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A Woman’s Memorial.
“After two days was the feast of the passover,
and unleavened bread: and the chief priests and
the scribes sought how they might take him by
craft, and put him to death. But they said: ‘Not
on the feast day, lest.there be an uproar of the
people.’ And being in Bethany, in the house of
Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came
a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
spikenard, very precious; and she brake the box,
and poured it on his head. And there were some
that had indignation within themselves, and said:
‘Why was this waste of the ointment made? For
it might have been sold for more than three hun
dred pence, and have been given to the poor?’ And
they murmured against her. And Jesus said: ‘Let
her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a
good work on me. For ye have the poor with you
always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them
good; but me ye have not always. She hath done
what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint
my body for the burying. Verily I say unto you:
Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached through
out the whole world, this also that she hath done
shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.’ ” Mark
14: 1-10.
There are three pictures of home life in Bethany
that have to be considered together if we get the
full meaning out of either of them. The first is, that
of an ordinary working home; the second is, that
of a home in trouble; and the third is, that of a
home rejoicing. In each one of these Jesus is the
central figure.
At first he is the guest. He enters the home of
Mary and Martha, and is received by them.
I know that the impression prevails that Martha
received him alone. I do not believe it. The record
says, “Martha received him into her house, and she
had a sister called Mary who also sat at his feet.”
The word ‘ ‘ also ’ ’ here clearly shows to my mind
that Mary assisted Martha in the receiving. Mary
and Martha received, and Mary also sat at his
feet.
Martha complained at this. Her mind was more
on the reception of Jesus from the kitchen’s stand
point than anything else. How signally she failed.
A warm reception is ever appreciated more than
a big dinner. What a pity the housekeepers of the
world cannot see that it is so. A big dinner merely
never attracts any man, unless he is part hog. It
is the reception which he is to get that attracts
him.
Martha so misunderstood the secret of the en
tertainment that she acually went to the Master
and complained that her sister was taking up too
much time with him. We cannot imagine a more
ridiculous thing than Martha did. Suppose her sis
ter had neglected her duty, the guest in the home
should have been the last one to have spoken to
about it.
But Mary had not neglected her duty. Duty un
der such circumstances is ever the best entertain
ment of the guest. It is, how can I make my guest
happy? A housekeeper that does not see this has
no business with a home.
Mary saw it, and knowing Jesus as she did, she
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set herself to do his pleasure. Martha was the op
posite of Mary in this rescpect. She was fretting
about things in the kitchen. It was well enough
for her to be concerned about the meal, but there
was no need that she fret about it. Fretting never
made anything easier.
In her anxiety to do for the Master, she made
him feel uncomfortable, and he rebuked her for it,
saying, “Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and
troubled about many things, but one thing is need
ful, for Mary hath chosen the good part which shall
not be taken away from her.”
What a lesson this is! It is friction that brings
us to premature graves. Oh, the worry! How we
need to get rid of it. There is but one way it can
be gotten rid of, and that is, to follow Mary at the
feet of Jesus.
A Home in Sorrow.
The next picture is the same home with Laza
rus introduced. He is sick, and Mary and Martha
send a message to Jesus: “Lord, he whom thou
lovest is sick.” How perfectly natural it is for us
to turn to Jesus when we are in trouble.
I remember a man whose little boy was very
sick. The doctors had said that he could not live.
His father -was not a Christian. I called and was
met at the door by the poor, heart-crushed father
who asked me to pray for his little boy. While we
were at prayer he said, ‘ ‘ Oh, I wish I could pray! ’ ’
What a pity! He had lived all of his life, and all at
once realized that he needed the friendship of
Jesus.
Jesus answers the prayer of these two sisters for
their brother, but he does it in away that they
did not expect. He waits until Lazarus dies, and
then, coming byway of the grave, answers their
prayer.
Oh, How many of us he has had to carry through
ihe same experience! He does not delight in doing
it, but we force it upon him. Our lack of faith or
unwillingness to surrender to his plan often causes
him to resort to such means in order to bring us
humbly at his feet.
A Home Rejoicing.
We come now to the last of these pictures, a
home rejoicing. It is the one about which we pur
pose speaking most. A great thing has occurred
in the little town of Bethany. Lazarus has died
and has been raised again. The whole country is
stirred up. On every hand Mary and Martha and
Lazarus are being congratulated. But this is not
enough for them, their thoughts turn to Jesus. They
are aware of the source of their blessings, so they
prepare this feast. It is given in the house of Simon,
the leper. A number of persons are invited, but Je
sus is the special guest.
There seems to be no complaining now by Mar
tha. She is still serving, but she has quite a dif
ferent spirit from what she had when we first saw
her. Then she was fretting because Mary stopped
to sit at Jesus’ feet; now she serves joyously without
the hint of a complaint. Unquestionably she has
grown in grace. The Master’s rebuke has done her
good.
Mary also seems to have grown. Our first picture
revealed her sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening
to his words; now, in addition to finding her at his
feet, she is breaking the alabaster box of ointment
and pouring it over the Master’s head.
One is not surprised at this conduct, especially
when he remembers how Jesus has blessed this
home. He has raised Lazarus from the dead. There
is, therefore, nothing too good for him to have.
The Whining Critic.
But in spite of all this, there were those present
at the feast who criticized what Mary did. They
The Golden Age for April 12, 1906.
Le n G . Broughton
said, “To what purpose hath this waste of the
ointment been made? for this ointment might have
been sold for above three hundred shillings, and
given to the poor. And they murmured against
her. ’ ’
This is just what we would expect from such a
Pharisaical lot. They had no heart; they spurned
sentiment. Their whole life was expressed in legal
isms. I am sorry for such people. We have them
to-day, plenty of them. When a man gets too good
to give a compliment to a neighbor, or too pious
to jolly and joke his children, he is entirely too
good to associate with me, that is, if that kind
of things makes goodness.
I think Mary showed great judgment in that she
paid the Master this compliment while he was yet
alive. The most of us wait until people we admire
are dead, and then go around whining out our com
pliments and building our monuments. I do so love
to find a man that is big enough to do some of the
complimenting while the object of his compliments
is living.
I make no prohibition against nice things
being said about me when I am dead, but I would
like to draw the line against the man who has
rigidly withheld his compliments during my lifetime.
Flowers, to me, will never smell so sweet as during
my struggles. You may put them on my grave if
you like when I am dead, but let me have some of
them, if you please, while I am living.
I make my bow to Mary in this effort to express
her gratitude and love to Jesus Christ. He has done
for her what no one else could do, and now she
tries to show to him a bit of what she has in her
heart. Lord Tennyson caught her spirit, and ex
pressed it in verse:
“Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,
Nor other thought her mind admits
But, ‘He was dead, and there he sits,
And he that brought him back is there.’
Then one deep love doth supersede
All other when her ardent gaze
Roves from the living brother’s face
And rested upon the Life indeed.
All suitable thought, all curious fears,
Borne down by gladness so complete,
She bows, she bathes the Savior’s feet,
With costly spikenard and with tears.”
What She Could.
Jesus evidently appreciated what Mary did, for,
turning to her critics, he said, “Let her alone;
why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work
on me, she hath done what she could, and verily I
say unto you, wheresoever the gospel shall be preach
ed throughout the whole world, that also which this
woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial
of her.”
Glorious tribute! It was Jesus who paid it. He
was not afraid to bestow compliments.
“She hath done what she could.”
This is the one sentiment of all others connected
with the feast that I want us at this time to take:
Have we done what we could?
Have we done what we could to know Jesus?
While attending the great Keswick Convention
of Christian Workers in England, I heard a mis
sionary from India relate this little story: “One
day I was visiting through the famine district, and
found a poor, naked, and almost starved mother.
By her side lay an infant which had starved to
death. It was her only child. She had endeavored
to nurse it, but had failed. There was nothing else
that could be obtained for the child to subsist on,