biblically”- correct. \u00a0We worship<\/em> God- and if we’re not worshiping God, we’re worshiping the things we attach divinity to. \u00a0Because that is how we were made. \u00a0We were made for God and to worship Him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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