Jesus welcomed Mary’s perfume.

She poured it on his feet. He defended her action to Judas as being part of the burial process, a part of the process that Jesus knew wouldn’t happen. And then he said, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

I wonder if we sometimes might miss the fact that he was talking specifically about Mary’s action that night.

For us, you see, His burial is done. The resurrection has happened. And with the exception of that one time, the poor matter hugely to Jesus.

Jesus may have been referring to Deuteronomy 15:11 when he was talking to Judas. The first sentence reads:  There will always be poor people in the land. It goes on to support Judas’ claim that this money could be used for the poor:  Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 is relevant. In that teaching, Jesus says that when we help hungry and thirsty and strangers and clothingless and prisoners in the name of Jesus, we are actually helping him. If Mary had the perfume bottle today and wanted to pour it on Jesus’ feet, she’d head to a homeless shelter and pour it on the feet of a wandering veteran.

Wouldn’t that shake everyone up? At least as much as her actions that night at a banquet in Bethany?

Mary’s action was perfect for Mary that one night in that one week, a perfect response to the situation. But the perfume that Jesus would want now could well end up on the feet of people, or in wells, or in soup, or in a prison Bible.

But always, I think, as Mary did, with love and humility.