The story of Jesus being anointed by a woman with a costly jar of perfume leads us to the question of how we should divide our resources between religious gestures (“praise”, if you like) and helping the poor. Is this story still relevant in the current age, and if so how should we think about this question today?
I’m not the archbishop of Canterbury ;). But I can’t resist sharing my 2 cents here. After this happened Jesus both praised the woman who broke the jar then quoted from this passage in Deuteronomy “the poor you will always have with you”
“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.′
I’m also not the archbishop of Canterbury ;) , but in case you are curious I once wrote a blog post about how this story connects with effective altruism.
The story of Jesus being anointed by a woman with a costly jar of perfume leads us to the question of how we should divide our resources between religious gestures (“praise”, if you like) and helping the poor. Is this story still relevant in the current age, and if so how should we think about this question today?
I’m not the archbishop of Canterbury ;). But I can’t resist sharing my 2 cents here. After this happened Jesus both praised the woman who broke the jar then quoted from this passage in Deuteronomy “the poor you will always have with you”
“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.′
I’m also not the archbishop of Canterbury ;) , but in case you are curious I once wrote a blog post about how this story connects with effective altruism.