Mary

I'll ask you to turn, please, to John chapter 12, just a few words, John chapter 12, verse 1. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very precious or 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. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let her alone.

Against the day of my burial has she kept this. For the poor always you have with you, but me you have not always. And God, we know, will bless his word to our hearts.

There are three times in the Gospels that Mary is found at the feet of the Master. In Luke's Gospel, Chapter 10, she's a learner. She's sitting at his feet, listening to his word.

That's what we were doing yesterday at the conference meetings. We were listening to his word. In Chapter 11 of John, she's a mourner.

You remember Lazarus died, and it says that Jesus wept. By the way, Jesus didn't weep at the grave of Lazarus. He wept before he got there.

But they said to him, hadn't you heard, didn't you know that our brother was dead? And he waited four days before he went and raised him. And someone has said as well that he spoke his name, Lazarus, come forth or all the graves would have emptied. He responded, and the Lord said, loose him and let him go.

But here in John, Chapter 12, Mary is a worshiper. I would suggest there's at least 17 people at this scene in Bethany, the house of affliction. The 12 disciples were there.

Mary and Martha and Lazarus was there. Simon was there, and the Lord was there. But I want you to think that Mary and Martha, both of them, they were sitting there with him.

And Martha seems to have learned not to be distracted with her overmuch service. Remember, that's what the Lord said in Chapter 10 of Luke's Gospel. Thou art cumbered with much service.

And I would like to say to my heart as well as to all of us today that our God is more interested in what I am as a Christian than in what I do. We seem to get things confused. We preachers especially, we seem to think we have to always be busy.

But the Lord says, my son, give me thy heart. He wants the devotion of my heart and of your heart. He puts more value on that than on my service.

Matthew and Mark in their Gospels say that this was the house of Simon. And this is an act of worship as Mary takes a pound of ointment of spikenard, very precious. Now if you would look at Mark and Matthew, you would see that she anointed not only his feet but his head.

You remember Solomon describes the Savior, his eyes, his head, his legs. And he sums it up by saying he is altogether lovely. It seems as if words were inadequate.

There's nothing like him. And that's what God wants you and I to think of our Savior. There's no one like him.

We were reminded by our brother in his worship that he did no sin and he knew no sin. And in him was no sin, the blessed Savior. It was precious, valuable.

In fact, Judas said, as we read, this could have been sold for 300 pence. That's a year's wages in that day and given to the poor. But the Lord valued it.

It was precious to him. And she broke the box and it says she anointed his feet. And as I have said, Matthew and Mark say she anointed his head.

Now she could have poured out some of it. She could have poured out most of it. But her heart was occupied with her master and she gave it all.

She poured it upon him. Mark tells us too in chapter 14 that this was pure, no defilement. That's what God wants from your worship and my worship.

He wants us to be absolutely unadulterated, nothing that would defile. How often you and I in the busyness of life are known to us, we can get defiled. And I'll tell you a practice that I have made through the years and I find it does help a bit.

Before I would come to this gathering when I'm praying to ask the Lord if there's anything that would mar my worship, put it away by the blood of Christ, absolutely pure. That's what the Lord wants our best. Another thing I was thinking, this was prepared.

She had been gathering this, Eastern Maidens gathered this perfume for their wedding day. They would accumulate it over a period of time, maybe years. There was a lot of preparation involved.

And so the Lord wants you and I to prepare for being here this morning. The time to prepare is when the meeting is over. And in the days of the remainder of the week to be gathering so that we have something to present to him.

You can tell if a brother has been reading his Bible when he worships. You can judge. He's been gathering something to give to the master.

And then as I have said, she poured it upon him. And it says the odor, there was perfume as she wiped his feet with her hair. By the way, you would have to have long hair to do that.

Nice to see our sisters with their head covered and their subjection to lordship and their long hair, their glory. That's what God honors. She wiped his feet with her hair.

And she would carry something of the fragrance of that precious ointment with her when she left. And that's what you and I can do. I enjoyed the worship of our brethren this morning.

Our hearts were taken right into his presence. But you know, we're going out to face a godless world. And the Lord wants us to carry something of the fragrance with us.

Another thing I want you to notice, it was prized by the master. Matthew tells us in his writing that this was a memorial to him. He placed value on her act of worship.

And the Lord does the same for us. And then he praises her. Again in Matthew's gospel, he says, she hath done a good work.

And so the Lord help us as we leave this morning, after being in his presence, the greatest gospel message that's ever preached is this. We proclaim. It doesn't say we show forth his death, by the way.

We show his death. We proclaim it. Who do we proclaim it to? Angelic hosts.

They're looking on. Paul tells us that the assembly gatherings are object lessons to angelic beings. They learn as they look on.

Then we proclaim, perhaps, to those who are visiting. And I would venture to say there are neighbors here that they know that every Sunday morning there's a company of Christians. And they gather for what they may call a communion service.

We're proclaiming to the world his death. The greatest gospel message ever preached when we proclaim his death. May the Lord help us this morning that we may carry some of the fragrance with us.

It could be the last time. Before next Lord's day, we may be in his presence. We won't need the bread and the wine then.

We'll have himself. In my earlier days, when I was away from home at times for maybe weeks and months, I carried a picture in my wallet of my wife and five children. And often I would look at it.

It reminded me of them. But when I got home, that photograph never came out of my wallet. You know why? When you have the reality, you don't need the remembrance.

This is only a remembrance. We sing, too soon we rise. The symbols disappear.

But one day very soon, we'll be in his glad presence forever. And then we'll worship as we never have down here. The Lord bless his word for his name's sake.