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HOUSMAIL HM142
September 2013 MARY -- SISTER OF LAZARUS AND MARTHA BACKGROUND Matthew 26:6-13 Mark 14:3-9 Luke 7:36-50 John
12:1-8 Matthew
and Mark tell us that Jesus regarded this as a particularly important “Gospel
Incident” - important enough to say, “Wherever the Gospel is preached in the
whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her”. (Matthew 26:13, Mark 14:9 RSV) I read
these words from Jesus as an instruction to preachers! He wants this story included
as an essential element of the Gospel of the Kingdom -- NOT an optional extra!
Read
it carefully! If we take Jesus literally, he is saying that: 1. The
Gospel of the Kingdom of God has not been preached adequately, until
this story has been told. 2. The
Gospel has not been believed properly, until we have understood
this story, and responded adequately to its PERSONAL meaning FOR US! There
are some who claim that the incident in Luke is about a DIFFERENT event to that
described in the other three Gospels. They claim that there are differences in
Luke, compared with the other three. However, I discount that. The so called “differences”
don’t really exist if we read Luke complimentary to the other three – not contradictory.
Although
it is not the main point of the story, we should take note that what Jesus said
about it, provides us with one of the markers of an authentic Gospel! It was to
be told “wherever the Gospel is preached”! Many
ancient manuscripts have been found which claim to be “gospels”, but for various
reasons, they have not been included in the Canon of Scripture. I don’t recommend
you waste time reading them, but if you ever do, you will find that, for anyone
familiar with the four in our Bibles, these others are easily dismissed as frauds.
And it is interesting to note that, apart from any other problems, one thing they
have in common, is that this story is missing! But, of course, Luke has told it! So why
did Jesus single out this story for such special mention? Why did he want it included
in the Gospel “wherever it is preached”? DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THE GOSPELS There
are some significant differences in detail. However we can be certain that they
are about the same incident. As we just said above, the differences are not contradictory.
Rather, we need to add the details together to get the complete picture. Matthew,
Mark, and John mention that some of the onlookers were indignant about what they
thought was a waste of money. John identifies the principal complainant as Judas
and says that his REAL motive for complaint was that he was a THIEF who was keeper
of the purse and saw it as a lost opportunity to steal some of it for his own
gain. John puts a value on the ointment -- 300 denarii -- about a year’s wages
in our values! (No wonder Judas was upset!) Matthew
and Mark mention only that the woman anointed the HEAD of Jesus. Luke and John
leave out the detail about anointing the head of Jesus, but tell us that she anointed
his FEET, and then wiped them with her hair. Luke
is the only one to tell us that she was a “SINNER” from the city, who was moved
to tears. (The sin is not quite specifically named, but it is implied by some
modern versions (NEB, NIV) that she was a harlot.) Luke is also the only one to
tell us how Jesus exercised His God given authority to FORGIVE her sins. Luke
appears to be chronologically out of place. However this is not necessarily significant.
The Gospels are accurate records of WHAT happened - but are not always careful
to record events in exact historical sequence. John
is the only one to identify the woman. She was MARY of Bethany, sister of Martha,
and of Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead. (John 11:1-2) WHY
THE DIFFERENCES? We can
only speculate about that -- but it is probably worth doing that in this case,
in order to take the lesson to our own hearts when faced with the same situation
in a modern setting. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke were written much
earlier than John. It seems likely that Mary may still have been alive when they
were written, and that her name was deliberately omitted to spare her “embarrassment”
from immature and insensitive “believers”, who all too often, seem to delight
in spreading GOSSIP about such things. (There is a lesson there for us!) On the
other hand, if she was already dead when John’s Gospel was written, there was
an opportunity to include some other details, which are quite important to Mary’s
wonderful story about her conversion and early discipleship. WHO
WAS SIMON THE LEPER? Actually
he isn’t identified. That isn’t the important issue. It can become a side track
which detracts from the main point. What we do know is that:
The lesson for us? Our love is proved by
what we do for Jesus. (And
also, as we learn from Simon’s case, by what we do not do!) LAZARUS Lazarus
is identified. He is the brother of Martha and Mary. He is the one who Jesus raised
from the dead. (John 11 1-44, John 12:1) He is the one who the
Jews plotted to kill, so that the evidence of a VERY spectacular miracle would
be destroyed! The
lesson for us? *
First In a “spiritual sense” all of
US been raised from “Spiritual death” when we were baptized! (Romans 6:3-4) *
Second In a very literal sense, Jesus has
the same power to raise US from the literal dead, at the last day. (John 11:23-27) WHO
WAS THE WOMAN IN THE STORY? There
are some who speculate that the woman in the story was Mary Magdalene. Others
think she is one of the several other Marys mentioned in the Gospels. However
these speculations all ignore the simple fact that John’s Gospel clearly identifies
her as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. “Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus,
of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which
anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick.)” (John 11:1-2.) From
Luke we learn that she is the same “woman of the city, who was a sinner” (Luke 7:37) about whom Jesus said,
“Her
sins which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much”. (Luke 7:47) MARY
AND MARTHA On another
occasion when Jesus was visiting, Martha was “distracted with
much serving” The
lesson for us? We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by our other “duties”.
There is NOTHING more important than LISTENING TO JESUS TEACHING. There is a time
to let the guests go hungry until Jesus is finished! MARY’S
LOVE FOR JESUS This
is the bottom line! This is the really important reason why Jesus went out of
his way to make sure this story would be repeated “wherever the
Gospel is preached”. Certainly
his central message was about a future Kingdom on earth! BUT IT ISN’T ONLY THAT!
It isn’t ONLY mere information about the future Kingdom! There are commandments
about a Way of Life, which MUST be followed to qualify for entry to the
kingdom. There are parables with hidden lessons which are revealed only to disciples. And
there are stories like this one, which remind us that salvation doesn’t come through
paying mere lip service to what we know about its future politics and geography,
and environment! If “knowledge”
stands alone it will NEVER be enough to motivate us to the LOVE which will result
in the REAL repentance and REAL obedience required to prepare us for an inheritance
in the Kingdom. We need to learn from Mary that the quality of our own LOVE for
Jesus will depend directly on the quality of our appreciation of the extent of
our own forgiveness. How
much have we been forgiven? It is
not a question of the number of sins! Nor is it that any particular sins are any
worse than others. The real issue is that ALL SINS …….. GREAT OR SMALL
…….. have the same “value”. THEY INCUR A DEATH PENALTY, from which we must
be pardoned, before we can become heirs of the Kingdom of God. That
is what forgiveness means. Our future immortality, and in life the Kingdom, are
at stake. We cannot become heirs until we are forgiven. And we cannot be forgiven
until we begin to love Jesus! When we properly appreciate that, then, and only
then, like Mary, we will be able to LOVE enough to earn the same approval from
Jesus. “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.” (Luke 7:48) In Luke’s
record of the event, Jesus tells us that REAL love for Jesus comes from an appreciation
of just HOW MUCH we have been forgiven! Without that love we will never develop
the necessary GRATITUDE which leads to “loving our neighbour as ourself” and thence
to keeping Jesus’ commandments. Mary’s
action revealed MUCH LOVE! But for Simon -- “He who is forgiven little loves little”. Appreciation
of our forgiveness is introduced as THE MOTIVE for REAL LOVE for Jesus. And
if we do really love Jesus: “If
ye love me, keep my commandments.” "If
a man love me, he will keep my words: Allon ____________________________________________________________________________ |