THE WOMEN WHO ANOINTED THE LORD
WMP Our time together this morning was marked by a full expression of the appreciation of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Father; and I thought there was something of richness in the occasion that came from the hearts of those who had come to know divine love and enter somewhat into the experience of knowing that love in their lives. We know that in the Old Testament it says that no one shall appear before God empty, Deut 16: 16. We are to come with some appreciation of each divine Person and what they are to us as made known. A reference was made to Matthew 26 in our Wednesday evening reading, and I could see that there is something very special in the Spirit drawing attention to one woman and what she had done. Sometimes the four accounts we have read are taken in the way of contrast, comparing one with the other; we say in one it is the Lord’s feet and in another it is His head. We know that in Luke a woman is presented to us as a sinner; she is not named. But in the other three accounts we understand that it is Mary that is in view because we are told in John that it is Mary who anoints the Lord’s feet, Mary of Bethany, and we know from the context of Mark and Matthew that it is the same person.
But my exercise for this afternoon is not to speak of these matters in the way of comparison, but to treat them as individual, each individual case, and to think about them in the way that they are the product of that person’s appreciation of the Lord in the way that He is presented in that gospel. Each gospel writer presents the Lord Jesus in a particular light, and I think that is instructive for us. Each presentation is to be formative in our affections in a certain way so that there might be a response from us in accord with that.
We might begin with Luke because it is fundamental: we begin with appreciation of the One who has loved us enough to tread this pathway of suffering and humility in priestly grace. He loved us enough to do that; He loved us enough to go into death. This woman is not said to come to get forgiveness; she comes because she knows that there is a Person there about whom she has been given light. She had heard that He was there, and she comes out of affection. I wondered if we might enquire what the gospel writer presents to us about the Lord Jesus in His Person and His service and all that He is in priestly grace, and consider how that would have its bearing on what would be developed in ourselves, formatively in us.
CAS There is what the woman did, and there is what the Lord appreciated in each of these accounts. He takes account of and draws attention to what has been done; “she has anointed my feet with myrrh”. Someone had an understanding of the suffering pathway.
WMP It is good to bring that to our attention at the start of the reading, that in each instance the Spirit takes pains to bring the detail before us of what the person did in relation to the Lord. We sometimes have a different view, but the Lord says, ‘Here is my thought about what has been done in relation to myself, whether it is for burial, or my body that has been anointed’. Had you more in mind about the suffering pathway?
CAS You made reference to what we spoke about on Wednesday, and my simple impression was that there was this matter as to pouring out. There has been a divine pouring out. We sang,
Great the cost to Thee, blest Father,
For Thou didst not spare Thy Son, (Hymn 330).
This is an answer in persons who have been affected in their hearts as to divine giving.
WMP Very good, I think you have given us a better impression of what was in my mind, that it is an appreciative response to all that has been given for us and all that this glorious Person has effectuated through His service and His work that it might be so.
TRC Is that why her weeping and her tears are brought into Luke?
WMP Yes, and do you think that each one of us should recognise something in the way that we have come? We have had to come in acknowledgement of our own need and sinnership. The light that she had would have exposed that she was a sinner. We need to come in absolute humility and dependence ourselves. You had more in mind as to her tears?
TRC Just that, that as we come to the Supper, the emblems are there on the table speaking to us of the infinite cost that was involved that I, a sinner, speaking simply, could be at such an occasion.
WMP It should always affect us. In a normal year we come together fifty-two times to remember the Lord in that way, but it should never become a hackneyed thing with us; there should always be something living in our affections in relation to the One who came here. He came into this scene; He was here as a Man in suffering love.
NCMcK 2 Corinthians 8 says, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”, (v 9); that is in relation to the giving of the saints. Would that help us as to the basket being on the table and the giving of the saints being in keeping, what is formed in the saints in a practical way?
WMP Very fine! He uses that as a lever in order that there might be liberality found with them. So that the point of it is that we are to be affected in all aspects of our life. What is particularly in my mind is how we might pour out something of that affection and response to Him. It is to affect all that we are and all that we have. I would like us to be mutual in our reading. Every young person here should be able to identify something that they have come to appreciate in the blessed Man that came here to suffer and to die for them.
NJH You made reference this morning as to “a large upper room”. In Luke it says, “make ready”, chap 22: 12, but in Mark it says it is “ready” (chap 14: 15); it says, “And his disciples went away and came into the city, and found as he had said to them; and they made ready”, and verse 15, “he will shew you a large upper room furnished ready”; that was there ready for whatever the Lord might need for that occasion.
WMP And we should know that the other three anointings besides the one in Luke that we are going to consider are all in proximity to that day and occasion when He would gather His own around Him; and no doubt He would value what was there in them of appreciation of Himself. You are applying that to the readiness in our hearts to accord the Lord His own portion in affection from each heart.
NJH They bring their individual experiences into the company. Matthew 22 speaks of the marriage feast for the king’s son that is furnished with guests, but here it is for the Lord, and it is a "large upper room furnished ready”. It is furnished with persons.
WMP It should be of all encouragement to us in a day of public breakdown and smallness that we can find “those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”, 2 Tim 2: 22. We can sit down with one another and in every heart there is affection for the One who has come in the way that is spoken of in Luke’s gospel: He will draw near to us in priestly grace; we might just think about that.
JN Is it a new experience that we have every time we come on Lord’s day morning?
WMP Yes, it is. What impressed you about this morning?
JN Every time we come up, we get something fresh from the Lord.
WMP What a faithful Person He is; He would give us some fresh impression of His glory. He makes Himself known to us and we get some touch as to His love, we get some touch as to His personal distinctiveness, we get some touch as to the place in which He now lives before the Father.
AJH The woman is not said to have said anything, but she had something, and the Lord adds to it.
WMP How would you apply that now? We want to be simple about it; we want to get help about how this works out with each one of us now.
AJH Do you think coming up with something, even getting it at the time, adds to the atmosphere in the room? So, it helps with what is spontaneous, what is ready for the Lord.
WMP And do you not feel that as we come together and a hymn is given out, a person has an impression by the Spirit as to what hymn is to be given out. We pay attention to that, and there is then a thanksgiving and we pay attention to that; and that helps us in that matter of spontaneity, because we respond to the sentiments that the Spirit produces in the affections of the saints. We are not following a set order; there is not a list of hymns we are going to sing: that liberty and that spontaneity is brought about by our underlying affection for Christ.
DW In this account in Luke, the woman knew that the Lord was at meat at table, she had that distinct sensitivity that the Lord was there and He would provide for her in her need. It is almost as if there is nothing else in her focus and that should be like us as we gather on a Lord’s day, that the Lord is given the central place.
WMP How thankful we are that we do not gather together in the atmosphere that there is in Luke 7, a cold pharisaical atmosphere, but that woman was not deterred at all by it! Her focus was on the One that she had come to love because of the way His feet were going. That is the point of this anointing; it was the way that His feet were on that drew her to the One that was there. But how blessed that we gather together in an atmosphere of love, and we have one Person before us.
NJH So while the sisters do not say anything, and we are not told that this woman said anything, an enormous contribution to the spiritual atmosphere comes from the sisterhood.
WMP I would say amen to that; that is a vital thing. You have more in your mind as to what is brought in the spirits of the saints in their affections.
NJH It is the subjective side expressing itself. Brothers and sisters are in it together, but it is wonderful that the atmosphere is contributed to by what we go on with in secret with the Lord.
WMP If I were to sit and read through the gospel to this point, what would I have learned about the Lord Jesus in those chapters? I would have learned something about the kind of Man that was here, the One that God had anointed and singled out for His approbation, the One that had served in wonderful levitical power in reading from the prophet Esaias, the One that had gone through temptation and trial and been here in absolute dependence on God. How that would form our affections!
GJH Would this be the privilege of taking part in the breaking of bread, putting our hand to the emblems? We can pray in our private circumstances, and we can be alive to God, but would that be a particular privilege?
WMP It is a privilege. What proceeds it is our responsible week, of course, the feast of unleavened bread; we have a responsible week and we come together as proving ourselves, “But let a man prove himself”, 1 Cor 11: 28. As assembled together we make way for the Lord coming in among us in order that we might find our part in a spiritual sphere and that is privilege; what is spiritual is a realm of privilege for us. We are taken into it livingly by the One who has served us so faithfully in such grace. That is really my thought that each one of us ought to come with this in our affections, as to all that the Lord has done for us by coming into manhood, entering into this suffering pathway and going to the cross and dying.
NCMcK She brought the alabaster flask of myrrh and then she washed His feet with tears, “and kissed his feet, and anointed them”.
WMP An alabaster box suggests something that has been kept; it has been kept only for this occasion. That is what had been formed in her affections, but then there is what she is personally that enters into it. What is your application of that?
NCMcK We often use this in the gospel, and at the end of it He says, “Thy sins are forgiven”; but actually she is not occupied with herself whatsoever! Her sole occupation is Christ and, as she has been occupied with Christ, there is something formed there that answers to that alabaster box. Myrrh speaks of suffering: there had been experience in her life, some appreciation of the sufferings of Christ and some conformity to it herself so that she could anoint Him. So that the experiences of the believer would help us with regard to the Supper, some appreciation, something worked out in conformity to Christ would enter into the Supper.
WMP Very good! Things are not manufactured on the spot as it were! I think the Lord appreciates where there has been true affection for Him and a desire to know Him and the kind of Man He is and all that He has done for us. That would enter into our formation, involving exercise and even suffering on our part.
NCMcK It is good to be occupied with divine things throughout the whole week and there will be a point that if we have enjoyed some element of truth in our link with the Lord Jesus there will come an opportune time when that can be used for His glory.
WMP Yes, to distinguish Him!
PJM Mr Coates speaks of readiness for divine communications (Food of Life p105), to be in such a state as our brother has referred to. This woman does four things; she “began to wash”, “wiped them”, “kissed his feet”, “and anointed them”. The Lord turns that to blessing: “Thy sins are forgiven” - is that not the washing; “go in peace” - is that not a touch of the anointing? The Lord discerns what this woman is doing in terms of blessing: is that not the way that divine Persons operate?
WMP That is very suggestive; I had not thought of those applications, but I can see where the Lord appreciates what He finds in this woman and He is able to do this because of the way He is going to go in suffering love. He is able to forgive her sins.
PJM She is not of the city, she was “in the city”, but that does not mean that she belonged to it. I think that is why she stands behind Him, “standing at his feet behind him weeping”; this was not His normal home.
WMP No! This was the house of a Pharisee. It is quite remarkable that this incident takes place in such a setting, but it shows what a true heart is. We are to “approach with a true heart”, Heb 10: 22.
PJM The Lord does not change anything here whatsoever; He accepts everything that is proceeding, but He has a divine assessment and a divine blessing. “Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee”, and He says it. Then He says something concerning the woman. Is it not wonderful how the whole thing is assessed as was referred to in our meetings yesterday in relation to the churches in the Revelation? The Lord had something to say to each one in His faithfulness and His love.
CJMcK What would you say about the feet washing? It was a common courtesy of the day, although not with the tears. I was thinking of the side of contemplation; the burnt offering was washed, and the parts were washed with the inwards and the legs. The legs and the feet speak of that same walk. The washing, in its application to Christ, was not to remove any defilement; that could never be: it spoke of what was truly there so that it could be seen in all its glory. Do we not do that at the Supper? We think of that walk and the perfection of it and get some fresh view of it.
WMP The prophet says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that announceth glad tidings” (Isa 52: 7), that is, the feet of this blessed Man here, is it not? He is bringing such good news, such glad tidings from God and it was His whole pathway to set out what was in the heart of God. So, she is not only taking account of what had been in the Lord’s pathway prior to this incident, but she is looking forward; she is looking to where those feet would lead Him, into suffering and into death.
CAS I was thinking of what it has been said in regard to the sisters. I think it has been said that the Lord was alone in His life here, but at the end of the gospels in resurrection it is always the sisters that meet Him, that side of affection and subjection is exceedingly valuable and precious. At the end of this gospel in Luke, it is three sisters who go to the tomb, chap 24: 10.
WMP You are thinking there is a subjective side in formation and affection that the Lord values and where does He find that? He finds that in His assembly.
I would like to get some touches as to these other women. John is particularly attractive, but we might just speak about the way that we gain an appreciation of the Lord in the way that it sets it forward in Matthew’s gospel. The setting is different: it is Simon the leper’s house, and that reminds us of the conditions into which the Lord had come, come here into a sinful world, and we get the thought of a memorial attached to what this woman has done.
SW I was wondering in relation to all the sections read, and my mind was going to Psalm 45 where it speaks about God anointing the Lord with “the oil of gladness above thy companions”, v 7. I wondered if that might link with the oil that comes in in the four sections you have read, the divine level of appreciation of that One, is there a link there at all?
WMP Very definitely! That is one of the features of Matthew; He is God’s anointed, “I have anointed my king”, Ps 2: 6. We have to come into line with that. If God has anointed Him then surely, in our affections, we would want to accord Him that place of dignity and glory and power.
TRC I was thinking of Psalm 45, “My heart is welling forth with a good matter: I say what I have composed (or ‘my occupation’, note ‘g’) touching the king”, v 1. Is that like the alabaster box being opened?
WMP Very good. “What I have composed” suggests what we have been speaking about, that we are giving time in our lives to consider this Person, to think about Him in all the dignity of His Person and all the gracious service He has rendered as set out for us in these four gospels.
NJH Every impression of Christ has to be guarded while we are in this world.
WMP That is so important. These three instances are at the end of His life; He is about to be rejected and cast out from men. Last Lord’s day, reference was made to the One who was “cast away as worthless”, 1 Pet 2: 7. That is what men would accord to the Lord Jesus, that He was worthless. The alabaster box is something entirely different, but it needs to be protected and kept. He says she “has not ceased kissing my feet”, Luke 7: 45.
JW The Lord was reckoned as worthless publicly, they had no time for Him, and in a certain sense these women had an affinity with the Lord Jesus because what they did was also considered to be worthless. This morning we had a touch as to the Lord being alone at one point, and I wondered if He saw something of the assembly in the women referred to in these scriptures.
WMP That is a very fine suggestion. I am sure it is the case. He draws attention to this woman, and then we see He identifies Mary in the garden; He says, “Mary”, (John 20: 16); He calls her by name. What dignity there is in this Person that is here in Matthew’s gospel. When we get the genealogy at the start of this gospel it comes to David and it says, “David the king”, chap 1: 6. It is a pause in the genealogy as though to say that is who God has in His mind; He has in mind there is to be One here who is in kingly power and royal dignity - His own beloved Son.
SAF Very fine! I wondered if Mary had a particular impression as being in His presence. She did not come with tears exactly, but as being in His presence her inward affection came out. I wondered if we had that experience on Lord’s day morning when the Lord comes in: He comes to His own that are precious to Him.
WMP We often speak about how precious the Lord is to us and that is very true; He is precious, no one could be more precious than the Lord Jesus to the believer; but to understand also that we are precious to Him: the Sanctifier “and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”, Heb 2: 11.
AJH The Lord says, “this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22: 19), and that is to be carried out in the time of His rejection. That is the circumstance and the privilege of it; it is Him, it is “me”.
WMP So the One that is presented in Matthew’s gospel has got God’s government in His mind, “the government shall be upon his shoulder”, Isa 9: 6. Therefore I think it is of all import to say that how we proceed at the Supper is under direction and according to the due order. Young people might be taken up with practice that they hear of elsewhere, but what proceeds in the assembly is to be in accord with what the Lord has introduced for us in His authoritative word, and we do not depart from that. There are no innovations in the assembly.
AJH If you are occupied with Christ, you are not going to have any other ideas.
DFM There is no restraint with the woman; everything is poured out upon the Lord and there is nothing kept for anyone else but for Him alone.
WMP Yes, “poured it out upon his head”: that is very fine. We had a touch as to the Lord’s love being poured out; there is nothing held back by Him. How that would relate to our own impressions and affections. We need the help of the Spirit for all of this because if there is to be a release of our affections intelligently, then we need the help of the Spirit. So, Paul says, “five words with my understanding”, 1 Cor 14: 19. The liberty of sonship is exercised as intelligent to what is proper to sonship.
NCMcK God “has quickened us with the Christ”, Eph 2: 5. We actually live with Christ and that is in relation to Him. In heavenly things we live with Him. We often speak about being in His life, but that scripture helps in regard to it: we are made to be responsive, we are quickened to be responsive, but it is with Him.
WMP So there is a portion for God in it.
NJH What has just been said changes the level: it is not Christ in you, but it is quickened with the Christ.
WMP Yes, we are “quickened together with him” (Col 2: 13), in order that we might be responsive. Our affections are to be taken up with all the distinctiveness that there is in the Lord Jesus; it is not only that He was a Man here in a suffering pathway bringing the love of God to us, but He was here for God. He was here as upholding the rights of God and all that was due to God in His service and ministry; and we need to appreciate that too and understand that we ourselves have to come under that governing influence.
NCMcK Where we have been reading in the week in Exodus, what distinguished the children of Israel was that they were a people travelling through the desert sand who had a centre which they valued above everything else; and when they encamped all the tribes encamped in the place round about that centre. They protected it at all costs; there was nothing that would get through because they would protect that with their lives. It was that single thing that mattered to them. We speak about privilege, but in a practical way that is how it works out, one aspect of value to the believer, and that is the testimony that the believer values Christ, He means everything to him.
WMP The scripture where the tribes are around the tabernacle is actually a military thought, is it not? When you come to Numbers 10, it speaks about the blast trumpet. It says that when the trumpet is blown then there is a movement, but it is all in relation to the tabernacle.
NCMcK I was just thinking it is two sides of the same thing. These women loved the Lord Jesus and what they had they gave for Him, but when they went outside again they would protect Him. They would uphold all that He was; He was precious to them. It works both ways; it works outside and it works inside too; it shows in our lives.
WMP Yes, and having anointed the Lord the woman in Luke 7 did not stay in the pharisee’s house. That is important; we do not stay in that which is not pleasing to the Lord.
NJH In what way does the report get preached? It says, “Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her”.
WMP Well, we do not do it very often, do we? It is to bring out how much He values true appreciation of Himself. It means a great deal to the Lord Jesus at the present time in this opposing and rebellious world, there are those found who have such a valuation and appreciation of Himself.
NJH So it is either the world or Christ. It is as clear as that!
NCMcK Is there not something of the character of this woman, Mary, in the preaching, the valuation that the preacher has of Christ that would come out. We do not simply preach His work; we preach the Person and our appreciation of Him.
WMP Very good, there should be something in what the preacher says that conveys their personal appreciation of the One of whom they are speaking.
CAS “For in pouring out this ointment on my body, she has done it for my burying”. That must be part of the memorial because she is intelligent, not only that He is going into death but that He is going to be buried. He is especially shown in this gospel as so glorious, and He is going to go out of sight.
WMP And so in dispensing this ointment in such a way, something that might have been for her own glory - she could have used that for her own glory - she sees that that all has to go. In a sense she goes out of sight herself; she recognises that the One who is being anointed is the One who is about to go out of this world through death, and she is in perfect accord with that; which aligns with what our brother said in the previous remark.
We might speak about John because I think there is something very precious about what we find in John’s gospel. I might just say in passing that in Mark the woman has an appreciation of the One that was here to serve, and it says, “What she could she has done”; so you see that she is affected by the Lord’s service by her desire to serve Him; and that is something that surely we might all desire to do. But in John 12 it says, “Jesus … came”. We find a situation described in the other three, it says where He was, but He comes and it seems to me that that sets out something of the delight in the Lord’s heart to find such affection.
TRC It was an area that He came to where He knew that He was appreciated and loved. I was affected this morning by the first hymn,
O Jesus, Lord, we love Thee (Hymn 82).
That set us together, and the Lord comes to that area where there is affection for Him,
We own no other lord;
WMP Chapter 11 begins, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”, v 5. But now it is the one who has come into an appreciation of that love and responds; that is a very precious thing to know what His love is. There is what He has done for us, what He is in His Person, but there is One who loves us.
DFM I was thinking of that hymn.
Christ’s Person, His work, and His glory,
We love Him for all He has done. (Hymn 53)
There is nothing else in our lives, nothing else should fill our minds.
WMP And we get His glory in this gospel, the glory of the Son of God.
NJH A woman’s long hair is her glory (1 Cor 11: 15), but here this woman “wiped his feet with her hair”, the nard is now in her hair, the glory of Christ is marking her, not her own glory; that is our position in the world.
WMP Yes, “the house was filled with the odour of the ointment”. It was on the Lord’s feet, it was in Mary’s hair, and the very atmosphere was filled with these thoughts of appreciation.
LAH I had an impression as to the ointment; it says here it is “pure nard of great price”. What a cost!
WMP I am glad you draw attention to that. It emphasises the value of this sacrificial provision. What is your impression?
LAH I was just thinking as to the previous chapter, what came in there. There was a build-up of affection for the Lord, and then there was a time when they could release it. A great appreciation of that One, it involved something for them.
WMP Very good. What had she witnessed? We could say she had witnessed Lazarus her brother being brought out of death, the power of the Son of God, but here is what else she witnessed, “Jesus was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled”, and then “Jesus wept”, John 11: 33-35. That had formed something very definite in this pound of ointment.
LAH I was thinking of the Lord’s affection for them, and this is their response.
NCMcK Do you have any more in mind the matter of “Jesus … came”? You get it in chapter 20, “Jesus came and stood in the midst”, v 19.
WMP It is a world that is about to reject Him, He is about to go into death, “six days before the passover”, but there is an area where He knows He will be appreciated and responded to. What is your thought?
NCMcK Very simply, if we miss, as we easily can, the point that the Lord has prerogative to come in from His own circumstances; it is of tremendous import of the truth, but He has His own prerogative, He comes in from His own circumstances to introduce us into His side of things. That is entirely different to the Lord coming to help us in our circumstance. As a matter of fact, John 12 is not the Lord’s supper as we know; it says, “There therefore they made him a supper”; that is their circumstances, and He comes in there. In John 20, He prepares the ground and He set on a supper; it is not our preparation. And the large upper room is furnished by Him.
WMP So in John 20 where did He come from? He is the ascending Man, but He is in resurrection life and no doubt He had experienced something of the Father’s presence and love Himself, and that is what He brings in with Him,
Thy peace, Thy joy Thou bringest here (Hymn 339)
NJH We have the actual ascension elsewhere, but He comes from the Father in John 20; He says, “my Father and your Father”, (v 17); how precious that was to link these persons with His Father, in the same relationship.
WMP And all that pertained to the realm that He brought with Him; the Father’s realm.
NCMcK So these practical things you have alluded to; the order and service, you can see how important they are. How important it is that we break bread when we come together; we come together to break bread! And that opens up the way for the Lord to come in; He comes where there is love in expression, and our souls and affections are moved because of what is expressed in the breaking of bread. Therefore, He can come in and then He can introduce us to His circumstances. We can see the importance of that, how vital that is to the service of God and the order that has been established.
WMP I fully go with that; it should weigh a bit more with us that we might be in readiness.
NCMcK Everything hinges on the Lord coming in; that must be our occupation to be in a state where we can appreciate and recognise the Lord as He comes in. The most vital thing for us is to be aware and apprehend when He comes in, to be in a spiritual state. I think simply singing the hymns as if we mean them and listening to what the brothers are saying in thanksgiving, being wholly occupied in it, is a great help to us.
WMP I would say it is a help to me. To an outward eye everything is the same; we are sitting in the same circle and the same relationships with one another naturally, but something has happened: we have to do with the Lord and the Spirit therefore we are taken over into something that is only known spiritually.
NCMCK And young ones would ask how I know the Lord has come in. I think if we are looking for the Lord to come in, He will give a touch through the thanksgivings, or through a hymn, so that you know. He must give us some evidence or spiritual touch to know He has come in.
NJH Someone remarked to a sister that we had a sense of the Lord coming in at the Supper and her reply was, ‘What did He say?’. He must say something! Somebody will get it.
PJM The Lord is ready to impart. Martha served, Lazarus was at table, there was already something proceeding, something set on and the Lord was very pleased. He will add His own voice and support to what is proceeding for Himself.
WMP Well, it is a resurrection scene; Lazarus is there in resurrection life, the Lord had brought him out of death. That is all very suggestive, what the Lord finds among His own, these evidences of life and willingness to serve.
PJM It is the fruit of the land; out of much sorrow and disappointment there has come fruit. Very fine; “pure nard of great price”; it has been acquired, somebody had been there.
WMP A measured amount.
JW The woman was marked by remarkable intelligence; she had kept this ointment, the Lord says, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial”, and she brought it out just at the right time, see footnote ‘c’.
WMP I am glad you brought us to that; that is why I read that: the Lord says she has kept it. He knew she had kept it, He knew what was in her affections for Him and He valued every part of that pound of ointment.
Glasgow
2nd November 2025
List of initials:-
T R Campbell, Glasgow; S A Falconer, Glasgow; A J Henry, Glasgow; G J Henry, Glasgow; L A Henry, Glasgow; N J Henry, Glasgow; C J McKay, Glasgow;
N C McKay, Glasgow; D F Matthews, Kirkcaldy; P J Metcalfe, Glasgow; J Newberry, Glasgow; W M Patterson, Glasgow; C A Seeley, Glasgow; D Walker, Dundee;
S Walker, Glasgow; J Webster, Fraserburgh