As we shall see, the timing of this meal and Mary’s gift to Christ was significant. If this was not divinely providential, it was certainly used by the Lord to emphasize a significant lesson. As we review the details of this meal and the people who were present, Mary stands out above them all. But upon a deeper inspection what she did is even more outstanding than first realized. That was something which I had never seen before this week, and it will be my last point this afternoon, so I hope that you can hang on long enough to get there.
Christ and His disciples had been spending their nights in Bethany during this last week. This meal might have been special, or perhaps it was just another evening meal, with some of Jesus’ closest friends also invited. Lazarus was certainly in one of the spot-lights, but then so was the Lord Jesus. Martha was diligently preparing food and directing whatever servants were involved. And likely, Mary had been doing her part earlier in the day to make the meal a success. But then when the dishes were being cleared away and things were settling down, Mary came to her Lord. She had a pound of precious ointment which she poured onto His head and down his back towards His feet. She even used her long, dark hair to further work the spikenard into His skin and to wipe off the excess. In the face of the disapproval of some of the guests, Mary did this because of her great love for Christ. This was an act of worship.
We are commanded – and taught – to worship the Lord. It is a sin to serve God but not to worship Him – these things are perhaps parallel – but not synonymous. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before Him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” “O come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear before him all the earth.”
Despite the exhortations and commands – for most Christians worship is an insignificant part of their lives. The reason for this might be that many of us have a poor understanding of what worship is. And I include myself in that statement. Few Christians – if any – would say that they don’t want to worship the Lord – of course we do! But few of us take the time for worship and perhaps few of us understand what is involved. We have time for some prayer and perhaps time for some sort of service, but worship is something else.
Let’s use Mary as an illustration of a worshipful person.
Notice first that Mary didn’t come to HEAR A SERMON that day.
Most evangelical and fundament churches advertise Sunday “worship services” at 11:00 and perhaps 7:00. More and more churches these days have a worship team which is suppose to help people to worship. And still 95% of time “worship service” is a misnomer, because there is very little worship in the service. It is not worship to listen to a rock band repeating trite religious phrases over and over again. In fact it is not necessarily worship to listen to a glorious, melodious voice singing the praises of God. It is not worship to sit and listen to the preaching of God’s Word, even where Christ is uplifted and glorified. It is rarely worship to give God a tithe of our income, or to pray for missionaries. Mary didn’t attend that dinner in order to hear a sermon or a Sunday school lesson that day.
Even some of Jesus’ enemies had to admit, “Never man spake like this man.” On earlier occasions, Mary had sat at the feet of the Lord and had heard great and Heavenly things. I don’t know if the lady was highly intelligent and had been well taught before meeting Christ. I don’t know if she could instruct others – as Priscilla had been able to do. But, I am sure that Mary had already learned some significant things. And one of those was that the Lord Jesus was worthy of all her love and worship.
There are many ways to define and describe worship. I have heard, or read, that worship is the overflow of a grateful heart. It is the outpouring of a soul at rest in the presence of God. It is the occupation of the heart, not on needs or blessings, but on the Lord Himself. In the New Testament, the word basically means “to do reverence” or “homage” – “to adore.” I like the idea that worship is to give to God out of an overflowing heart, not because of needs or supplies, but merely because of who His is.
In addition to other aspects, the primary characteristic of worship is that of giving. Depending on the intent of the heart, so goes the quality of the worship. The woman who gave all that she had in the two tiny mites, was worshiping her God. And yet the large sums given by the rich didn’t contain the slightest bit of worship. And generally speaking our checks in the offering box aren’t given in a worshipful way either. We may not give reluctantly or grudgingly, but at the same time it’s not usually adoringly or worshipfully. After all, the tithe is the Lord’s in the first place. Listening to a Gospel message is not worship, BUT it might evoke worship. Worship is not necessarily singing scriptural hymns, or attending church, although both could be acts of worship. Worship is the unstoppable adoration of some child of God, flowing out of the fullness of his heart. Only God Himself could have stopped Mary that day from her devotion.
Mary didn’t come to make a REQUEST of the Lord.
Most people think of prayer as worship, and sometimes it is, but not very often. When we ask the grocer for a jar of pickles, that is not worship. And when a child asks his mother for a drink, that is not worship. Pleading with God for a new car, or that grandma might get well is not worship. Nor is it worship, to pray for the salvation of the lost. Even though there is nothing wrong with these things, they are not worship.
It is not recorded that Mary spoke a word to the Lord in this case. I would guess that she first asked permission to open that box over Jesus’ head, but I don’t know that.
Here are some important distinctions: prayer, generally speaking, concerns itself with needs. Praise is usually uttered in the light of God’s blessings. But worship is concerned only with the LORD Himself. Can you hear the difference in these statements? “Lord, would you please redeem my friend.” “Lord, thank you for saving my friend.” “Lord, thank you for being a merciful, gracious and saving God.” Mary was not present at the meal that day in order to get something – but to give something to the Lord. Certainly the resurrection of her brother may have been prominent in her mind. But this just taught her more about the grace, power and authority of the Lord Jesus. The resurrection of Lazarus should have prepared her for the Lord’s resurrection which was coming, and this ointment was a part of His burial preparation.
Mary didn’t come for the FELLOWSHIP that evening.
There appears to have been a pretty good group of people there for that meal. There were disciples of the Lord, all of the twelve and perhaps others as well. Perhaps there were relatives of both the Lord Jesus and Mary and Lazarus. There may have been friends whom Lazarus was trying to introduce to the Saviour. On other occasions there were various Jewish officials present as well. But Mary wasn’t occupied with either friends or public officials. And she was not there because it was expected of her to be there. Mary was there and anointed the feet of the Saviour because she want to do it.
Isn’t it so often true that “the good is the enemy of the best”? It is easy to let the excitement of visitors and friends overshadow the importance of the Lord. Thanksgiving Day is a perfect example: There is often wonderful food shared with relatives and friends with whom we don’t fellowship often enough. Sometimes there are games played, maybe a little rest that is not available any other time. We can do some good, wonderful things on the last Thursday of November or the second Tuesday in October. But in the process we can forget the One for whom we should be most thankful. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Christian fellowship ought to be a triangle with Christ at the pinnacle.
Mary was not present for refreshment, but rather to refresh the Lord. If you come to church for the blessings, that is okay and good, but it is not necessarily worship. If you attend in order to learn the Word of God, that is good, and if to minister to others that is also good. If you attend for fellowship that is good, but again, it isn’t worship.
Mary didn’t come to that supper because it was the POPULAR thing to do.
It wasn’t popular at all. In fact, there was some danger involved with being identified with Christ. The hatred of the religious and political world was ready to break upon the head of the Saviour. Or to be more precise, the serpent was about to bite the heel of the Anointed One. And Mary was there to pour ointment on that heel. Some Galileans claimed to love Christ, but many Judeans hated him, and this took place in Judah. This worship was not popular with the general crowd, because He was not recognized to be God. Sadly, Mary’s worship was not appreciated even by some of the children of God. Furthermore what she was doing was considered to be impractical and wasteful. We have the comments of the disciples and Judas. But I wonder what Martha and Lazarus thought. Mary was giving away a large portion of her dowry. She was hurting some aspects of her future life.
But Mary was not concerned with the opinions of others, either for her or against. It doesn’t appear that anyone else was concerned enough to worship Christ that day – at least in the same way or to the same degree as Mary. The pathway of the wholehearted disciple is never very crowded – “Few there be that go in thereat.” In fact the Christian who loves the Lord for who He is, will find plenty of opposition – even in the house of God. But men, like Paul, and ladies, like Mary, “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge – and the worship – of Christ Jesus their Lord.”
Mary was accused of being extravagant and wasteful, but she pleased the Lord.
Mary didn’t come to KEEP but to GIVE.
Her gift was very costly. To gather this ointment, she may have had to deny herself many pleasures. A laborer earned about a penny a day, meaning that this gift was worth just less than a year’s wages. In our bloated society it was worth many thousands of dollars. Genuine love is measured by sacrifice – that has always been true. “The Lord loved his church and gave himself for it.” David said, “I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord.” He said, “I will not offer as a sacrifice, something which cost me nothing.”
Here then we see how service just MIGHT take on the quality of worship. If, after the tithe, we give abundantly to the Lord because we love Him – it becomes worship. If we want to bring others to Christ, not because of their need, but because we want to glorify the Lord – that is a form of worship. If we stand before the congregation and sing, or if we join the song service with our heart fully engaged, we may be in worship. But sadly, rarely do we serve the Lord this way.
Mary’s gift was brought eventually to the feet of the Saviour. Those feet that walked dusty, hard roads were beautiful feet, for they brought the gospel of peace. She might have believed that those feet would one day rest upon the footstool of their enemies. And generally speaking, gifts given to royalty were not placed into their hands, but they might be set at their feet.
Mary’s gift was given in total self-abnegation – self-denial. We remember that after children, a woman’s glory was her hair (I Corinthians 11:15). This lady demonstrated humility before God by giving to Him her personal glory. There is no room for pride before deity – there is no room for pride in worship. “When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the prince of glory died… “My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.” Mary’s gift that day filled the house, and covered everyone who was there. And that reminds us that the closer we are to the Lord, the more effect we will have on others.
In addition to each of these things, there was a certain aspect of FAITH in her worship.
This particular ingredient is not often recognized, and I didn’t see it until recently. Jesus said unto them all, “Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.” Remember – the Lord Jesus had been telling His disciples for several months that He was going to be slain. He had told them about the crucifixion, and the resurrection, and the ascension. But how well had they listened? Had they really believed Him? I am sure that some of them did, and Mary apparently was one of them.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial”? I have previously thought that Christ was merely taking Mary’s gift and using it as another opportunity to point to the cross. He was taking an event and using it as a tool for teaching. But in taking that interpretation, haven’t I broken the cardinal rule of Bible interpretation? What Jesus said was that Mary was actually and literally preparing Christ for his burial.
Mary should have known that Christ is Jehovah’s final Passover Lamb, “slain before the foundation of the world.” She might have anticipated, according to Jesus’ own words, that He would be sacrificed on the day of the Passover. Assuming that to be true, then there might not be an opportunity to properly prepare the Lord’s body for the grave, after His death. Doesn’t Jesus actually say that by faith, Mary was preparing His body?
On the morning after the Sabbath, a number of ladies went to the tomb in order to “anoint His body.” It was three days late, but better late than not at all. Who were those ladies? Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. Who was not present? Among others, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, was not there. Why? Wasn’t it because she had already done her part. I will not denigrate the faith of the other ladies, but I would suggest that the faith of Mary was greater than theirs. Her faith was two steps ahead of theirs.
And when she poured this valuable gift onto they body of the Lord, by faith it was applied to the One who was her Saviour. At this point Christ Jesus was not her Friend. He was no longer her pastor and teacher. Even though He was and will continue to be the Creator, the Son of God, the Messiah, Mary was anointing and worshiping her Redeemer.
What is worship? It is the sacrifice of the overflowing heart toward the glorified Saviour. Proper worship is giving to Him the very best that we possess. Because He is worthy of our best and so very much more.