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4 filßiJp f/ f) H I I I ' M\ * Mm iSMHI m IwHI iWIi llj Ik I I \ ' 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 r THNK- icvfain^ Wmxqt. jfe KMuOjJiiwr 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,