But there was one soul that saw the cross--Mary. Never forget it, you men; it was a woman that saw the cross and went into the shadow of it with Christ, as it was a woman who became the first human preacher of the resurrection when He came back again. So while He “sat at meat,” in the house of Simon the leper, with the man whom He had cured of the most terrible of diseases upon one side, and the man whom He had raised from the dead on the other, and the disciples on either side of these, Mary looks into the faces of the guests, and they all were happy, as men usually are with a feast spread before them, and even Christ, though fully conscious of his approaching death, and all the humiliation accompanying it, did not abandon Himself to melancholy feelings or looks, yet with that deep intuition that is only born of the highest and the holiest love, she sees what no one else sees, that on His heart is the shadow of a great sorrow. And she is thinking, “What can I do? Can I do anything that will let Him see I know something of His pain? Can I go into the darkness with Him and share in that sorrow?” And when love does this kind of thinking it is always extravagant. She slipped away from her sister’s side in serving, hastened to her room, where the precious treasure was kept, and seizing the alabaster box of spikenard, for which she had paid more than 300 pence, she hastened back to the feast, saying to herself, “I will give Him this; it is the choicest thing I can get hold of, and I want to pour it out upon Him, for He knows I can see His sorrow and pain.” So speaking, she fell at His feet and poured the perfume on His head and feet. It was a lavish waste of love--nearly $1,000 expressed in our money now. But nothing is wasted that is done in love for our Lord. Some murmured, others “had indignation,” and Judas spoke right out, “Why this waste?” Poor Mary, she had never thought of there being any waste to her act of love. “Three hundred pence!” Judas had quickly ciphered out the contents of the broken alabaster box, and just now, at the expense of Mary, was very benevolent. The unbroken box of ointment might have been sold, and the money “given to the poor.” But, in a moment they were hushed. “Let her alone,” said Jesus. How fortunate for Mary that she had a more righteous Judge to pass sentence upon her action. “Against the day of My burying hath she kept this.” Nobody else understood it. The motive determines the act. “Nothing can be wasted that love pours upon Me, because love enters into My suffering and sorrow, and that is what it meant.” “She hath done what she could.” O, what a precious revelation! Jesus is fully satisfied with the limit of our ability to serve Him. And the sequel showed that she met her Lord’s future as no other of His disciples had been able; anointed His brow for the thorns, and his feet for the nails, that both thorns and nails may draw blood in the perfume of at least one woman’s love.