II (ii)
II (ii) David Pye
How wonderful it is that the Lord Jesus spoke as He did in this setting and in such a way. I think it shows the appreciation He had of something that was done for Him. The challenge of it as we are here in the presence of death becomes very real. What about our lives? What have we been? What are we? If we have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and formed that eternal link with Him, our portion is very blessed. He has given Himself to secure us - great cost involved in that! - and He appreciates those who place their faith and trust in Himself. But in our lives we are tested in the responsible path and that is a challenge to us all, as to how much we are affected by what the Lord Jesus has done for us. He has given Himself, He has given all for us and He looks for something developing in us.
He is able to speak here as to what this woman had done. He appreciated it. It was in a very small setting and yet the Lord Jesus appreciated it because it was a hostile scene and she carried out this service in that condition which surrounded her - and it is the same today. She remained bright in her own experience with the Lord and that finds its expression in what she did in the taking of this alabaster flask, breaking it and pouring it upon His head. That was something of the joy of her own experience and appreciation of her link with that blessed One. The act was simple but how precious to the Lord's own affections.
Our sister faced the reality of death and death is sobering to us all because it lies upon all men. “In the Adam all die", but "in the Christ", as we sang in our hymn, "all shall be made alive", 1 Cor 15: 22. It is a challenge whether we have a living link with the Saviour. It is the greatest necessity in a person's life because it is that that is able to go through death and come into the full unhindered enjoyment of eternal life - and this is in Christ, where we are made alive. Our sister in the last four months of her life, particularly, has been facing death, accepting it, indeed seeking, the Lord to come for her. It is a tremendous thing to accept the will of God for us. Our sister has displayed that with a very gracious spirit, and her joy has been in the Lord Jesus, as to what He has meant for her and the fact too that she has been able again to remember Him. That is another thing that Jesus said to His own. He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments", John 14: 15. Now His commandments are not grievous. There is the one that is left which was given at the time just before the Lord Jesus died, when with His own He said to them when He took the loaf and broke it and gave it to them, "This do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22: 19), a simple act but one that is so precious to His own heart in that He has response for His own affections. Our sister did that and it was a true joy to her soul to do so and she lived in the brightness of it. I would just seek that something of these things would remain upon all our hearts as to our own responsible lives in testimony here because that is what is involved in what is said of this woman. She is not named, but how full was what she did! And the Lord Jesus, as we have already said, comments on it. As He says, "Why do ye trouble her?" People were bringing in things that would have troubled, but the Lord has to say that "she was wrought a good work as to me", and that simple statement has tremendous challenge in it: "What she could she has done". The Lord Jesus does not ask for a lot from us but what is wrought out in the way of experience in our souls that is very precious to Himself.
What about our own responsible lives? Is there that in them that He can appreciate, that gives an answer to Himself, a comfort to His own heart? It rejoices Him to speak as He does here as to this woman, as to what she did. Not only that, but there is the recognition of the testimony that is going through, what she had done, things worked out in a small compass in the Lord's life, but the Lord says here that what this woman did is to be being spoken of as a memorial in the whole world. That is the experience in the believer's soul. It is very precious, but the challenge is to come home to each one of our hearts as to how much that is going on in me, in view of a yield for Himself. The words of the hymn writer are most affecting:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all!
What a challenge that is! In the presence of death you are brought near to it and we need to be more active in our personal testimony as to what is expressed as to our appreciation of Jesus. That is developed in the soul of the believer and it is so precious for Him to have it: "What she could she has done". May it find a greater expression in all our lives in what we can do for Him.