Contemplative Bible Reading

John 12:3-5 (New Living Translation)

3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.

4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”

Sometimes Christians do extravagant things. See, e.g., some church buildings erected in the last ten or one thousand years. The money could (should) have been spent on the poor.

No matter what we do with a penny, we could have given it to the poor, and that would have been a good thing to do.

Is Christianity a constant depriving me and giving to someone else? Is Christianity 100% sacrifice on my part? Take care if we answer “no” to these and other ways of stating the same question.

There are times and places and occasions for Christian extravagant celebration. Jesus told us that and practiced that. Now all we have to do…is judge properly which occasions are which. Please God, grant me wisdom.