“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Mark 14:6-9
“Jesus knew that by selling the perfume for whatever price it was, it was not going to solve the problem of the poor. If the disciples were honest about the poor, the only way to tackle it was not to engage in piecemeal charitable acts but to follow the radical social redesign envisioned in Deuteronomy.”
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 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. Deuteronomy 15:7-11.
R. S. Sugirtharajah in “‘For You Always Have the Poor with You’: an Example of Hermeneutics of Suspicion,” Asia Journal of Theology 4.1 (1990): 105.
Grasping life in God’s economy is linked to living out the “radical redesign envisioned in Deuteronomy” through the Church. Open-handed living leads all of us from shifting from “piecemeal charitable acts” to the radical enjoyment and sharing experienced by the early church in Acts and many communities of faith today where the gospel is preached and followed.