Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year C) - 4/6/25

After Mary anointed Jesus' feet and Judas hypocritically complained about the price of the perfume not going to the poor, Jesus says, "You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me" (Jn. 12:8). Unfortunately, this statement has been used to justify not helping those in need. Jonathan and Seth talk about that history briefly but also about spending money on what matters. It's a discussion about how our priorities are shaped by problems we did not cause yet still influence us.

Seth quotes from Lucas Bessire's Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains. The majority of the book is Bessire and his dad driving through rural Kansas, meeting with farmers who pump aquifer water and people trying to limit that water use. The afterword is particularly compelling, however, in its connection to broader societal problems and what Bessire calls "the widdening of acceptable disregard."

This episode leads directly into next week's Palm Sunday reading. John's Gospel, too, looks forward to next week's lectionary reading as if to say, "Come back next week for more."  We hope you'll do that! Until then, we're glad you're with us.