John 12:1-111Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. 4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. 9Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 10But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. (John 12:1‑11)JOH 12:1-111Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. 4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. 9Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 10But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. (John 12:1‑11)
Mary did not come to hear a sermon, although the greatest of teachers was there. To sit at His feet and hear His word (Luke 10:3939And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. (Luke 10:39)) was not her purpose now, blessed as that was in its proper place. She did not come to make her requests known to Him. There was a time when, in deepest submission to His will, she had fallen at His feet saying, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." John 11:3232Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. (John 11:32). But to pour out her supplications to Him as her only resource was not her thought now, for her brother was seated at the table.
She did not come to meet the saints, though precious saints were there, for it says, "Jesus loved Martha... and Lazarus." John 11:55Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. (John 11:5). Fellowship with them was blessed, but fellowship was not her object now She did not come after the weariness and toil of a week's battling with the world to be refreshed from Him. Surely she, like every saint, had learned the trials of the wilderness, and probably knew the blessed springs of refreshment that were in Him.
She came at the moment when the world was expressing its deepest hatred of Him, to pour out on Him what she had treasured up (v. 7). That which was most valuable to her, and all she had on earth, she poured on the Person of the One whose love had made her heart captive, and absorbed her affections. She passed the disciples by. Her brother and her sister in the flesh and in the Lord did not engage her attention then. Jesus only filled her soul; her eye was on Him; her heart beat true to Him; her hands and feet were subservient to her eye and to her heart as she "anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.”
Adoration, homage, worship and blessing were her thought in honor of the One who was "all in all" to her. Surely such worship was most refreshing to Him.
The unspiritual (v. 4) might murmur, but He upheld her cause. He showed how He could appreciate and value the grateful tribute of a heart that knew His worth and preciousness, and could not be silent as to it. A lasting record is preserved of what worship really is by the One who accepted it, and the one who rendered it.
Is this your mode of worship, or do you on the Lord's day go to hear a sermon, say your prayers, meet the saints, or be refreshed after your six days of toil? Oh! if every eye were on the Lord alone, if every heart were true to Him, and if we were each determined to see "no man, save Jesus only," what full praise there would be! Not with alabaster boxes now, but our bodies filled with the Holy Spirit, a stream of thanksgiving and worship of the highest character would ascend in honor of the blessed One who now adorns the glory as He once adorned the earth. May we thus worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
D. T. Grimston
Worthy of homage and of praise;
Worthy by all to be adored;
Exhaustless theme of heavenly lays!
Thou, 'Thou art worthy, Jesus, Lord