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From Heaven With Love
sold and the proceeds fallen into his possession, the poor would have
received no benefit.
As a financier Judas thought himself greatly superior to his fellow
disciples, and he had gained a strong influence over them. His
professed sympathy for the poor deceived them. The murmur passed
round the table, “To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment
might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.”
Mary heard the criticism. Her heart trembled within her. She
feared that her sister would reproach her for extravagance. The
Master, too, might think her improvident. She was about to shrink
away, when the voice of her Lord was heard, “Let her alone; why
trouble ye her?” He knew that in this act she had expressed her
gratitude for the forgiveness of her sins. Lifting His voice above the
murmur of criticism, He said, “She has wrought a good work on Me.
For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye
may do them good: but Me ye have not always. She hath done what
she could: she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying.”
The fragrant gift which Mary had thought to lavish upon the dead
body of the Saviour she poured upon His living form. At the burial
its sweetness could only have pervaded the tomb; now it gladdened
His heart. Pouring out her love while the Saviour was conscious
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of her devotion, she was anointing Him for the burial. As He went
down into the darkness of His great trial, He carried with Him the
memory of that deed, an earnest of the love that would be His from
His redeemed ones forever.
Mary Had Obeyed the Holy Spirit’s Promptings
Mary knew not the full significance of her deed of love. She
could not explain why she had chosen that occasion for anointing
Jesus. The Holy Spirit had planned for her, and she had obeyed
His promptings. Inspiration stoops to give no reason. An unseen
presence, it moves the heart to action. It is its own justification.
Christ told Mary the meaning of her act: “In that she hath poured
this ointment on My body, she did it for My burial.” As the alabaster
box was broken and filled the house with fragrance, so Christ’s
body was to be broken; but He was to rise from the tomb, and the
fragrance of His life was to fill the earth. “Christ hath loved us, and