Many good things

Jesus, help me remember I can do more than one good thing! Amen.

Jesus was at dinner when a woman came in with a bottle of expensive perfume. To show she loved Him, she poured it on His head. Other people were angry. "Why waste it?" one asked. "It could have been sold, and the money given to the poor!" But Jesus said, "Leave her alone; she's being nice to me. You'll always have the poor; you can help them whenever you want. But you won't always have me here."

Kids and adults argue a lot over one thing: chores. It probably drives your parents up the wall when they have to ask you over and over again to clean up your room, put your clothes in the laundry hamper or empty the dishwasher.

On the other hand, you might wonder why they're making such a big deal out of it. Who cares if your room's a mess?

Even in Jesus' time, different people had different ideas about what was important. One example is in this week's Gospel (Mark 14:1-15:47).

You probably think hanging out with friends or catching your favorite TV show is much more important than catching up on chores. Well, the people at dinner with Jesus thought giving money to the poor was much more important than giving perfume to Jesus!

Jesus' answer was that there really was no "right" or wrong": It's good to help the poor, but just as good for the woman to be nice to Jesus -- and He didn't want anyone yelling at her for it.

Seeing friends and getting chores done are both important, too. But Jesus pointed out that it's possible to do two good things. Like people could help the poor and be good to Jesus, you can empty the dishwasher and then hang out with your friends.

That way, everyone's happy!