The Anointment of Jesus by Mary of Bethany [pp. 484-511]

BY MARY OF BETHANY.
It was not that her lavish expenditure showed unparalleled
love; others had made greater sacrifices; they had left all 8 ai d
afterwards died in his cause; and yet no one else ever received
any distinction or commendation comparable to her.
There is not the slightest reason to suspect any figurative or
mystical meaning; for instance, no hint that by literal anointing she meant to signify that he was the anointed of God. Recognition of his iMessiahship common to many as Nathaniel
and Peter and the Samaritans' and Martha W and the discples generally' would not have called forth such peculiar
honors.
We shall endeavor to show that Mary intended to prepare
Jesus for burial, and that this implied her superior faith by
which, free fiom ambition and raised above the worldly prejudices that still blinded the apostles, she understood not only
who but what the Messiah was, and believed the intimations of
the Old Testament and his own predictions of his now imminent
death. This accounts for everything, gives to the explanations
of our Saviour their natural and obvious meaning, is confirmed
by the many coincidences between those explanations and the
history, and teaches a lesson of supreme importance.
All we know of 3Ma,ry agrees With the supposition that she had
superior faith. She had long before sat at Jesus' feet, "heard
his word," and chosen that good part.Y
The only reason we have ever heard for rejecting this view, so
apparent on the surface of our Saviour's explanations, is that it
is not supposable that Mary could have been superior in knowledge or faith to the apostles. We shall examine this assumption
hereafter. For the present we submit that the superior d(istinction conferred on her above the apostles, shows that she was
in some important respect superior to them. The presumption,
instead of being against her superior faith, is the other way.
We shall now show that Mary must have been acquainted
with our Saviour's predictions of his death. To do this, and to
realize their extent and publicity, it is necessary to examine the
references to them in detail.
Jesus often spoke of the Old Testament prophecies of his
death. He began to predict his own deatlh very early, obscurely
alatt. 19: 27. tJohn 1: 49. AlMatt. 16:15,&c. ~John 4: 42.
w John 11: 27. x Mtt 14: 33. John 6: C9. Y Luke 10: 39-42.
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