was one of the guests invited to meet him. Our Lord did not refuse to sanction a feast prepared for his sake : nor, when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, manifested her regard for him in a way that had an appearance of extravagance, did he condemn her for it : on the contrary, he judged that it was suited to the occasion ; and therefore he vindicated her from the uncharitable censures which his own Disciples passed upon her, and declared his decided approbation of what she had done.
We propose to consider,
I. The act commended —
There are two points of view in which this may be considered :
1. As retrospective —
[The act itself was this. Whilst Jesus reclined at the table, Mary came with " an alabaster-box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, and on his feet ; and then wiped his feet with her hair."
Now in this act she had respect to all the kindness which the Lord Jesus Christ had shewn both to her and to her fa- mily. He had favoured them with a more peculiar intimacy, and had testified on many occasions a pre-eminent regard for them. The opportunities thus offered them for spiritual good, had been improved by all of them, but especially by Mary. When Martha had studied chiefly to shew respect by external services, Mary had been intent on acquiring good to her soul from his instructive discourses ; and, on being blamed by Martha for neglect of duty, she was applauded by her Lord for having " chosen a better part, which should never be taken away from her."
But there was one mercy in particular which she had re- ceived from the Lord Jesus, and which had filled her soul with the profoundest gratitude. Her brother Lazarus had been raised by him from the dead. Jesus had not indeed come to them so speedily as they had wished ; but this delay gave him an opportunity to display towards them in a more abundant measure the riches of his grace, and the all-sufficiency of his power. He expressed his sympathy with them under their affliction ; and taught them to expect from him not only the restoration of their departed brother, but the everlasting sal- vation of their own souls a
a John xi. 25, 26.
1456.] COMMENDATION OF MARY's LOVE. 177
How to requite all this kindness she knew not, but what she could do, she most gladly did ; and, without any fear of the uncharitable constructions that were likely to be put upon her conduct, as ostentatious, obtrusive, prodigal, she determined to honour him before all to the utmost of her power.]
2. As prospective —
[We do not apprehend that Mary herself had any idea of confirming our Lord's assertions respecting his approaching death. But as the prophets of old were inspired by the Spirit of God to speak things which they themselves did not under- standb, and as Caiaphas, the high-priest, had very recently foretold (though unintentionally and without the remotest conception of the meaning of his own words) the glorious ends that should be accomplished by the death of Christ0 ; so Mary, though unconscious of it herself, predicted by this act the death and resurrection of her beloved Lord. It was common among the Jews to embalm the bodies of their departed friends : but there would be no time allowed for such tokens of respect from the friends of Jesus : for he would not be taken down from the cross till the Sabbath was nearly arrived ; and on the Sabbath no such work could by the Jewish law be performed ; and at the earliest dawn of the third day Jesus was to rise : Jesus therefore construed this action of Mary's as a preparation for his funeral, and as a performance of a rite, which could not otherwise have been performed at alld. This, we acknowledge, was not intended by herself; but it was designed and overruled by God ; who by this significant emblem foreshewed the very events which in a few days were fully accomplished.]