The Story

Soon we shall celebrate Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, when the Lord rode as a king into Jerusalem and the people waved the palms and shouted "Hosanna," greeting Him as King. This was the Lord's last journey up to Jerusalem, at the time when many people were coming to the Passover, in the spring when the country was lovely with greenness and flowers. He came by the way of the Mount of Olives and stopped at Bethany, perhaps for a Sabbath rest. Do we remember Bethany, the little village on the Mount of Olives? Who lived in Bethany who loved the Lord and whom the Lord loved, and with whom He loved to stay?

They made Him a supper in Bethany. It seems to have been in the evening after the Sabbath rest. It was "at the house of Simon the leper," perhaps one whom the Lord had healed of leprosy; and those whom the Lord loved were there. Martha was one of those who served the supper, and Lazarus, whom the Lord had raised from the dead, was one of those at the table with Him; and Mary found a way to show her love. The people were not sitting at the table, but reclining, and their feet would be turned away from the table. So we may picture them as we think of Mary coming in with her "box" of precious ointment. It was probably a sort of flask of stone like white marble, sealed at the neck. She broke the seal or the neck of the flask and poured the sweet-smelling ointment upon the Lord's feet and then wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

Some called it wasteful, and Judas Iscariot, one of the Lord's disciples, said, "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?" But the Lord did not call it wasteful. He valued Mary's gift for it showed her love for Him.

What happened, in our last lesson, in the little town of Bethany? There were many from Jerusalem there who believed on the Lord; did that make it safer for Him? No, the rulers grew more and more anxious as they saw His great works and the love that many people had for Him and their growing belief in Him. From this time the chief priests and Pharisees determined to put Him to death; and they would have been glad to put Lazarus to death also, for through him many believed on the Lord. So again the Lord must go away, for "His time was not yet come."

The place where He went is called Ephraim. (John 11: 54) The exact spot is not surely known, but it was some miles from Jerusalem, and perhaps east of the Jordan. Here He stayed till His time was come, and then He started for Jerusalem with His disciples. He alone knew all the hard things that were to come. But He went before and led the way straight up to Jerusalem.

It was again the beautiful springtime, the time when the hills were covered with flowers, the time of the Passover feast when the multitudes were all journeying to Jerusalem.

In the other Gospels we learn of many things that happened on the way; but John tells us only of the supper that was given for the Lord at Bethany. Matthew and Mark add that it was "at the house of Simon the leper." We feel at home in Bethany, the village where Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived. We remember two visits of the Lord at their home: one when Martha served and Mary sat at the Lord's feet, the other when the Lord raised Lazarus from the grave.

"Ointment of spikenard, very costly." Ointments were made of olive-oil made fragrant with odors and spices. Read of the ointment with which Aaron was anointed in Psalm 133. You find the instructions for making the holy anointing oil in Exodus 30:22-33. Mary's ointment was fragrant with spikenard, a plant which grew on the mountains of India and was greatly prized. Such a gift was an offering worthy of a king. "Judas Iscariot which should betray him." Judas was a disciple of the Lord, appointed by him as one of the twelve. He carried the money for the little company. (See John 13:27-29.) Our chapter speaks of him as a thief, and we soon learn how he bargained to betray the Lord to the chief priests for money. "Three hundred pence." When we remember that a penny was a day's wages, we see that Mary's ointment would be worth the wages of nearly a whole year. The Lord did not call the anointing wasteful. Acts of reverence and worship toward the Lord and acts of kindness and politeness toward one another are not wasteful because they express and strengthen love. Is there ever any gift of love, or service, or possessions, too great to give the Lord? The Lord said that Mary anointed Him for his burying. In her love for the Lord she no doubt felt the growing hatred of the priests for Him and knew that the end was near. We are sensitive to the danger of those we love; and Mary had loved the Lord in a way that was acceptable to Him. This grateful love is what made the gift so precious. The grateful affection filled the house with the sweetest fragrance. And so does a sweet odor fill the house whenever we feel grateful love for the Lord and express it in our prayer, or in kind words and deeds to one another. The Lord also said, "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." (Mark 14:9) Did you notice how Mary was spoken of in John 11:2? It shows that she became known as the one who anointed the Lord.

1. Where had the Lord gone, away from the angry Jews? Why was He now returning to, Jerusalem?

2. Tell me of three visits of the Lord in Bethany.

3. What did Mary express by her anointing of the Lord?

4. What spirit is represented by Judas and his complaint?

5. When is our house filled with the odor of the ointment?

Spiritual Study

The words of Caiaphas in John 11:49-52 are a remarkable evidence of the continuance of the prophetic spirit with the high priest's office even to the end of the Jewish dispensation. It is also evident how distinct the spirit of prophecy was from the man who spoke the message and from his personal thoughts and desires. Compare Isaac's blessing of Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 27:33) Remember also the Lord's charge (Matthew 23:1-4) in regard to the scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat. (D. 2022, 2282)

The hostility toward the Lord in Jerusalem and His retirement to the country beyond Jordan "where John at first baptized" (John 10:39-42) is representative of the unwillingness to receive Him in an interior and spiritual way, and of His reception only in an external way by simple, Gentile minds. There is a similar meaning in His retirement now to a country "near to the wilderness." (John 11:54)

Bethany, as we have learned, represents a loving reception of the Lord by simple, Gentile hearts. Lazarus whom the Lord raised from the dead in Bethany is especially the type of the new heavenly life which the Lord awakened in such simple hearts. Lazarus' sitting at the table with the Lord represents the strengthening of this new life by continual increase from the Lord. There is the same meaning in the Sacrament of the Holy Supper, and in the frequent comparison of heaven to a feast. Remember especially the parable of the great supper. (Luke 14:15-24; E. 252, 617) We see also why sacred feasts formed an important part of the ancient representative worship. (A. 3596) The sitting or reclining at the table represents the peacefulness and permanence of the state.

Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, we have seen represent the more external and more internal love for the Lord, which belong to the heavenly life in simple hearts. The meaning of the two sisters is shown in the account of the Lord's visit to the home in Bethany, in Luke 10:38-42. We find Martha then expressing her love in outward service, not free from a sense of importance and anxious care; while Mary, sitting at the Lord's feet to hear His word, is a type of interior and trustful affection. Do the sisters have the same meaning in our present story? Martha again serves at the supper; and is what Mary did representative of the deeper love?

"The house was filled with the odor of the ointment." How truly this can be said of any home where love and kindness are, and grateful love and worship of the Lord.

The sacred oil in ointments was a symbol of love, and the spices and odors were symbols of humility and gratitude and sweet qualities which make love precious. (A. 9474) Note the charge in Exodus 30:31-33 that ointment like the sacred ointment should not be made or used for any other purpose. There ought to be in love for the Lord qualities of reverence, of worship, which should not be in our love for any other person or any other thing.

The ointment was mainly olive oil, made fragrant with sweet spices, in this instance with costly spikenard. See the instructions for making the holy anointing oil, in Exodus 30:22-33. The olive oil is the familiar type of heavenly love for the Lord and one another, which heals and softens and makes all go smoothly between men. See Psalm 133. The oil is the love, and the sweet spices which make it fragrant are the humility and gratitude and other sweet thoughts which blend with love and make it delightful. (A. 9474) Pouring the ointment upon the Lord's feet represents especially a love for His perfect life. Wiping His feet with the hair expresses the abandon of perfect love, and the humble effort to bring the particulars of our life into contact with the Lord's life.

The remonstrance of Judas expresses the desire of self-love to withhold service from the Lord, and to spoil even apparently good works with a secret motive of advantage to oneself. Three and three hundred are numbers which express completeness. The three hundred pence which Judas would have put into his bag suggest how all of love may be spoiled by this selfish spirit. (T. 211; E. 532; A. 2788, 9825)

The Lord said that Mary's anointing was for His burial. Ointments of burial, like those which the women brought later to the tomb of the Lord, represent in a simple sense the love that would hold one who has gone in remembrance. But burial represents resurrection, and the ointments of burial represent also the deeper love which knows that there is no death and which seeks to keep the heavenly presence near. That Mary should be known for her anointing of the Lord seems to mean that in our love for Him we find our own immortal life. (A. 10252) The Lord's words imply that such deep, true love towards Him is more precious than love to one another, even supposing that love to be genuine, which it is not with selfish men. "The poor always ye have with you; but Me ye have not always."

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