Mark 14:7

7 For you will always have the poor with you; and whenever you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me.

Mark 14:7 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 14:7

For ye have the poor with you always
(See Gill on Matthew 26:11);

and whensoever ye will ye may do them good;
by feeding them when hungry, clothing them when naked, and supplying them with the necessaries of life:

but me ye have not always;
meaning, with respect to his bodily presence, which, in a short time, would be removed from them, and they would have no opportunity of showing him any such outward respect personally; (See Gill on Matthew 26:11).

Mark 14:7 In-Context

5 It could have been sold for a year's wages and given to the poor!" And they scolded her.
6 But he said, "Let her be. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.
7 For you will always have the poor with you; and whenever you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me.
8 What she could do, she did do -- in advance she poured perfume on my body to prepare it for burial.
9 Yes! I tell you that wherever in the whole world this Good News is proclaimed, what she has done will be told in her memory."
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.