You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. (John 12:8)

To understand this verse you have to go back to verses 1-7 where Jesus is at a party thrown in his honour. He is reclining at the table with his disciples and his friends - namely Lazarus, who he has just been raised from the dead. Mary, Lazarus’ sister, sees her now alive brother sitting with the man who raised him from the dead and she is moved by gratitude. As an act of worship she goes and gets an expensive perfume and she anoints Jesus.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, the one who later betrays Jesus says, “What a waste! This perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Of course, we are told that Judas didn’t really care about the poor because he was a thief and wanted only for himself.

Here is how Jesus responded. Jesus, knowing that he is heading for his own death, his own crucifixion, says, “you will always have the poor among you, you will always have time for that but I am here…now. Judas, you are missing the point.”

So the question comes to us…Jesus is here now, in all of his mercy and all of his compassion and all of his power and glory and his holiness… how will we respond?

Will we miss the point, like Judas? Will we be clouded by our own greed and our desire to get more for ourselves or will we like Mary bring an extravagant, un-calculated, generous, humble offering of worship.

The king of kings is close today, how will you respond?

Lord make us tender, make us sensitive to your presence.