"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

John 12:1-8                                (ESV)
"1 Six days before the Passover, JESUS therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom JESUS had raised from the dead.
2 So they gave a dinner for HIM there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with HIM at table.
3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of JESUS and wiped HIS feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray HIM), said,
5 "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"
6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 JESUS said, "LEAVE HER ALONE", so that she may keep it for the day of MY burial.
8 For the poor you ALWAYS have with you, but you do not always have ME."



There are few lessons that are more uncomfortable than when JESUS CHRIST had to almost rebuke Judas Iscariot about his wanting to refocus the efforts of Mary when she anointed the feet of JESUS with ointment.  One can almost line up with the thinking of Judas as this ointment was very valuable and the feet of one of the groups leaders was having this expensive ointment spent on HIM while so many were in need.  Maybe Mary could SEE, and Judas Iscariot couldn't SEE, that this was GOD IN THE FLESH and they were chosen among all creation to experience HIM walking among them?  Maybe JESUS was teaching a lesson to us all that we will NEVER be able to celebrate HIM enough, just like we can NEVER solve the problems of sin (poverty) without HIM first being lifted up?

The comparison of keeping the perspective of our surroundings while recognizing GOD for WHO HE IS may be one that we can still learn from today.  We have the opportunity to have JESUS CHRIST be LORD of our lives, and yet we get so caught up in the cares of "this world"!   We want to focus on what the world sees as important, and GOD wants us to focus on what HE leads us to do for HIS glory.  We wind up being just as selfish and worldly as Judas Iscariot, while GOD is waiting on us to celebrate HIM, much like Mary was doing!

We need to "LEAVE HER ALONE" when others are worshipping GOD, and not critique their methods.  Scripture is quite clear on the boundaries GOD expects from those who call upon HIS name, and HE is the only ONE who can change a heart.  Who would want to be known as a Judas Iscariot judging someone who was acknowledging a Holy GOD while they were concerned with the things of "this world"!  When GOD IN THE FLESH is being worshipped by the actions of those in our midst, we should join them and "LEAVE HER ALONE"!!!