On multitasking

If you’re a weathered Christian, or even a brand-new one, you’ve probably read John 12 or heard the story of Mary anointing Jesus a week before his death. It goes like this: Jesus is visiting Mary’s house; she anoints Him with precious, expensive oil in an act of worship; Judas (a thief and, sadly, a traitor) rebukes her for not selling it and giving the money to the poor; Jesus rebukes Judas for not seeing what a wonderful gift Mary has given Him.

It’s almost comical to think about, because on the surface, Judas’s argument was, perhaps, a fair one. He probably thought Jesus would love it, would take his side and join him in rebuking the wasteful act of a foolish woman. Because that’s what Jesus was all about, right? Helping the poor?

Well, right and wrong.

Jesus’ response to Judas in John 12 is to leave Mary be, because “the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”

In this one statement, Jesus boldly places one thing above all other concerns: Himself.

Does that make Jesus conceited? Does it mean He didn’t care about the poor or their needs? It almost seems dismissive, when you only look at the first part of the sentence. “The poor you will always have with you…”

But look closer, and you’ll see Jesus is urging his disciples to focus. “But you will not always have me.” Jesus, the loving teacher and guide they depended on, would not always be there with them in the flesh.

Over and over again, the disciples needed reminding of this. The idea of him ever leaving them was unthinkable. Maybe they didn’t want to believe he would do what he said he was going to do, because it meant losing him, in a way.

There’s more than one takeaway from this hefty passage. The first one I’ve always seen has to do with honoring Christ, putting him first. Loving him enough to lay down even your most precious possessions. These are things Christ deserves, simply by virtue of being who He is. His rebuke to Judas was not born out of conceit, but rather, bluntly applied truth.

Jesus did–and does–want Christians to give of their blessings to help others, to demonstrate His compassion and love to the less fortunate. Compassionate giving is a hallmark of Christianity. But we’d be foolish to think that alleviation of material suffering, and “social justice,” is the only thing Christ came to achieve. If anything, helping the poor has always been a means to an end–the end being, of course, that those who have been helped will glorify Christ and come to salvation. True social justice is an equal shot at knowing our Savior’s love–which we have been given, through Christ!

It’s sad to see how Judas, a person who spent every day in the company of the Messiah, could still fail to recognize Jesus’ ultimate purpose in coming here. Our main priority should be Christ’s glory and the establishment of His kingdom. That’s takeaway #1.

On my latest read-through, though, Jesus seemed to be saying something a little different. The words seemed to be asking me a question: “Are you trying to do too much? Are the things you’re worried about making you forget who I am and why I came?”

It was a gentle rebuke, a reminder that it’s not my job to fix everything at once–when I try, I too easily lose sight of the matter at hand. It was like Jesus taking my hand and saying, “one step at a time.” A reminder I’ve needed on countless occasions, and one that I think many of us could use right now.

Chaos is the prince of this world. It’s no wonder we feel such turmoil, when every voice is trying to claim our attention. We Christians feel the weight of the darkness of this moment and believe we must do something–but what? Everyone seems to be arguing. No one seems to be listening.

And I think it’s time we ask the question: are we overextending ourselves? Are we, perhaps, trying to fix all the world’s problems on our own, when the solution is so near to us? So near, yet somehow so invisible.

This rebuke, then–takeaway #2 (or is it #1.5?)–is for you and me: we’re not meant to multitask. Though sometimes we may feel pulled in every direction, our job is not to follow every thread, but to trust Christ’s lead with every step, never losing sight of our real goal, our real treasure: Him. Never wavering from the task at hand–to proclaim boldly, fearlessly, wildly, what we know to be true: that He is the only solution. That we are weak, but He is strong. That we may not know what to do, but that we can trust Him regardless to lead us on the right path.

This is how the world will be saved–when we know, deep in our souls, that Christ’s purpose for us is good, and He is faithful to achieve it. Always. And He will be until the end of the age. Our only job is to follow.