I always thought that the "the poor will always be with us" quote was about Jesus chiding Judas for his hipocrisy, rather than a sweeping statement about the poor.
As I understand it, Judas said something like "Foolish woman, wasting good money on ointment for Jesus's feet when it could have gone into the poor box!" Jesus, who knew damn well that Judas stole from the poor box, said something like "The poor will always be with you but you will not always have me." Meaning (in my interpretation) "Don't panic Judas, you can carry on robbing the poor box in a few days after you've made sure I'm dead."
I'm borrowing Kurt Vonnegut's interpretation, truth be told. I tend to agree with Father Kurt that Jesus was all about compassion.
But what the hell do I know about it anyway?
Posted by joey at June 30, 2005 11:08 AM