Title: The greatest waste
"The poor are always with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But I am not always with you" is famous for its very difficult meaning to judge. Each preacher interprets it differently. The same is true of Bible commentators. The interpretation is divided between progressives and conservatives. Rather than helping the poor, we should dedicate ourselves to Christ. In other words, there are preachers who think it is a good passage to interpret that one must first be faithful to worship and the church. You could say that there is a qualitative difference between what you can do and what you must do. Thus, one might say that one can be neglected and the other is a must-do.
However, rather than dividing it into superiority and inferiority, it is originally the same, but considering it divided by time urgency, some may interpret it to be the same in the end because it is devoted to Jesus while he is present and to the poor while he is not.
I would like to say that we must move away from the simplicity of seeing devotion to Jesus and devotion to the poor as mutually exclusive or identical. The issue here is the attitude of Mary Magdalene's devotion and the object of that devotion. In devotion, we can say that Mary Magdalene did her best. She didn't think of any payback. All she did was pour perfume. It doesn't last long. If you had brought a lasting gift to Jesus, you would be aiming for a reward. However, the balm disappears as soon as it is sprinkled. Why would you do something so nothing left? I just did it because I thought it was worthwhile. Because Jesus was worthy of such treatment.
Then we too need to dedicate ourselves to what we believe is most valuable. To do that, you need to know what is valuable and valuable. To do that, we must be able to look inside our hearts. And we will have to look at the things around us. We should think about what is precious to us that we can risk our lives for. This woman found it in Jesus. In all that Jesus did and said, this woman found the best, the best she had ever dreamed of. He saw that the value of giving her all was embodied in the actions and life of Jesus. That is why she generously poured nad oil, which would disappear in an instant, to commemorate Jesus. If you love and respect, nothing is wasted. We will have to think about what we will break our jars on and pour the perfume on.