Mark 14 - Heal the World, not a One Person Job!

“3While he (Jesus) was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as 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.

4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5It 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. 7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

The woman, led by God, did a wonderful thing for Jesus, yet she was rebuked by others. They immediately judged her as “wasteful” and “inconsiderate”, that she would use this expensive perfume on Jesus, blessing Him, instead of selling it and helping many others. However, as Jesus said, it was a good thing. This woman will be remembered for her deed. The poor will be there, but Jesus was short for this world, so He needed it more at this juncture in time.

WOW! Isn’t this exactly how the enemy tries to keep us from doing God’s will? Satan tries to trip us up by having people judge us as “inconsiderate”, “selfish” or “wasteful”, because we don’t heal or help everyone in the world who needs it. However, as was with this woman, it is not necessarily our job to help everyone. At this point in time, Jesus needed it more and her actions allowed OTHERS to tend to the poor, for she was not called to do so. It allowed others to be blessed by the Lord for being a blessing to others (the poor). There is no way for us to know, but I believe that, if she were not to use the perfume on Jesus and did what the Disciples told her to do, then she would have taken the blessing of others called to help the poor and had them miss out on the glory of God.

I know it hurts us as Christians to see others hurting and in need, it does me. I want to help everyone I can but, if I tried to help everyone, I would soon run out of resources, burn out my ministry, possibly lose hope (for there are so many), and steal the blessings from others, whom God has in place to minister. So, while I do want to help everyone, I must realize that God is in control and He will provide for others as He does for me.

I most certainly must follow what He instructs, help those whom He calls me to help, and take care of them, regardless of what the world thinks (as it was with this woman and Jesus). I can’t help everyone, as much as I want to try, but God doesn’t ask me to do so. He has placed many in the Body of Christ (the Church) to do His will throughout the entire world. If we try to help those He doesn’t call us to, then we are going against the will of God, stepping on others blessings, and doing more harm while trying to do good.

We can’t understand God’s ultimate plan because we only have human understanding, but we can do our part by following how God leads us and listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and helping those whom He calls us to, so His will be done, not our own. For the rest, whom we are not called to help but we see they need it, we can pray. For God will take care of them, through others if not through us. Amen?