The scheme for July and August can be found here

Ecc 1-4; Matt 26:1-35; Psalm 92-93

Here in Matthew we find a slight different of emphasis regarding the woman who anoints Jesus, compared especially with the account of John. For it is the disciple body as a whole which condemns the woman’s actions – Judas only comes into view following the incident. We would do well to ponder Matthews account – for we too are here.

How scrupulous we can be with money – in comparison with the radical generosity of the woman. Money blinds us to what is going on around us. The disciples see waste in a generous act of Love. Perhaps the lesson here is that ‘waste’ is perhaps a theme alien to the counsels of God, who scatters where he will, who allows the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Jesus rebuke is highly significant – there is surely the suggestion that had the disciples the money, they wouldn’t waste it on the poor either – for the ‘poor you will always have you’. Knowing the endless refrain of the Law, ‘that there shall be no poor amongst you’ – Jesus warns the disciples that they themselves may not enter into the radical generosity of God which is his will for his people.

For a Jew to hear the words ‘you will always have the poor with you’, can be nothing more than a rebuke for their failure to believe.