3-Apr-19 (John 12:1-8)

When I was in first grade, they had a contest to see who could sell the most candy. The money from the candy went to buy school supplies so that no one had to do without them. If you sold the most candy, you'd get a giant candy bar. I really wanted to get that candy bar, so I tried selling them at church. I tried selling them to my family and friends. I basically tried everything I could think of.
After about a week of that, my mom asked me about why I was trying so hard. I admitted that I really wanted that giant candy bar.
She said, "I'm glad you want to do the right thing, but you want to do it for the wrong reason." You should want to help other people. You should want to help other students have the things they need for class. But you shouldn't do that just because you want something in return. You should always try to do good, but you should try to do it because you want to help others."
In our gospel story for today, Judas tries to "correct" Mary for using up some expensive perfume to honor Jesus. He said, "You should have sold it so we could give more money to the poor." That was a good idea, but Jesus knew that he'd said it for selfish reasons. (He kept the money and sometimes he took money for himself from that.) So, Jesus said, "You should want to help other people, but you shouldn't do that just because you want something in return. In fact, what Mary did was the right thing to do."

Let's pray about that.
God, we want you to help us to do the right things, but we also want you to help us to want to do it for the right reasons. Help us to see how much you love us then want to love others in the same way. Thank you for Jesus, who showed us you love and showed us how to love others.
Amen.