Leaving the Idolatry of Money (Day 9)

And while [Jesus] was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, ‘Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. 
 

But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.’ 

Mark 14:3-9

To illustrate the subtlety of idolatry, I offer three case studies to reflect on. The first is the report at the start of today’s Reflection about a woman who poured very expensive ointment over Jesus’ head as an act of love and devotion: the story is also recorded in Matthew 26:6-13. Something similar happened when Jesus dined with a Pharisee: a prostitute gate-crashed to pour ointment over Jesus’ feet.

When Jesus dined at the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, Lazarus’ sister, Mary, also poured a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard over Jesus’s feet. (Some people think that Mary was the prostitute in the previous story but I doubt it: compare Luke 7:36-50 & John 11:1-2 & John 12:1-8.) 

The women used ointment that was worth more than a year's income and on two of these occasions, people complained that it should have been sold and the money used to help the poor

The second case study is the account of Paul’s first visit to Ephesus that is told in Acts 19. Paul had been there for two years when some Jewish exorcists, sons a High Priest, arrived. To cut a long story short, a demon refused to accept their authority and the man it controlled overpowered the exorcists, so they all fled away injured and naked. This was a wake-up call for the Christians who had, surprisingly, retained their occult book but now publicly burned them. The total value of the books was about twice a lifetime’s income! 

The third case study I read about a few years ago. A Christian used credit to buy a brand new car that was much more expensive than he needed. He could make the repayments only by significantly reducing the amount he gave to his church. His pastor believed that Christians have a divine obligation to tithe, or give 10% of their gross income to their church. I do not quite believe that, as I explained in the series on Giving and Funding earlier in the year, but the pastor’s point is still pertinent: he suggested the Christian sell the car, buy one more appropriate for the needs of his family and resume his previous level of giving. The Christian refused, because he would lose a lot of money selling a brand new car so quickly.

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