Love Should Not Be Put Off

Love Should Not Be Put Off “Why would you want to spend the last day of your trip with poor and desolate people you don’t even know?” “I know you must be tired of caring for him. Why don’t you leave that for someone else to finish?” “Leave her alone. She saved that money so she could give it to the poor.” We may not understand someone’s reason for giving just a little more. Someone’s emotional thought process may not make sense to the intellectual mind, but it does to the caring heart. Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it (perfume made of nard) so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” We may have years, months and even just days left with one another. Therefore the time we spend caring, consoling, uplifting, promoting and loving should not be put off. John 12:1-11 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?' (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, 'Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.' When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.