by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
In chapter 14 of Mark, we are introduced to two different worldviews: what is the most important goal of one’s life, and the resulting use of one’s monetary resources.<\/p>\n
First, the ‘woman’, identified for us in Matthew 26:6-13 and John 12:1-8, is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. She takes an alabaster jar of pure nard and uses the whole thing to anoint Jesus. Such anointing, Jesus said, was in preparation for his coming sacrificial death. Trying to understand the actual monetary value in today’s money system is always problematic (i.e., the value of a dollar in 1950 compared to such value today). So, the closest we can come is to note that a denarius was used for a day’s wage for the common laborer (Matthew 10:1-16 ). Doing so has yielded a value of nearly a year’s wages for such laborers. Depending on what you consider such a wage to be, it is in the many thousands of dollars!<\/p>\n
She<\/strong>, possibly without a clear understanding of its meaning, was willing to use the whole thing to show her devotion to Jesus. He meant more than all of the worldly value of material things.<\/p>\n Then<\/strong>, contrast that with the reaction of Judas in John 12:4-6: “But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?’ Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it<\/em>” (John 12:4-6).<\/p>\n The challenge for us is which of those two people expresses our view of Jesus and our ‘things’? If you had been in the room with Jesus, would you have agreed with Judas? Or Mary? The answer can only come from an inspection of how you are using your worldly possessions now. Be careful: this is not about how we are supposed to view them, but about how we are actually using and valuing them. Examine yourself.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong In chapter 14 of Mark, we are introduced to two different worldviews: what is the most important goal of one’s life, and the resulting use of one’s monetary resources. First, the ‘woman’, identified for us in Matthew 26:6-13 and John 12:1-8, is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. She takes an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[549,334,278,576],"class_list":["post-93311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-greed","tag-judas-iscariot","tag-mary","tag-wealth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58082,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mary-magdalene-much-maligned\/","url_meta":{"origin":93311,"position":0},"title":"Mary Magdalene Much Maligned","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens Relying on the scriptures exclusively, one can correctly conclude that Mary Magdalene was an upstanding and outstanding woman of faith. Seven demons were cast out of her, and she became a benefactress of the Lord during His ministry, contributing to His livelihood from her personal means\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33385,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-that-salome-was-james-and-johns-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":93311,"position":1},"title":"Where does it say that Salome was James and John’s mother?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where does it say that Salome was James and John's mother? 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But when we look at Matthew 13:55, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/matthew-and-the-birth-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":93311,"position":3},"title":"Matthew and the Birth of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Matthew describes the birth of Jesus succinctly and factually: \"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way\" (Matthew 1:18). This is after he has spent time on the genealogy of Jesus, showing that He is the rightful King descended through the line of David.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13320,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-help-me-understand-who-were-the-people-with-similar-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":93311,"position":4},"title":"Can you help me understand who were the people with similar names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some articles on the net are so confusing and misguiding that a layman finds it hard to understand or come to a conclusion about who is who. 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