A Cup o Joe for Jesus

I have no idea why that title came to my head this morning.  It really didn’t relate at all to what I was thinking about. Not at first anyway.  In my reading today I came across the passage where Mary (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) poured out a bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.  In my mind, the first thing I think of is Seriously, Mary?  A whole bottle?  Drama queen much?  It’s not enough to wash his feet, now you’ve got to cover them in this expensive, stinky stuff that’s gonna make it hard to breathe for everyone else in the room?  I mean, come on.  Way to draw attention to your actions!!

And then I read on.  And realized that I responded much the same way Judas did.  Wow.  Not great company there with those feelings.  Judas felt the money shouldn’t have been spent on the perfume, but rather given to the poor.  As I read Jesus’ response, my eyes were opened:

John 12:7-8: “‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. “‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.'”

So here, Jesus alludes to his death and basically says to let her come and worship how she sees fit, even though it’s not the purpose He would have used it for, He defends her actions. Mary and Martha were all about giving our Lord the best. Martha wanted to give Him the best food, the best service. Mary wanted to give Him the best of her time and the best of their finances. Both are admirable.

In relating it to my own life, I tried to think, what would I give Jesus if I could just sit in a room with Him? I don’t have any fancy perfumes (though He’d be welcome to my Bath and Body Works stuff!). So I imagine a coffee shop. My local Starbucks. If I walked in, and Jesus was sitting there, what would I give him? Is he an Americano guy? A Latte guy? A Frappuccino guy? And I decided the best thing I could give Jesus would be to order my drink for the day (probably a grande Cinnamon Dolce latte with no whip), and then when the barista shouted out “Grande Cinnamon Dolce Latte no Whip ready at the bar for Christy,” my next step would be to take it, and then hand it to Him. Because everything I have, and everything that I like is His already. So the barista might as well be saying that it’s “ready at the bar for Jesus.” Because it’s His. The money used to purchase it is His. The child on my hip is His.

Oh, to have walked the same dusty streets as Jesus. To have sat in a hot, stuffy living room filled with the nasty, choking smell of too much perfume. Oh, if only I could walk into my local Starbucks and buy a cup o joe for Jesus. But maybe I can. I can buy a cup o joe for the person behind me in the drive thru. Jesus told Judas that the poor will always be among us. I can buy clothes and school supplies for a child I don’t know. I can give to missionaries. I CAN buy Him a cup o joe. Because what I do “unto the least of these,” I am doing for Him. So, when you go to your coffee shop this week, what kind of joe will YOU buy for Jesus?