SPIRITUAL FEELINGS
[p. 447] SPIRITUAL FEELINGS
I have read these verses, dear brethren, to apply them to a local company of believers, for, while this chapter is vast in its scope as regards the Person of Christ, His power and His glory, the bearing of it is on the local assembly.
While John does not use the word “assembly” in his gospel, he has it in view, however, and would promote in it not only order but a living state of things; for order, in itself, is cold; it is most important, of course, but it must be associated with life. This is seen generally in Colossians. In John 11 and 12 this is also contemplated, so that chapter 12 is the result of the ministry of Christ in chapter 11. The Lord comes to Bethany six days before the passover; and being there, and in what ensues — supper is prepared — He says nothing, save to rebuke Judas; nor does anyone else say anything. Judas breaks the silence, producing a foreign element, criticising the worshipper. It is a scene (aside from Judas and aside from the Lord’s rebuke) of spiritual power in silence. This must underlie all assembly meetings, if conditions are to exist such as are suitable for divine operations, for the service of Christ as Head, as the minister of the sanctuary.
Now, chapter 11 is preparatory to all this. It has in view not simply to establish order in the place, but a living state of things. What occurred at Bethany was a shining forth of glory: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. What was seen, therefore, when the Lord came to Bethany later, was the outcome of this presentation of glory. Chapter 11 is of infinite scope, and yet what is presented converges on a small town; it is “the village”
[p. 448] of Bethany, and a few saints are in it. That brings out the magnitude of the position we occupy in our respective localities. However small outwardly, there is ability to take in the glory of God, the glory of the Son of God.
I want to point out very briefly that feature of the ministry which establishes balance in a local company, spiritual balance; and that is to be observed in Martha as seen here. It is said, “Martha then, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him: but Mary sat in the house”. Now, John has a peculiar way, by the Spirit, of bringing forward every item of the work of God. Martha has acquired in our minds a certain character drawn from Luke’s presentation of her (chapter 10:38 - 42). Luke introduces Martha to us as a busy sort of woman, owning a house, and possessed of a complaining spirit; and her criticism was not limited to her sister, but extended even to the Lord Himself. “Dost thou not care”, she says to the Lord, “that my sister hath left me to serve alone?” That is Luke’s record, the first we have of Martha, and it appears to me that generally the saints have formed their judgment of her from that record, not having given due weight to John’s account of her. I am not speaking, nor did the Holy Spirit record these things, merely to call attention to this one person. He is dealing with a quality, a certain character that shows itself in us, and how an objectionable feature is displaced by what is desirable and essential to a local assembly.
And so John says, “Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him”. I may remark here that John alone mentions Nicodemus. And he brings forward certain commendable things about Thomas, as in this chapter, for instance: “Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him” (verse 16). We call Thomas the doubter, but we must not [p. 449] omit this record of him because, it is a question, as I said, of bringing in the work of God, every bit of it; that not one item, however small, or however allied with other things, even with extraneous matter, must fail to be taken into account and made room for in the assembly, if we are to profit by it. One great point in John is, that the works of God should be manifest. And so the record here is that Martha, having heard “that Jesus was coming, went out and met him”. Not simply that He came, but He was coming. That is another point that John emphasises, that Jesus comes; He moves towards us, and He honours those who meet Him.
Martha went immediately to meet Him, and, when Mary comes into evidence, it is said that the Lord was still in the place where Martha met Him; as if we are not to forget that the Lord took notice of that. He is still in the same place when Mary comes. Much transpired there. Every believer ought to take note of the conversation that passed in that place. “Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”. That was the conversation between the Son of God and a believer, for such Martha was. She was active and energetic, but this conversation shows that she was a genuinely interested person, who loved the Lord Jesus, and would know the truth; and the Lord took account of her and instructed her, and made her what she had never been before, a believer in Him as “the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”. That was the result of this remarkable meeting.
I think, dear brethren, we should ponder these things [p. 450] about Martha, bearing in mind that the Holy Spirit has not recorded them merely to interest us as to a believer of centuries ago, but to instruct us as to that in the assembly now which she represents; persons who have a disagreeable beginning, but in whom, nevertheless, there is a work of God. The gold was there, and the Lord knew it; and He opened up to her at this meeting at Bethany what would bring it into evidence. We have no more complaint from Martha, no more criticism of anyone, but rather, as the passage goes on to say, she went away secretly to her sister Mary and says, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee”. There is no jealousy in her heart; she loved her sister, and would convey to her that she had a place in the heart of Jesus. “The Master is come, and calleth for thee”.
Mary “arose quickly and came to him”, we are told. No doubt the Lord would have her particularly in His heart, because the chapter at the outset specially mentions that she was the Mary who had anointed Him. She is in the mind of the Spirit, because she is the worshipper. John is emphasising the worshipper; and whatever activity there may be, whatever intelligence, as in Martha, if there be not the spirit of worship, our testimony must be on a low level, and wanting of the heavenly touch. So that Mary is specially in the mind of the Spirit here. She represents the spirituality of the place. She “sat still in the house”. I do not criticise that; she was restful; but still I cannot ignore the fact that the Lord did not go to her: He remained in the place where Martha met Him. It is as if He would free us in our minds from undue occupation with this one or that one who is reputed, and rightly so, to be spiritual; as if He would establish a balance amongst us, in each local assembly, that whilst full value is to be accorded to those who deserve it (those who are spiritual, those who are worshippers) we must not ignore the work of God, however small, in others. It must be taken account of. It is pure [p. 451] gold. However small it may be, the gold is to be taken account of by itself; and God brings it into evidence.
So that, as I noted, the Lord does not go to Mary; she comes to Him. And the Holy Spirit tells us that Jesus was still in the same place where Martha met Him. I rather think that is the principle of the gathering at Bethany; it is the place where Martha met Him, where the light of the conversation with her shone. Evidently, there were no others present, but you have the principle of conversation carried on — the Lord of glory conversing with a sister who, as I have said, did not have a good beginning. But the Lord is now taking account of her, and she is constituted a believer in Him as “the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”. She is, as I may say, a board in the tabernacle. She is of that which is to be filled with the glory. And you get what corresponds with this in the next chapter: the odour of the ointment filled the house. The Lord remained in the place where Martha met Him until Mary came. She went to Him; and I believe that involves a principle. We come together on ground wide enough to include all in whom God had wrought in any given locality. The worship of God in the true sense may be found there, but all in whom God has wrought have normally recognition there.
The Holy Spirit loves to enlarge on what is “more excellent”; the epistle to the Philippians makes provision for that, not only what is excellent, but “more excellent” (chapter 1:10). Martha has made headway, but Mary still represents what is more excellent. And so as soon as she heard that the Lord called for her, “she arose quickly, and came unto him”. And: “The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there”.
What I want very briefly to point out is that when [p. 452] Martha moves, nobody moved with her. That is to say, she does not represent influence. When Mary moved, others moved with her, so that she represents that in the believer which influences others towards Christ. As she went, they went. You may say that they were only Jews actuated by natural feelings; but then verse 33 says, “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her”. They were also weeping, and He took account of them. It is a tribute to Mary’s spirituality; she had influenced others, and as influenced by her, the Lord takes account of them, and goes so far as to weep Himself. Marvellous thing! Mary is weeping, and the Jews are weeping, and when He saw them, He wept. There is a great deal in that, spiritually. The Lord joins in the feelings centring in Mary. Martha received intelligence from Him, but there is nothing about her tears, whereas Mary’s weeping and the weeping of those she influenced, affect Him.
The assembly should be a place of influence. I do not mean weeping, but it is certainly a place of feeling, a place where the Holy Spirit is free to act on our holy sentiments and feelings. And the wonderful thing is that the Lord joins in this, as we see in this touching scene at Bethany. It is affecting that He should take notice of Mary in this way, and the influence she had with others — that what they did, He did. His tender heart of sympathy was moved: “Jesus therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye put him? They say to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept”. Except Gethsemane and the cross, Scripture presents no scene more touching than this. But what I call special attention to is, that seeing Mary weep, and seeing the Jews who came with her weep, the Lord wept. You get the principle there of the Lord coming in and having part with us in the expression of our holy spiritual feelings. Mary thus represents what is spiritual, what the [p. 453] Lord can take part in, what is, in a word, “more excellent”. Many of us, like Martha, get light from the Lord, but what this section in John’s gospel emphasises is the spirituality seen in Mary’s affectionate feelings and influence, and in the pound of ointment with which she anointed the Lord, the odour of which filled the house.