All this is but introductory to our special subject— the anointing by Mary of the feet of the Lord. Its importance, and, it might be said, the value according to God’s own estimate, is seen from the fact that it is recorded by Matthew and Mark, with characteristic differences of detail, as well as by John. If these three devoted souls, devoted to the Lord, and bound to Him with the imperishable ties of divine affection which He Himself had begotten in their hearts, in the time of His rejection, represent, as they indeed truly were, the remnant which God had prepared to receive His beloved Son (see John 1:12-1312But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12‑13)), Mary, with the faith that attached her to Christ Himself as her sole and absorbing object, going far beyond this position, becomes for all time a pattern for all Christians. Like the Magdalene in this respect, she was dead to the world, the world was dead to her, and Christ alone filled her heart. In her, “first love” finds its complete exemplification, and hence the unstinting and unqualified commendation she received from the lips of the Lord. There is no preface to her action, but, immediately upon the record that “they made Him a supper,” the statement follows, “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard,” etc. The preface indeed, if such it may be called, is to be sought in the preceding chapters. Souls do not reach this spiritual elevation in a moment, nor did Mary, but her devotedness was the result of her sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearing His word, and of her blessed experiences in connection with the death of her brother. In her sorrow she had, after her deep exercises, realized the sympathy of her Lord, and thereupon His strong hand laid hold of her for support, and had moreover drawn her to His own side. She had thus reached Him (we speak of the true significance of her state) on the other side of death; she knew Him as the resurrection and the life, and in that sphere His glory, the glory of His Person as the Son of God, flooded her soul. In this way Christ had become everything to her, and she was moreover a delight to the heart of Christ.
It is only in view of what has come before that we can appreciate the action which we are now to consider. One other thing may perhaps be first added. It was not only the act, but it was also the feeling which led to the act which contains such blessed instruction. As another has so aptly said, “It was the instinct of affection which felt that death was casting its shadow over Him who was the Life, as Jesus felt it also—the only case in which Jesus found sympathy on earth.” Here then is the secret of the anointing— a heart so charged with love that it entered into and identified itself with the position, and even the feelings of Jesus, and then lavished its most precious possession upon its object. Surely it is only love that can understand love, and only love that can penetrate into the secrets of the heart of the One loved. Our attention is called to the fact that the ointment of spikenard was very costly, and assuredly to teach us that in the estimate of love nothing is too precious for the One who possessed Mary’s heart. She also expressed, as it appears to us, two other things by the act: first, her sense of the worthiness of Christ, and, secondly, her adoration. These two things are combined in Revelation 5, and they are ever united in hearts that are in the enjoyment of the love of Christ. In the estimation of all such— “No place too high for Him is found, No place too high in heaven.”