When You or Your Child Is Treated Unfairly
Each of our children has a first name from the Bible and a family name for their middle name. John, our oldest, is named for the apostle John and for our dear friend John Peden. Our John’s middle name is Raymond, his daddy’s first name. Mary Evelyn, our youngest, is named for the mother of Jesus and for my mother, Evelyn. We chose the name Bethany because it was there that Jesus enjoyed time with His close friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Her middle name, Kathleen, is for Ray’s mother.
Not long before His crucifixion, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper. While there, Jesus had an experience that He said would be spoken of wherever the gospel was preached in the whole world: a woman came with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, broke it, and poured it over His head.
Alabaster perfume vase,
from Cyprus in the 5th-4th century BC,
courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
The Cesnola Collection
El Greco and his workshop produced this painting of the scene. Though the architecture and satin clothes are from a different time and place, his portrayal of the faces and body language are timeless.
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The Feast in the House of Simon, 1608-1614
El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) and workshop
Courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago,
Gift of Joseph Winterbotham Collection
When some in Simon’s home scolded the woman for her act of kindness, Jesus came to her defense.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her?
She has done a good deed to Me.
For you always have the poor with you,
and whenever you wish you can do good to them;
but you do not always have Me.
She has done what she could;
she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.
Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached
in the whole world, what this woman has done
will also be spoken of in memory of her.”
Mark 14:6-9
Just after Jesus spoke these words, Judas Iscariot left to do evil. He went to the chief priests and conspired with them to betray Jesus. What a contrast between this woman who anointed Jesus and was then criticized and this friend who slipped away to betray Him.
Soon Jesus and His disciples would celebrate the Passover. At that meal, Jesus demonstrated how to remember Him in the Lord’s Supper. Afterwards, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He became distressed and troubled. His soul was deeply grieved.
And He was saying, “Abba! Father!
All things are possible for You;
remove this cup from Me;
yet not what I will, but what You will.”
Mark 14:36
After telling God His request three times, He told His disciples what was going to happen next and then:
Immediately while He was still speaking,
Judas, one of the twelve, came up
accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs,
who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
Mark 14:43
The last time I read this chapter, I thought: “They are arresting the wrong man! They should be arresting Judas, not Jesus!”
I am reminding you of these events for this reason. At some point, you, too, may experience something similar in a much less dramatic way. You may suffer, while someone who has done a terrible wrong goes free. You may be judged falsely as Jesus was.
Take comfort knowing that Jesus understands. He, too, experienced the reality that life is not always fair, not even close to fair.
Your children may experience unfairness, too. You may need to walk with them through that experience. Remember that Jesus went through it, too, and that Jesus died for both the guilty and their victims. Remind your children, too.
It’s not our job to settle the unfairness around us. We have to trust God with all of that, just as Jesus did.
And remember that something that was the ultimate in unfair treatment resulted in salvation for all.
For while we were still helpless,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:6