MARY’S ACT JUDGED
‘There were some that had indignation.… Jesus said, Let her alone.’
I. By man.—John is our informant as to the origin of the indignation. It sprang up in the base heart of Judas. The motives of Mary and of Judas were as opposite as the poles. Mary’s love and tenderness would become all the more tender because of the hatred of Judas, and Judas would become all the more intense in his bitterness when he saw the evident devotion of Mary. The presence of Jesus brought forth the grateful affection of Mary and the loathsome selfishness of Judas. The secret of Judas’s indignation was covetousness. The secret of the disciples’ indignation was but that species of superficiality which follows the crowd, right or wrong. The lesson, therefore, for us is twofold—
(a) Take heed and beware of covetousness. There is nothing that will sooner afflict the heart with spiritual rottenness than this; nothing that will more quickly and irretrievably destroy all that is good in the tissue of our characters than the rust and moth of covetous and selfish desires.
(b) Judge not one against another. The habit of grumbling and complaining is fatal to true peace of mind, and destructive of all real spirituality.
II. By our Lord.—Our Lord’s judgment of Mary’s act is deliberately and rebukingly expressed. ‘Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on Me.’
(a) The interference of Judas and the disciples was unwarranted. The charge of Judas had been that this was a specimen of useless waste. Such a suggestion had never occurred to the heart of Mary—that an expression of affection, and love, and gratitude in a world where these flowers so seldom bloom could by any possibility be ‘waste.’ The thought troubled her. The inner trouble flew to the face and expressed itself in the anxious eye and downcast look. But the Lord would not have this wretched meddlesomeness. How easily do we pronounce judgment on others! How soon may we find a flaw in the most perfect work of others’ piety! But Jesus always takes His people under His supreme and sufficient protection.
(b) Their opinion of Mary’s act was erroneous. They thought it was waste; in reality it was a good work. They thought it was waste, but He expressed His approval of this mode of applying her substance. They thought it waste; He declares that (unknown to her) it had a peculiar fitness to the occasion. They thought it waste; He said it was an act which should be worldwide in its influence.
Illustration
‘Continuity and diffusion mark all we do. It is not given us to say whether the word once spoken, or the act once performed, shall pass beyond its immediate object. We cannot help it. A blow struck at one end of a beam will vibrate to the other. A circle formed in the middle of a lake will ripple outwards towards the shore. No force once liberated is ever lost. It never subsides, so to speak, into its former self, but works on, by transmission or conversion, with unceasing and unresting activity. It is so with men’s words and deeds. When once spoken or done they are beyond recall, and largely beyond arrest. They continue in effective operation after we have forgotten them. They are perpetually enlarging their sphere of influence, and working out their characteristic results, when all trace of them has disappeared from human vision. Hence eternity alone can give a just and complete account of their actual power and effect. The thought is stupendously solemn, and ought to be solemnly laid to heart. It is one to inspire us with gladdening hope, or else to fill us with terrible dismay. It is one, too, to bring home to us, with special application and stimulating emphasis, the great practical question of the Apostle: “What manner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy conversation and godliness?” ’