James Nisbet Commentary - Mark 14:8 - 14:8

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James Nisbet Commentary - Mark 14:8 - 14:8


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NOTHING TOO SMALL

‘She hath done what she could.’

Mar_14:8

But you say, ‘Were the early workers for Christ not for the most part employed in such great works as the conversion of the heathen or the ministry of the word? The very grandeur of their pursuits gave a dignity to their life; while my mind is distracted by the innumerable littlenesses and fretting interruptions of life.’

I.—This objection is more apparent than solid.—We view their life as a whole, and therefore our impressions of it have an air of completeness; but, could we descend to the particularities of every day, could we stand by St. Paul in the workshop at Corinth, we should discern how it was principle carried out into the smallest matters that gave unity to their course.

II. Nothing is trivial with God that is a test of character. The plucking of an apple brought sin and death into the world. A cup of cold water, rightly given, shall not lose its reward. ‘The Lord weigheth the spirits’ (Pro_16:2) day by day, in the even balances of infinite wisdom. He is weighing our spirits to see what judgment we shall form, or how we shall speak, or act, in the varying circumstances of every hour.

III. God does not require the administration of talents which He has not bestowed; but every day may some holy disposition be fostered, some winged prayer be breathed, some gracious word be dropped. And none of these things elude His observation, Who said of the lowly Mary, ‘She hath done what she could.’

Bishop E. H. Bickersteth.



THE GIFT AND ITS MOTIVE

‘She is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying.’

Mar_14:8

It is difficult to suppose that Mary had any very distinct intention when she poured out her costly ointment upon Christ. She could hardly have had a special focus; and yet this is exactly what Christ gave it. He determined an end and fixed a motive. And in thus localising and concentrating the motive, it is evident that Christ immensely elevated the whole gift and deed.

I. How does He do now?—Exactly the same. You do some large act of kindness—as exceeding large for you as that woman’s was for her—to some one. Christ does not look on the largeness, though He loves it—at least, He does not gauge the gift by that, but by the motive which prompted it, which He loves much more. You did it with a vague wish and intention to be kind, and to do something pleasing to God; but He makes it much more; He allocates it, He gives it a point and a purpose, He causes it to work a thing you never thought of. You were good to His servant who was weary. He, remembering Sychar, sweetly applies it to His own weariness, and is Himself refreshed. You minister to a fellow-creature’s infirmities—He receives the ministrations as done to Himself.

II. Christ using the gift.—And you, you who do your large-hearted acts—and forget them almost before they are done—you little conceive what Christ may be working with that act, or what may be the part it takes in the sublimest histories, or how Christ, in His wonderful appropriation of them, mingles them with His sufferings and blends them into His glory.

—
Rev. James Vaughan.