Pam Padgett ... teacher
Before Jesus was betrayed,
at a supper in Bethany Mary anointed His feet with very costly
ointment ....
John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to
Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the
dead. 2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was
one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of
ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and
wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour
of the ointment.
When Judas Iscariot saw this, he accused her of doing wrong in this,
asking why the ointment hadn't been sold and the money given to the
poor. Although he spoke as though he cared for the poor, that wasn't the case; he said this because he was a thief
...
John 12:4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, which should betray him, 5 Why was not this ointment sold
for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6 This he said, not that
he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and
bare what was put therein.
But Jesus did not allow Mary to be wrongly accused, telling Judas
Iscariot to leave her alone, and judging her justly as He explained
that she anointed Him because they were very near (against) the day of His burial ...
John 12:7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my
burying hath she kept this. 8 For the poor always ye have with you; but
me ye have not always.
We, also, are sometimes unjustly accused as we do what is right in the sight of God.
My next door neighbor, Jim, is an elderly widower who lives by
himself. One afternoon a little over a year ago I kept having the
thought to go see if Jim's trash can was still near the street. It
seemed strange to care about his trash can, but I believed this thought
was from the Holy Spirit, so went to see. I was surprised to find the
trash can was still at the street since the garbage truck had come early
that morning and Jim usually
put his trash can back in his garage soon after the truck emptied it. I
called to see if he was ok, but there was no answer. Not wanting to
over-react, my intention was to wait a while and try to call again. But
I kept having the thought that it wouldn't do any good to wait, and
that I needed to go check on Jim. Again, I thought it was the Holy
Spirit bringing this thought, so I went to his house and I found he had
fallen the previous evening and was unable to get up. He had been
laying on the floor for about 20 hours with a broken hip.
Jim was in a hospital then rehab center for about ten weeks and I
visited him and did a few minor things for him, like feeding his cat.
When it looked like he might need to go to an assisted living center, I remembered
another neighbor whose mother is in an assisted living center. I called
Carol and told her about Jim and asked about the center where her
mother lives in case this information might be helpful to Jim. To my
surprise, Carol told me I was wrong for helping Jim even in these little things, and that only his children should help (all of his children live in other towns).
But when I turned to God, I was reminded that it was the Holy Spirit
who led me to find Jim when he had fallen, and this is how I started
helping him. Later I was also reminded of the parable Jesus told when
asked who are the neighbors we are to love as ourselves. In the parable
a Samaritan helped a man who had been left half
dead by thieves. Others saw but offered no help to the injured man, but the Samaritan had mercy on him. Jesus said to go and do likewise (Luke 10:25-37) I believe the Holy Spirit reminded me of these things to show that in the sight of God it was right for me to help Jim.
A few days later I saw Carol and she again made a point of telling me
I shouldn't be helping Jim. She couldn't understand what I said to her. But as she spoke, she revealed that she hadn't liked Jim since long before the accident. She also spoke about the help her
mother has asked of her and there was bitterness. It was
obvious that she resented needing to help her mother. I believe I was allowed to see that her attack toward
me for helping Jim was because she didn't like him and because of the resentment she had about needing to help her mother.
Although we are sometimes accused wrongly by those with evil in their
hearts, God knows the truth and is able to help and to restore us, according to HIS will.