Sermons
July 13, 2025 (Proper 10)
No Excuses
John 12:1-8
Our theme for this summer is “things everybody believes are in the Bible, but aren’t.” And what we’re looking at today doesn’t entirely fit that theme. We just heard it in a passage from the Gospel of John. I included it not because it isn’t in the Bible, but because the way it’s often interpreted isn’t in keeping with how it’s used in the Bible.
The first thing we need to know is how the New Testament writers, especially the Gospel writers, make use of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). When someone quotes a verse from the Hebrew Bible, they’re not just reciting a proof-text. That’s why it’s so important for us to know the Old Testament, even if we have historically called ourselves a “New Testament church.”
When there’s a quote from the Old Testament, oftentimes the Gospel writers put in a little bit of text and expect us to be able to bring the rest of the passage it comes from to mind. For instance, on the cross the Gospels have Jesus quote a couple of the Psalms. First, and probably most familiar, is Psalm 22:1, which says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” quoted in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. Actually, the Passion narratives in all four Gospels either quote or allude to parts of Psalm 22,[1] although they don’t all directly quote the first verse like Matthew and Mark do. Then in Luke, Jesus also quotes Psalm 31:5: “Into your hand I commit my spirit.”
When the Gospel writers use an Old Testament passage like these, they sort of expect us to be able to bring to mind the whole passage after hearing the one phrase they quote. So, for instance, in Psalm 22, we hear a person who is suffering from some kind of grave illness cry out that he feels God has abandoned him, and describe the condition he’s in and how others are reacting to it. Some are mocking this person, who may well have been a strong person who took care of others, but now cannot take care of herself. And, believing this person’s life is at an end, friends and kinfolk are dividing up his belongings before he has drawn his last breath. But beginning with the second half of verse 21 of the psalm, the tone changes:
“From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters…
For [God] did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted…”
and then, at the end of the psalm:
“Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.”
By quoting or alluding to parts of Psalm 22, the Gospel writers intend for us to be able to bring up all of it—the suffering, the cries to God, and the praise for healing.
Similarly, when Luke has Jesus quote Psalm 31:5, he may be expecting us to remember the verses that come just before it, and the rest of verse 5:
“In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.
…for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”
So it’s not just Jesus saying that his life is over (as he appears to in John 19:30 when he says, “It is finished,” although I would argue he’s talking there about a whole lot more being “finished” or “accomplished” than the end of his life), but placing his life into God’s hands, expecting that God will deliver him—just as he’s been predicting to his disciples all along, how he will be arrested and tortured and killed, and then rise again on the third day.[2]
All this is to say that when the Gospels have Jesus say, as he does in this passage, “You always have the poor with you,” he doesn’t intend for us to stop there as though the persistence of poverty somehow absolves us from any responsibility to help people who are in need. I’ve heard it used that way; perhaps you have, too.
I was talking with a man once about the work our church did to help poor people by giving to the Food Pantry, working with community projects intended to address poverty, and giving to Week of Compassion, and he said, “Well, Jesus said there will always be poor people.” Seems innocuous enough, but in context it appeared he meant that, since there will always be poor people, nothing we do to help the poor really matters, and thus we might as well not. This fellow would also have said that “the Bible is clear” about certain other matters; I’m not going to go into detail but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about—but my reading of the Bible indicates that it’s a whole lot more clear about God expecting his people to do what we can to help the poor and needy.
And when Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you,” he isn’t saying that extravagant acts of devotion like Mary’s are more important than helping those in need. I think he would be more likely to say that there is a time and a place for both.
Whenever Mary of Bethany shows up in the Gospels, she is portrayed doing things like sitting at Jesus’ feet to learn, even to the possible neglect of her household duties, or going to Jesus with her great sorrow at his delay in coming to her brother Lazarus when he was dying. There’s a time for sitting at Jesus’ feet, and there’s a time for anointing him with perfume that fills the entire house with its fragrance; and there is a time for helping the poor.
And again, when Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you,” even without prefacing it with “As it is written” or some other phrase to identify clearly that he is quoting from the Old Testament, he means for us to call to mind a specific verse from Deuteronomy. It comes from Deuteronomy 15, and the whole passage in which that verse is found goes like this:
“If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your own community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought…and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. Give liberally and ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”[3]
Now John isn’t the only one of the Gospels that record Jesus saying, “You always have the poor with you.” Both Matthew and Mark also include an account of Jesus being anointed by a woman, although the details are different. In all three some of the disciples object to what they see as a wasteful act—only John tells us it’s Judas, specifically, who complains.[4] John appears to be presenting evidence of Judas’ wickedness, intending for us to conclude that greed is what eventually drives him to volunteer to betray Jesus to those who want to kill him; he goes on to tell us Judas was a thief and would steal whatever went into the common purse he carried to provide for the disciples as they traveled. Only John includes that detail, and I sort of feel like we can take it with a grain of salt.
In all three Jesus responds to the disciples’ objection by defending the woman’s act (only John tells us it was Mary of Bethany), and then saying, “You always have the poor with you.” In Mark he continues: “You always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me.”
In other words, when Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you,” he never means to say, “Oh well, there will always be poverty, so don’t bother even trying to address it.” He always means, “Remember what Moses told you back in Deuteronomy: You will always have the poor with you, and because of that, you should always do what you can to help them.”
He said that to his disciples who walked with him when he was here on earth—and he says it to his disciples today.
[1] Matthew 27:43; Mark 15:31; and Luke 23:35 make use of Psalm 22:7-8, in which the Psalmist, perhaps suffering from a life-threatening illness, is mocked by onlookers: “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—let him rescue the one in whom he delights.” The image of soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ clothing (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:35; John 22:24) comes from Psalm 22:18.
[2] Luke 9:22, 44; 18:31-33 and parallels in Matthew and Mark.
[3] Deuteronomy 15:7-11
[4] See Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9.