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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 |