Mary, better than the rest, had understood the true position of Christ. She saw and felt the hatred of man to Him constantly increasing, and consequently that His death was not far distant. Then she spends everything she has most precious upon Jesus. Mary’s love for Jesus increased in proportion to the hatred of men, and, foreseeing His death near, anticipated, as best she could, His embalming. Mary had moral intelligence of the position of Jesus, and the Lord commends her. Martha we ever find occupied with service. We have here the two extremes-the one-in Mary, the other in Judas. What a distance between the state of these two hearts! However, we find elsewhere (Matt. 26:88But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? (Matthew 26:8)) that likewise all the disciples entered into the same kind of thought with Judas and approved Judas. It is easier to receive bad thoughts than good. One must be in the presence of God to understand the horror of our real state, because outside of His presence we cannot understand it. Like a man who has been bred up all his life in filth, he does not know what cleanliness is. The world, and also many Christians, lack entire consecration to God, and therefore the bare idea of it condemns them. Jesus defends Mary, as He defended the woman who came into the Pharisee’s house to weep at His feet. Jesus answers, “Me ye have not always;” with these words He justifies Mary’s action, with them He made all feel that He is the proper object of the soul.
When one is consecrated to God, one sheds round himself a sweet savor that all feel. If one is consecrated to God, all one does, one does to the Lord; but at the same time the testimony is rendered to men; however this is not the motive, but the effect. There are two things that diffuse a good odor amongst men: the one we have here, that is, entire consecration to God, spending all for Him; the other we have in Luke 7, in the woman convicted of sin at the feet of Jesus. There are, therefore, the conviction of sin, and the attraction of the sinner to Christ, and on the other hand the spiritual intelligence of who Christ is, so as to be consecrated to Him. The enmity we find at v. 10 is natural to man, though frequently it is seen in persons whose natural character is amiable and gentle; nevertheless when Christ is presented to these persons, the natural enmity against the things of God comes out. See the case of the rich young man whom Jesus loved for his amiable and attractive qualities, but as soon as Christ speaks to him of following Him, he shows that he loves riches more than Christ. No doubt amiability is a good thing, and we prize it even in animals; every human endowment comes from God, and we are far better pleased to have to do with a person of an affectionate and good disposition, than with a hard, irascible, or cruel one. But if the good qualities of men come from God, certainly they are not directed towards God, nor do they impel man to God.
Ver. 13 is a quotation from Psa. 118, which speaks of the millennium. Hosanna means, I pray thee, Hail. Here we have an anticipation of what will happen to Jesus in the millennium; because God wished to render this testimony to His Son when He was rejected by men: as much as to say—You will not have Him as King, but I will have Him such one day.
Ver. 15 is a quotation from part of a text of the prophet Zechariah, chap. 9. Only that part of the text is quoted which refers to this circumstance, the rest of the text speaks of the remnant looking for the coming of the last days when all will be fulfilled.
Then comes the testimony to His third title, viz., the Son of Man. And here He speaks of His death, because He could not take possession of what belongs to Him under that title without first dying. If you read from Psa. 2 to 8 you will see the three titles that we have found in these two chapters. Psa. 2 presents Him to us as Son of God, born into the world, and being in Sion, spite of the combined opposition of men; the following Psa. 3-7 describe the state of the remnant, as a consequence of His rejection; in Psa. 8 we have the Son of Man Head of all things. The Son of God became a man to die to have men with Him, the co-heirs, when all things will be put under Him in the millennium, as Son of Man. In Heb. 2, where the same subject is spoken of, it is said, that Psa. 8 is not yet fully accomplished, but only in part, i.e., that He is in heaven crowned with glory and honor, waiting for the fulfillment of the rest; that is, that all His enemies will be put in subjection under Him, as the footstool of His feet, according to Psa. 110, and that all things will be put under Him. In the meantime He is gathering out the chosen heirs who will be with Him in this glory. So also Dan. 7 agrees with this truth, because there we see that the Son of Man comes to the Ancient of days to receive the kingdom and dominion of all. Then, as Son of Man, He goes much farther than as Son of David: under the latter title He will be only King of Israel, but under the former all created things are put under Him. And now it is the patience of Jesus, and ours likewise, because we are Christ’s wages.
The occasion of this introduction of the title of Son of Man was the coming of the Greeks to Jesus; they were Gentiles, and consequently had nothing to do with the Son of David-their connection was with the Son of Man. But if Christ must hate His life in order to set out to take possession of this place, it follows, therefore, as the Saviour says, that we likewise must hate our life; that is to say, not to take care of it, hating everything that would be a hindrance to following Jesus in His path. It is said justly, that it is more difficult to live every day following Jesus, than to suffer martyrdom, because the suffering of martyrdom is brief, however great it may be; and besides, when you are brought to decide between dying and denying Christ, you are forced to act with energy; but to sustain the combat every day, every hour, demands constant watchfulness, constant self-denial. Paul practiced this continual death, and could say, “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection;” and again, “We, which live, are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” (1 Cor. 9; 2 Cor. 4)
( To be continued if the Lord will.)