Article April 30, 1910 Issue

SPIRITUAL RICHES

W. D. MC CRACKAN, M.A.

Jesus once found it necessary to administer a gentle rebuke to his disciples on the subject of money matters. His words on this occasion will be found of special value to modern Christians who may be in danger of being overwhelmed by financial cares, or even by the minutiæ of routine in church work.

It was six days before the passover. Jesus, who had come up to Bethany on his way to Jerusalem, was sitting at supper in the house of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead, and we read that Lazarus himself "was one of them that sat at the table with him." Martha served and Mary anointed Jesus' feet with ointment of spikenard and wiped his feet with her hair. This lavish use of costly ointment drew a question or an expostulation from the disciple who was the bearer of the bag, the treasurer of the little company, and who later fell before the temptation of greed in so sad a manner. "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?" asked this disciple.

The question sounds so reasonable, when it is viewed from the ordinary material standpoint of the world, that one listens with special expectancy for Jesus' reply. He who was "the most scientific man that ever trod the globe" (Science and Health, p. 313), had a way of baffling the evil intent of would-be critics and yet satisfying the hearts and minds of honest questioners. His answer was in part: "The poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always." To some of his listeners this reply doubtless sounded like a reproach tinged with sadness, conveying the impression that he, the personal Jesus, would not always be with them; but that the poor would remain, even after he had left them, and in the mean time they might well lavish upon him their tokens of affection. This would seem to be the obvious meaning, especially when taken in connection with the context.

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