<p>26:11&nbsp;<i>For you always have the poor with you-&nbsp;</i>Christ's love for us, His Father's spiritual house, was typified by His being likened to&nbsp;the poor slave under the Law who perpetually dedicated himself to serve his master's house. An extension of this idea is revealed by a connection between the Lord saying &quot;Ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always&quot; (Mt. 26:11) and Dt. 15:11 &quot;For the poor shall never cease out of the land&rdquo;. Thus Jesus is associating himself with the &quot;poor man... of thy brethren&quot; of Dt. 15:7. Note how Jesus calls himself a &quot;poor man&quot;, especially on the cross: Ps. 34:6; 35:10; 37:14; 40:17; 69:29,33; 70:5; 86:1; 109:22; 113:7 cp. 2 Cor. 8:9- an impressive list. Christ exercised the rights of the poor to glean in the cornfield on the Sabbath (Lk. 6:1); Dt. 15:7 warned the Israelites not to be hard hearted and refuse help to such a poor brother. Christ is alluding to this passage by saying that the disciples should not be hard hearted by stopping Mary give her rich ointment to Him, the poor. The following Dt. 15:12-17 is also concerning Jesus. Thus Jesus was spiritually poor and hungry, and was so grateful for Mary's encouragement.</p><p>Note that the Law also taught that if Israel were obedient, then there would be no poverty. And yet the same Law tacitly recognized the reality of human weakness in noting that &ldquo;the poor shall never cease out of the land&rdquo; (Dt. 15:11). God&rsquo;s law therefore also reflects His grace and understanding of human failure to be fully obedient.</p><p><i>But you will not always have me with you</i>- We would likely have been tempted to expose the root of the immediate problem- Judas was a thief, and wanted the cash because he would keep some of it and only distribute part to the poor. But the Lord as ever, was wiser than to confront issues in such a primitive way. He brushes past the complaint that this woman had ignored His principle of selling what we have and giving to the poor, and doesn&rsquo;t expose the core reason for Judas&rsquo; trouble stirring about the issue. Rather He focuses upon what the woman&nbsp;<i>had&nbsp;</i>achieved, and bids the disciples look closer at His death and how they should be responding to it.</p><p><i>&quot;</i>Always<i>&quot; is </i>literally, &lsquo;at all times&rsquo;. There would always be opportunity, times of opportunity, to do good to the poor.</p>