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

THE ANOINTMENT OF JESUS
can judge front the recorded predictions, the agents, mode and
time of his death, were not disclosed till the very last, and Mary
would naturally expect his death directly from his well-known
Jewish enemies, who were to cause it. In that case she might
expect that his body would be restored to his friends, as that of
John the Baptist had been,f and that of Stephen afterwards.~
Divine legislation had forbidden,h and the Israelites had avoidedi continued indignities to the bodies of the executed.
But, as the final hour drew near, Jesus made known for the
first time, as far as appears, by whom, how, and when he should
be put to death. The angels at his tomb reminded the women
that he had told them he should be crucified "while yet in Galilee",j which we naturally refer to his latest sojourn there, perhaps that mentioned by Luke, chap. 17: 11, perhaps during one
of his many unrecorded visits.* During the last journey to
Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve apostles apart in the way
(possibly "while yet in Galilee"),and told them privately that his
enemies would not kill him themselves, but would, after they
reached Jerusalem, deliver him to the Gentiles, i. e., the Roman
authorities, who would crucify him. It is evident that the object
of this private communication was to give important information
of these circumstances of his death not before known, for the
prediction that he should die in some way by persecution had
long been public.
That these particulars were rot made known till the last, is in
the highest degree probable, from the circumstances and explanations of the ante-mortem burial rites, from the absence of any
earlier mention of them, from the mystery with which they were
told in the last journey, showing something new and startling,
and from Jesus' obvious plan of disclosing his coming sufferings
gradually, so as not to shock his disciples beyond endurance.
We should expect that he would not till the last speak of the
f Matt. 14: 12. MIark 6: 29. gActs 8 2. h Deut. 21: 23. i Josh. 8: 29.
10: 26: 27 i Luke 24: 6 —8.
* That Jesus returned to Galilee after his visit to Martha and Mary, in Luke 10,
appears from much positive evidence in Luke, against only negative evidence in
the other Gospels.
The modern denial of his return assumes that one-third of Luke's history, instead of being' in order," as the other two-thirds and his other history are admitted to be, is a confused jumble. It also disregards several hints in the other
Gospels, as Mark 15: 41; 16: 7.
[ July,
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