DGeMs- Daily Gospel eMessage
Sinner – Respected: In today’s Gospel, Mary of Magdala, the public sinner anointed Jesus’ feet with very costly ointment, and wiped them with her hair. While Judas complained, Jesus responded and accepted her hospitality. Do we reject or are we prejudiced towards people who are sinners? Why? Are we not sinners also?
Fr Philip Heng, S.J.
John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment.
Then Judas Iscariot – one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him – said, ‘Why was this ointment 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 was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contents.
So Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone; let her keep it for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’