Martha, having uttered her confession of faith, though falling so far short of the testimony she had just heard, went her way, as if feeling that she had not understood the Lord’s words, and that Mary, her sister, might enter into their meaning, and “called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.” Mary is thus brought again before us, and it could scarcely be doubted, that even if Martha had not directly received the message, she had yet the Lord’s mind in calling her sister. The state of Mary’s soul is at once shown by her response to Martha’s word: “As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto Him.” It was love that constrained her swift obedience. She sat quietly in the house waiting until He should call, and then, when His call reached her, she made haste to respond to it. Waiting before the Lord is the sure means of qualification for obedience to His bidding. And what a relief to her burdened heart it must have been to come to HIM! But before the character of the meeting is given, the Spirit of God pauses to note two particulars: First, that “Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him,” and, secondly, that the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, when they saw that Mary rose up hastily, and went out and followed her, saying, “She goeth unto the grave to weep there.” Everything was divinely arranged, and the eyewitnesses of the power of Jesus were divinely provided, for God purposed to raise up a striking testimony to His beloved Son.
Now we may observe the character of Mary’s approach to her Lord, and in what touchingly tender words it is narrated: “Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Every word of this description is significant. When Martha went and met the Lord—at once she spoke, but two things are stated of Mary before she expressed the sorrow of her heart: when Mary had come into His presence, it was when she saw Him, and had fallen at His feet, that her lips uttered her pent-up feeling. Nay, it would seem that Mary fell at His feet in consequence of having gazed upon His face. She knew more of the Lord than her sister, and with her quick and responsive affection she would read in His countenance what Martha could not have perceived. And what did she behold there? The expression of a heart bowed down under the sorrow that lay upon her own spirit, the sorrow caused by the judgment of death which at that moment was lying upon all around, and also the expression of His intense sympathy with those whom He loved in this the hour of their grief. Was there more? We cannot tell, and yet surely as He was about to manifest forth His glory (John 2:1111This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. (John 2:11)), there were some indications of it to be gathered by one who had learned so much of His mind. We know not; we may be confident, however, that what Mary saw in that face of tenderness, sorrow, and love, bowed her down at His feet. It is her attitude, as she poured forth the same words as Martha, which invests them with altogether a different meaning. In her case there might have been perplexity, but certainly there was neither complaint nor implied reproach: it was rather her heart’s confession that if He had been in Bethany her brother would not have died—more than this she would not say, for great as her grief was, she could, and she did, trust in Him implicitly. Ah! it is blessed to be at the feet of Jesus in our sorrows, for there divine light shines upon them, and though we may suffer, and even be oppressed with our trials, we shall not, while there, doubt His love.