The Glory Of Friendship
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, was living. There a supper was given in his honor, at which Martha waited, while Lazarus was one of those present at the table. So Mary took a pound of choice spikenard perfume of great value, and anointed the feet of Jesus with it, and then wiped them with her hair. The whole house was filled with the scent of the perfume. One of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was about to betray Jesus, asked:
“Why was not this perfume sold for thirty pounds, and the money given to poor people?”
He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and, being in charge of the purse, used to take what was put in it.
“Let her alone,” said Jesus, “that she may keep it till the day when my body is being prepared for burial. The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me.”
Now great numbers of the Jews found out that Jesus was at Bethany; and they came there, not solely on his account, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. The Chief Priests, however, plotted to put Lazarus, as well as Jesus, to death, because it was owing to him that many of the Jews had left them, and were becoming believers in Jesus.
—John.
Charity
There is no true alms which the hand can hold;
He gives nothing but worthless gold
Who gives from a sense of duty;
But he who gives but a slender mite,
And gives to that which is out of sight,
That thread of all -sustaining Beauty
Which runs through all and doth all unite,—
The hand cannot clasp the whole of his alms,
The heart outstretches its eager palms,
For a god goes with it and makes it store
To the soul that was starving in darkness before.
—James Russell Lowell.