In Jesus’ life there are many parables. Once he came to a house – -he was invited there; the hosts were two sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was sitting just near Jesus, not doing anything, just happy being near him, massaging his feet and crying, in deep benediction, tears of happiness flowing; and the other sister Martha was working in the house, Preparing food for Jesus – and other guests were coming, and she became jealous. She came to Jesus and said, Look, I am working alone and she is just sitting here not doing anything. Tell her to come and help me.
Jesus said: You are end-oriented, she is not. You are preparing for the guest and the guest is here. She is enjoying the guest. You do things in your own way and let her be herself. Of course, ordinarily you cannot think why Jesus should say such a thing. He is in favour of the lazy. If Mahatma Gandhi had been there he would have said, Yes, you go and help in the kitchen. SERVICE IS PRAYER. Go and serve! But Jesus said: You do things in your own way, leave her alone. One is reason, the other is unreasonable heart.
In another house that he was invited to a woman came and she poured costly perfume on his feet, the whole bottle of it – it was very rare. And Judas was there, who became later on the traitor –which he had to become; he was the businessman around there, he was the perfect Jew. Looking at this, Judas said: What is this? And you are allowing it? (He must have been the first communist, that Judas.) Stop her! She is wasting valuable perfume! The perfume can be sold, and many poor people can be fed.
Of course, absolutely reasonable. Who can find a fault with Judas? He said: People are poor, and you are allowing her to waste money like that! Jesus said: Poor people will always be there, you can serve them, I will not always be here.
Difficult to understand. Unreasonable. Absolutely unreasonable! This man Jesus was not a socialist at all. It was simple mathematics. Mahatma Gandhi would have supported Judas not Jesus. Jesus is allowing people to waste while people are hungry! Looks foolish.
Christians don’t talk much about these stories because they themselves feel a little guilty.
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