Ryle on Mark 14:1-9

Imported boundary: J. C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark from the Internet Archive DjVu OCR for the 1858 Robert Carter St. Mark volume. Title pages, preface, contents, running heads, page numbers, OCR boilerplate, and indexes are not mirrored. The source includes Ryle's printed Scripture text and exposition; this scan-derived text remains needs-verification.

Primary passage: Mark 14:1-9.

Source Text

1 After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread : and the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. -2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spike- nard very precious ; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and people. I said, Why was this waste of the oint- 3 And being in Bethany, in the | ment made 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence and have been given to the poor. And they murmered against her. 6 And Jesus said, Let her alone ; why trouble ye her ? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good : but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she could : she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9 Verily I say unto you, " Whereso- ever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. This chapter begins that part of St. Mark's Gospel, which describes our Lord's sufferings and death. Hither- to we have chiefly seen our Saviour as our prophet and teacher. We have now to see Him as our High Priest. Hitherto we have had to consider His miracles and say- ings. We have now to consider His vicarious sacrifice on the cross. Let us first observe in these verses, how God can disap- point the designs of ivicked men, and over-rule them to His own glory. It is plain from St. Mark's words, and the parallel passage in St. Matthew, that our Lord's enemies did not intend to make His death a public transaction. " They sought to take Him by craft." " They said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people." In short, it would appear that their original plan was to do nothing till the feast of the passover was over, and the passover-worshippers had returned to their own homes. The overruling providence of G-od completely defeated this politic design. The betrayal of our Lord took place at an earlier time than the chief priests had expected. The death of our Lord took place on the very day when Jerusalem was most full of people, and the passover feast was at its height. In every way the counsel of these wicked men was turned to foolishness. They thought 297 they were going to put an end for ever to Christ's spiritual kingdom ; and in reality thoy were helping to establish it. They thought to have made Him vile and contemptible by the crucifixion ; and in reality they made Him glorious. They thought to have put Him to death privily and without observation ; and instead, they were compelled to crucify Him publicly, and before the whole nation of the Jews. They thought to have silenced His disciples, and stopped their teaching : and instead, they supplied them with a text and a subject for evermore. So easy is it for God to cause the wrath of man to praise Him. (Psalm lxxvi. 10.) There is comfort in all this for true Christians. They live in a troubled world, and are often tossed to and fro by anxiety about public events. Let them rest them- selves in the thought that everything is ordered for good by an all- wise God. Let them not doubt that all things in the world around them, are working together for their Father's glory. Let them call to mind the words of the second Psalm : " The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take council together against the Lord." And yet it goes on, " He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall have them in derision." It has been so in time past. It will be so in time to come.

Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, how good works are sometimes undervalued and misundertsood. We are told of the good work of a certain woman, in pour- ing ointment on our Lord's head, in a house at Bethany.* She did it, no doubt, as a mark of honor and respect,

The question has often been raised, whether there were one, two, or three women who anointed our Lord during His earthly ministry. 13 and in token of her own gratitude and love towards Him. Yet this act of her's was blamed by some. Their cold hearts could not understand such costly liberality. They called it " waste." " They had indignation within them- selves/' They " murmured against her." The spirit of these narrow-minded fault-finders is un- happily only too common. Their followers and successors Theophylact is of opinion that there were three. For this opinion much may be said. 1. The woman spoken of in the seventh chapter of St. Luke ap- pears first in order. The city in which this anointing took place does not appear to be Bethany. The woman is spoken of as having been " a sinner." The house is described as that of a Pharisee. The anoint- ing was of our Lord's " feet," and not of His " head." There is strong internal evidence that the whole transaction took place at a compara- tively early period of our Lord's ministry. All these points should be noticed. 2. The anointing described by St. John appears next in order. This, we are distinctly told, was " six days" before the passover. The person who anointed our Lord was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. The part of Him anointed was again His " feet," and not His " head." These points ought also to be noticed. 3. The anointing described by St. Matthew and St. Mark comes third in order. This, we are told, was only " two days" before the feast of the passover. In this case wc are not told the name of the woman who anointed our Lord. But wc are told that the ointment was poured on His " head." The question of course occurs to our minds : " Is it likely and prob- able that this event would take place no less than three times " In reply to that, it may be fairly said, that to anoint a person as a mark of honor and respect, was far more common in our Lord's time than we in England suppose ; and that anointing was a far more frequent practice than we in this climate can imagine. And it seems per- fectly possible that the same thing may have happened three times. The main difficulty, of course, is the close similarity of the language used at the anointing described by John, and at that described by Matthew and Mark. This can only be explained by supposing that our Lord twice said the same tilings. 299 are to be found in every part of Christ's visible church. There is never wanting a generation of people who decry what they call " extremes" in religion, and are incessantly recommending what they term "moderation" in the service of Christ. If a man devotes his time, money, and affections to the pursuit of worldly things, they do not blame him. If he gives himself up to the service of money, pleasure, or politics, they find no fault. But if the same man devotes himself, and all he has, to Christ, they can scarcely find words to express their sense of his folly. " He is beside himself." " He is out of his mind/' " He is a fanatic." " He is an enthusiast." " He is righteous over-much." " He is an extreme man." In short, they regard it as " waste." Let charges like these not disturb us, if we hear them made against us because we strive to serve Christ. Let us bear them patiently, and remember that they are as old as Christianity itself. Let us pity those who make such charges against believers. They show plainly that they have no sense of obligation to Christ. A cold heart makes a slow hand. If a man once understands the sinfulness of sin, and the mercy of Christ in dying for him, he will never think anything too good or too costly to give to Christ. He will rather feel, " what shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits." (Psalm cxvi. 12.) He will fear wasting time, talents, money, affections on the things of this world. He will not be afraid of wasting them on his Saviour. He will fear going into extremes about business, money, politics, or pleasure \ but he will not be afraid of doing too much for Christ,

Let us observe, in the last place, how highly our Lord Jesus Christ esteems any service done to Himself, No- where, perhaps, in the Gospels, do we find such strong praises bestowed on any person, as this woman here receives. Three points, in particular, stand out promi- nently in our Lord's words, to which many who now ridicule and blame others for their religion's sake, would do well to take heed. For one thing, our Lord says, " Why trouble ye her " A heart-searching question that, and one which all who persecute others because of their religion would find it hard to answer ! What cause can they show ? What reason can they assign for their conduct ? None ! none at all. They trouble others out of envy, malice, igno- rance, and dislike of the true Gospel. For another thing, our Lord says, " She hath done a good work." How great and marvellous is that praise, from the lips of the King of kings ! Money is often given to the church or bestowed on charitable institutions, from ostentation, or other false motives. But it is the person who loves and honors Jesus Himself, who really " does good works." For another thing, our Lord says, " She hath done what she could." No stronger word of commendation than that could possibly have been used. Thousands live and die without grace, and are lost eternally, who are always saying, " I try all I can. I do all I can." And yet in saying so, they tell as great a lie as Ananias and Sapphira. Few, it may be feared, are to be found like this woman, and really deserve to have it said of them, that they " do what they can."

Let us leave the passage with practical self-applicaton. 301 Let us, like this holy woman, whose conduct we have just heard described, devote ourselves, and all we have, to Christ's glory. Our position in the world may be lowly, and our means of usefulness few. But let us, like her, " do what we can."

Finally, let us see in this passage a sweet foretaste of things yet to come in the day of judgment. Let us believe that the same Jesus who here pleaded the cause of His loving servant, when she was blamed, will one day plead for all who have been His servants in this world. Let us work on, remembering that His eye is upon us, and that all we do is noted in His book. - Let us not heed what men say or think of us, because of our religion. The praise of Christ at the last day, will more than compensate for all we suffer in this world from un- kind tongues.