Here is a woman whose memory has outlived Caesar, Alexander, Cyrus,
and all the great warriors of the ancient world. We do not know that
she was wealthy, or beautiful, or gifted, or great in the eye of the
world. What we do know is that she loved the Savior. She took this box
of precious ointment and broke it over the body of Christ. Some one
has said it was the only thing He ever received that He did not give
away. It was a small thing in the sight of the world. If there had
been daily papers in those days, and some Jerusalem reporter had been
looking out for items of news that would interest the inhabitants, I
suppose he would not have thought it worth putting into his paper. Yet
it has outlived all that happened in that century, except, of course,
the sayings, and the other events connected with the life of Christ.
Mary had Christ in her heart as well as in her creed. She loved Him
and she showed her love in acts.
Thank God, everyone of us can love Christ, and we can all do something
for Him. It may be a small thing; but whatever it is it shall be
lasting; it will outlive all the monuments on earth. The iron and the
granite will rust and crumble and fade away, but anything done for
Christ will never fade. It will be more lasting than time itself.
Christ says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not
pass away."
Look again and see that woman in the temple. Christ stood there as the
people passed by and cast their offerings into the treasury. The widow
had but two mites and she cast it all in. The Lord saw that her heart
was in it, and so He commended her. If some nobleman had cast in a
thousand dollars Christ would probably not have noticed it, unless his
heart had gone with it. Gold is of little value in heaven. It is so
plentiful there that they use it to pave the streets with; and it is
transparent gold, much better gold than we have in this world. It is
when the heart goes with the offering that it is accepted of Christ.
So He said of this woman: "She hath cast in more than they all." She
had done all she could.
I think this is the lesson we are to learn from these Scripture
incidents. The Lord expects us to do what we can. We can all do
something. In one of our Southern cities a few Christian people
gathered together at the beginning of the war to see what could be
done about building a church in a part of the city where the poor were
very much neglected. After they had discussed the matter they wanted
to see how much could be raised out of the congregation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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