James Nisbet Commentary - Mark 14:6 - 14:6

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James Nisbet Commentary - Mark 14:6 - 14:6


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

MARY’S ACT JUDGED

‘There were some that had indignation.… Jesus said, Let her alone.’

Mar_14:4; Mar_14:6

I. By man.—John is our informant as to the origin of the indignation. It sprang up in the base heart of Judas. The motives of Mary and of Judas were as opposite as the poles. Mary’s love and tenderness would become all the more tender because of the hatred of Judas, and Judas would become all the more intense in his bitterness when he saw the evident devotion of Mary. The presence of Jesus brought forth the grateful affection of Mary and the loathsome selfishness of Judas. The secret of Judas’s indignation was covetousness. The secret of the disciples’ indignation was but that species of superficiality which follows the crowd, right or wrong. The lesson, therefore, for us is twofold—

(a) Take heed and beware of covetousness. There is nothing that will sooner afflict the heart with spiritual rottenness than this; nothing that will more quickly and irretrievably destroy all that is good in the tissue of our characters than the rust and moth of covetous and selfish desires.

(b) Judge not one against another. The habit of grumbling and complaining is fatal to true peace of mind, and destructive of all real spirituality.

II. By our Lord.—Our Lord’s judgment of Mary’s act is deliberately and rebukingly expressed. ‘Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on Me.’

(a) The interference of Judas and the disciples was unwarranted. The charge of Judas had been that this was a specimen of useless waste. Such a suggestion had never occurred to the heart of Mary—that an expression of affection, and love, and gratitude in a world where these flowers so seldom bloom could by any possibility be ‘waste.’ The thought troubled her. The inner trouble flew to the face and expressed itself in the anxious eye and downcast look. But the Lord would not have this wretched meddlesomeness. How easily do we pronounce judgment on others! How soon may we find a flaw in the most perfect work of others’ piety! But Jesus always takes His people under His supreme and sufficient protection.

(b) Their opinion of Mary’s act was erroneous. They thought it was waste; in reality it was a good work. They thought it was waste, but He expressed His approval of this mode of applying her substance. They thought it waste; He declares that (unknown to her) it had a peculiar fitness to the occasion. They thought it waste; He said it was an act which should be worldwide in its influence.

Illustration

‘Continuity and diffusion mark all we do. It is not given us to say whether the word once spoken, or the act once performed, shall pass beyond its immediate object. We cannot help it. A blow struck at one end of a beam will vibrate to the other. A circle formed in the middle of a lake will ripple outwards towards the shore. No force once liberated is ever lost. It never subsides, so to speak, into its former self, but works on, by transmission or conversion, with unceasing and unresting activity. It is so with men’s words and deeds. When once spoken or done they are beyond recall, and largely beyond arrest. They continue in effective operation after we have forgotten them. They are perpetually enlarging their sphere of influence, and working out their characteristic results, when all trace of them has disappeared from human vision. Hence eternity alone can give a just and complete account of their actual power and effect. The thought is stupendously solemn, and ought to be solemnly laid to heart. It is one to inspire us with gladdening hope, or else to fill us with terrible dismay. It is one, too, to bring home to us, with special application and stimulating emphasis, the great practical question of the Apostle: “What manner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy conversation and godliness?” ’



AN OPPORTUNE WORK

‘She hath wrought a good work on Me.’

Mar_14:6

It would be easy enough to make out a ‘good case’ against Mary for this impulsive act of hers. Censoriousness, not to speak of malignity, would readily discover a troop of reasons why it should have been left undone. But our Lord threw over it and over her the shield of His kind and strong defence. He called it a ‘good work.’ Mary’s act was one of gratitude and of homage; more than that, it was opportune.

I. An opportune work.—The occasions for serving Jesus Christ were now narrowing fast; a few days and He would be in the grave, and all opportunity would be over; it might be said to be ‘now or never.’

II. Christ’s need of sympathy.—The hour of His severest trial was at hand, and any human sympathy shown Him now was becoming peculiarly precious. This was the thought at the heart of our Lord’s plea on her behalf (Mar_14:12). Who shall say how valuable to Him in those last days of spiritual struggle and of mysterious sorrow were the kindnesses He received at human hands? (See Mar_14:38.) Ministry shown to the Master then, love outpoured upon Him then, may have been to His tender and responsive spirit of inestimable value.

Any good work we do becomes good indeed, reaches a high mark of value and of virtue when it is specially opportune; rendered as opportunity is expiring, or when the Church or the disciple is in emergency or distress.