Read 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).
She came not to hear a sermon, although the firs? of Teachers was there: but 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 came not to make her requests known to Him. Time was, 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 now her thought, for her brother was seated at the table.
She came not to meet 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 likewise, and, doubtless, of frequent occurrence; but fellowship was not her object now.
She came not after the weariness and toil of a week's battling with the world to be refreshed from Him; though surely she, like every saint, had learned the trials of the wilderness, and none more than she, probably, knew the blessed springs of refreshment that were in Him.
But she came, and that, too, at the moment when the world was expressing its deepest hatred to Him, to pour out what she long had treasured up (v. 7), that which was most valuable to her, all she had upon earth, upon the person of the One whose love had made her heart captive, and absorbed her affections.
She thought not of Simon the leper; she passed the disciples by; her brother and her sister in the flesh and in the Lord engaged not her attention then; " Jesus only " filled her soul; her eye was on Him; her heart beat true to Him; her hands and her feet were subservient to her eye and to her heart, and she " anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair."
Adoration, homage, worship, blessing, was her one thought; and that in honor of the One who was 49
" all in all " to her; and surely such worship was most refreshing to Him.
The unspiritual (v. 4) might murmur, but He upheld her cause, and showed how He could appreciate and value the grateful tribute of a heart that knew His worth and preciousness, and could not be silent to it. A lasting record is preserved of what worship really is by the One who accepted it, and of the one who rendered it.
And now, dear reader, 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' toil? Oh! if every eye were on the Lord alone; if every heart were true to Him; 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 Ghost, a stream of thanksgiving, of worship of the highest character, would ascend in honor of the blessed One that now adorns the glory as He once adorned the earth.
Be it ours thus to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Amen!
BE much with God, so that your service may be toned and matured by the secret intercourse of your soul with Him. I think this is where we most lamentably fail.
The evangelists of a century ago had to face intense opposition wherever they went, and were often entirely without human support, or the fellowship of saints. But their very circumstances of isolation cast them upon God. They had power first with God, and as a consequence with the people. They learned the value of souls, and estimated the real worth of the world in the secret of the Sanctuary, and when they came forth to preach they awed their listeners as they spoke out in burning words and with loving hearts the message of God. The divine truths they knew were tremendous realities to them and they spoke of them as such to sinners.