Mark 14:7

Mar_14:7

The poor with you always.

The condition of the poor may be bettered

Covetous men have put our Lords words, Ye have the poor with you always, beside the Old Testament sentence, The poor shall never cease out of the land, in order to quiet the trouble of their own consciences when forced to think of the little they are daily doing for the poor; and then tell themselves, and too often tell others, that aspiration, self-denial, and liberality are, after all, mere spasmodic, ineffectual palliatives of a disease which is inveterate and hopeless, and that, the existence of poverty being an unalterable decree, there can be no true neglect in doing nothing in their power, if there can be no full success in doing all. To some other people this combination of texts supplies a convenient discouragement to throw on all suggestions for elevating the condition of the poor, and alleviating the pressure of their poverty; for it enables them practically to conclude thus: To do this thing would be, more or less, to fly in the face of the Almighty: To alter the conditions He has so clearly laid down would be, in fact, to contradict His will. Of course this error also admits of an easy reply, too logical by far, however, for men who would offer the argument. It is this. God may have willed, and has willed, that absolute equality of goods Shall be, in this world, an impossibility; that the terms rich and poor, being relative terms, shall always have persons to whom they may be applied, though a man who is rich as compared with a peasant may be poor as compared with a prince. But God has never revealed as His will that those conditions shall never be interchangeable; on the contrary, His word tells us that such interchange must be sought (Jam_1:9), and the history of the world, from day to day, shows us, as part of its natural course, a continual rising of some, and sinking of others, in the social scale. Then there is another class of objections to deal with. It is urged by those who really sympathize in good will for the physical and moral raising of the poor, and feel that the bettering of poor mens condition would be an admirable thing if only it were possible, but that its antecedent impossibility frustrates all efforts towards so desirable an end. There are very many such-people who feel Christian love to fellow men fill them with longing to promote their temporal, and through it their eternal good; people who, themselves blessed with ease and affluence in worldly things, feel themselves in some sort trusted by God to benefit their poorer fellows; who know the pity and the wrong of merely flinging money, in whatever sums, into the grasping hand of the loudest clamourer; who strive with all their might in seeking, and fail so often bitterly in finding, the true deserving poor; who go themselves amidst the haunts of squalor, the homes of misery, the very centres of disease, trying to make true Christian mercy the dispenser of their money, and to consecrate even filthy lucre to the holy ministry of Christian love. How many these are, of Christian men and Christian women, God only knows who only can reward; but yet how disappointing is their work! They see from day to day so little fruit; they meet from day to day so much resistance; what wonder if, while conscience urges them to persist in their work, despondency should often overwhelm them, and make the toil, which only hope can lighten, a crushing burden when hope is fled? Is it not too sadly true that when the self-indulgent love to cry, the raising of the poor is resistance to God, the self-sacrificing often have to answer, the raising of the poor is hopeless for man! The one class lets them lie, and cries, their poverty is destiny; the other class labours even while it cries, our labour is in vain! And both have only quoted half the texts-the one side to excuse neglect, the other to explain despondency; while the whole text can force duty on the slothful and give courage to the zealous. For our Lord, indeed, spoke the truth of His day, of our day, and of all days, when He said, Ye have the poor with you always; but He said something more which we should lay to heart, When ye will, ye can do them good. These glorious words settle all questions at once as to the title of man to interfere with the condition of the poor, and as to the alleged hopelessness of such interference. The thing may be done, and the thing may be done with success. To alter the condition of the poor is allowable; to alter it for the better is possible. Ye can do them good! (W. L. Blackley, M. A.)

Christians caring for the poor

When the deacon, St. Lawrence, was asked, in the Decian persecution, to show the prefect the most precious treasures of the Church at Rome, he showed him the sick, the lame, the blind. It is incredible, said Lucian, the pagan jeerer and sceptic, to see the ardour with which those Christians help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator has put it into their heads that they are all brothers. These Galileans, said Julian the apostate, nourish not only their own poor, but ours as well. In the year 252 a plague raged in Carthage. The heathen threw out their dead and sick upon the streets, and ran away from them for fear of contagion, and cursed the Christians. St. Cyprian, on the contrary, assembled his congregation, told them to love those who cursed them; and the rich working with their money, the poor with their hands, never rested till the dead were buried, the sick cared for, and the city saved from destruction. (Archdeacon F. W. Farrar.)

Care of the poor

Thomas Willet, one of the old Puritan divines, was a man of remarkable benevolence. He spent the income of his two benefices in comforting and entertaining the parish poor, often inviting them to the hospitalities of his house. When asked why he did so, his reply was, Lest Joseph and Mary should want room in the inn, or Jesus Himself should say at last, I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 14:7. Τοὺς πτωχοὺς, the poor) Whom ye speak of.—ὅταν, if [whensoever]) ye will, as ye here show [by your very remark as to the poor].—δύνασθε, ye can) Never is there any one so needy, as to be able to give nothing.—ἔχετε ye have) thus present with you as now. It is not always that such an honour can be conferred on me.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 14:7 . καὶ ὅταν θέλητε , etc., and when ye wish ye can do them a kindness; a thought implied in the previous clause (the poor ye have always), and probably an expansion by Mk. ( cf. Mt.), yet not superfluous: suggesting the thought that expenditure in one direction does not disqualify for beneficent acts in another. The willing-minded will always have enough for all purposes.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ suffered himself to be anointed once or twice for certain considerations: but his will is to be daily anointed in the poor.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(7) Whensoever ye will ye may do them good.—Peculiar to St. Mark; the other words being given by him in common with St. Matthew and St. John.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For ye have the poor with you always,.... See Gill on Mat 26:11;

and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; by feeding them when hungry, clothing them when naked, and supplying them with the necessaries of life:

but me ye have not always; meaning, with respect to his bodily presence, which, in a short time, would be removed from them, and they would have no opportunity of showing him any such outward respect personally; See Gill on Mat 26:11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

Ver. 7. {See Trapp on "Mat 26:11"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ here answers the apostles, by informing them that he should not always be with them, but would shortly leave them, as to his corporal presence, though spiritually will remain with them, and their successors, to the end of time. (Matthew xxviii.) --- Behold I am, &c. He will not always be with them, so as to want their services. (Ven. Bede)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Far ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can (dunasye) do them good: but me ye have not always. The little clause, "whensoever ye will ye can do them good," occurs only in St. Mark. It is as though our Lord said, "The world always abounds with poor; therefore you always have it in your power to help them; but within a week I shall have gone from you, after which you will be unable to perform any service like this for me; yea, no more to see, to hear, to touch me. Suffer, then, this woman to perform this ministry now for me, which after six days she will have no other opportunity of doing."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. αὐτοῖς ([3061]c[3062][3063][3064][3065][3066]) rather than αὐτούς ([3067][3068][3069][3070]). [3071]c[3072][3073] add πάντοτε, which would be in Mk’s style.

[3061] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[3062] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[3063] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[3064] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[3065] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mar 3:35 to Mar 6:20.

[3066] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[3067] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[3068] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[3069] Codex Monacensis. 10th cent. Contains Mar 6:47 to Mar 16:20. Many verses in 14, 15, 16 are defective.

[3070] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mar 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

[3071] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[3072] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[3073] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

7. πάντοτε. First with emphasis; At all times ye have the poor with you. It is worth while to distinguish πάντοτε from ἀεί, which is much less freq. in N.T., and is never used by Mk; see on 2Co 4:10. These words, with But Me ye have not at all times, are in all three, and we cannot doubt their authenticity. Considering His teaching about the poor (Mar 10:21; Luk 14:13; Luk 14:21; Luk 16:20; Joh 13:29), we may feel certain that no one would have invented such a Saying for Him. The πάντοτε after αὐτοῖς is probably genuine; see crit. note. It emphasizes the permanent possibility of benevolence. There is no contradiction between the promise of His perpetual spiritual Presence (Mat 18:20; Mat 28:20) and this statement that the opportunity of doing honour to His Body would not be perpetual.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7.] The agreement verbatim here of Matt. and John, whereas our narrative inserts the additional clause καὶ ὅταν θέλητε δύνασθε αὐτοὺς εὖ ποιῆσαι, is decisive against the idea that Mark compiled his account from the other two. In these words there appears to be a reproach conveyed to Judas, and perhaps an allusion to the office of giving to the poor being his.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. πάντοτε γὰρ τοὺς πτωχοὺς … ἐμὲ δὲ οὐ πάντοτε—for the poor you have always … but me not always.3 This was the reason, not why the woman anointed him, but why such anointing was a good work, which he therefore encouraged. The whole transaction, as appears also from the προέλαβε μυρίσαι that follows, is given a special meaning and value in the mind of Jesus by the approach of his death. If it had not been for that, if they could have had him always with them, as they had the poor, this would not have touched so tender a spot, would not have been so good a work on him. οὐ πάντοτε is a case of language gaining force from extenuated expression.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And whensoever ye will, etc. Note Mark's amplification.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.