IN John’s Gospel we have a blessed example of Christ having the first place. Jesus Who had visited Bethany (John 11), and accomplished what He declared (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21)), again visits Bethany six days before the Passover (John 12). He is in company with Lazarus whom He raised from the dead, and his two sisters, Martha and Mary.
At the close of His testimony to the world, being rejected by His own (John 1:11; 8:5911He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:11)
59Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (John 8:59)), and outside all the pride and religion of Jerusalem, He is with a few whose hearts have been touched by Him, graciously receiving from them the love that His own love had won (1 John 4:1919We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)). “They made him a supper.” All is in perfect harmony, the Lord having the first place in each of their hearts. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. We see united love in their actions toward the Lord, and His grace in receiving the service of Martha. Lazarus, being raised from the dead, having had the graveclothes taken off, in life and liberty is now feasting with the Lord. This is the blessed privilege of each one who has life in Christ. What rest and peace Lazarus and the others experienced in His presence, finding all their joy and comfort in the Lord Who was “as a root out of a dry ground” to the Jews.
“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment” (verse 3). She who previously sat at His feet and heard His word (Luke 10:3939And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. (Luke 10:39)), is now pouring out her heart’s affection upon the person of Jesus anointing His feet and wiping them with her hair, casting herself and her glory down at His blessed feet. How real was the person of Christ to them, at home as they were in His presence.
Such a portion is ours, saved reader, in Christ; He Who has conquered death and delivered us from its cruel bondage (Heb. 2:1515And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)) and brought us into liberty through the knowledge of the truth (John 8:3232And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)) in which we are exhorted to stand fast (Gal. 5:11Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1))— He is our life; He has made us free; He is our food; He has brought us home to the Father, fitted for His presence, to feast with Him upon the fatted calf. Nothing short of what gives the greatest delight to the Father, is our portion at His own table.
The characteristics of the three at Bethany are true of saved individuals. Martha is named first in service: not “cumbered” about it, as in Luke 10. In Lazarus we have life; and in Mary, communion. True service for Him is the outcome of the life we have in Him and of communion by the Holy Ghost, Who leads out in worship to God the Father, and in true service, to His own praise and glory.
Is He not worthy of the first place in our hearts? We notice the enemy was not silent then any more than he is at the present time. That which the Lord values is accounted waste by him. What a contrast between the heart of Mary and the heart of Judas! Has this state of things improved? No; the enemy still has a professed love for the poor, but it is always at the expense of the Lord. “This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag” (verse 6). He aimed at what was being done to the Lord. Mary said nothing of what the cost was to her. It would be nothing to her when compared with the object of her heart. But Judas valued it at three hundred pence. Nothing is too great for love to give Him, but anything is too great for self. If the enemy can only turn the eye away from Christ, he will allow us to be occupied with great things in the world, which gain the admiration of men, but which rob Christ of His glory, and ourselves of much blessing. Though he can never touch the life we have in Christ, he ever seeks to hinder our enjoyment of our blessings.
To be faithful to the Lord will bring suffering as we learn from verse To. The silent testimony of Lazarus brought out the enemy in his true colors. The hatred of the chief priests against the Lord is now manifested against Lazarus, who was a standing witness for the Lord. “Because that by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus” (ver. 11). So the apostle Paul wrote, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Phil. 1:2929For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; (Philippians 1:29)).
Dear young believer, let Christ always have the first place in your heart, that your life may speak of Him and for Him, Who is your life, your food, your all. W.J. F.