"SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD."
In the gospel by Mark we read: "After two days was the feast of the
Passover, and of unleavened bread: and the Chief Priests and the
Scribes sought how they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death.
But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the
people. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He
sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
spikenard, very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His
head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and
said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been
sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the
poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, 'Let her alone;
why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work for Me. For ye have
the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good;
but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could; she is come
aforehand to anoint My body to the burying. Verily I say unto you,
wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world,
this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of
her.'"
John tells us in his Gospel who this woman was. "Then Jesus six days
before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been
dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper, and
Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with
him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and
anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the
house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of His
disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray Him: 'Why
was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the
poor?' This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he
was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said
Jesus, 'Let her alone: against the day of My burying hath she kept
this. For the poor always ye have with you; but Me ye have not
always.'"
This is the last time we have a glimpse of the family at Bethany. It
was Christ's last week there, and here we have the last recorded
interview between Christ and that lovely family.
Speaking of Martha and Mary some one has said: "They were both dear to
Jesus and they both loved Him, but they were different. The eye of one
saw His weariness and would give to Him; the faith of the other
apprehended His fulness and would draw from Him; Martha's service was
acceptable to the Lord and was acknowledged by Him, but He would not
allow it to disturb Mary's communion. Mary knew his mind; she had
deeper fellowship with Him; her heart clung to Himself."
I want to call your attention specially to one clause from this
fourteenth chapter of Mark, "She hath done what she could." If some
one had reported in Jerusalem that something was going to happen at
Bethany on that memorable day, that should outlive the Roman Empire,
and all the monarchs that had ever existed or would exist, there would
have been great excitement in the city. A good many people would have
gone down to Bethany that day to see the thing that was going to
happen, and that was to live so long. Little did Mary think that she
was going to erect a monument which would outlive empires and
kingdoms. She never thought of herself. Love does not think of itself.
What does Christ say: "Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached
throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be
spoken of for a memorial of her."
This one story has already been put into three hundred and fifty
different languages, and it is now in circulation in every nation
under heaven. Day by day this story is being printed and published.
One society in London alone prints, every working hour of the day,
five hundred records of this act that took place at Bethany. It is
being spread abroad in all the corners of the earth. It will be told
out as long as the Church of God exists. Matthew speaks of it; so does
John; and so does Mark.
Men seek to erect some monument that will live after they are dead and
gone. This woman never thought to erect a monument; she simply wanted
to lavish her love upon Christ. But the act has lived and will
continue to live while the Church is on earth. It is as fresh to-day
as it was a hundred years ago: it is fresher than it was five hundred
years ago. In fact there never was a time when it was so well known as
to-day. Although Mary was herself unknown outside of Bethany when she
performed the act, now it is known over all the world. Kings have come
and gone; empires have risen and crumbled. Egypt, with its ancient
glories, has passed away. Greece, with its wise men and its mighty
philosophers and its warriors, has been almost forgotten. The great
Roman empire has passed away. We do not know the names of those who
are buried in the Pyramids, or of those who were embalmed in Egypt,
with so much care and trouble, but the record of this humble life
continues to be an inspiration to others.
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.
One said he would give so much; others said they would give so much.
They only got about half the amount that was needed, and it was
thought they would have to abandon the project. Away back in the
meeting there sat a washerwoman. She rose and said her little boy had
died a week before. All he had was a gold dollar. She said: "It is all
I have, but I will give the dollar to the cause." Her words touched
the hearts of many of those who heard them. Rich men were ashamed at
what they had given. The whole sum was raised within a very short
time. I have spoken in that church, and I know it to be a centre of
influence in one of our great cities. This poor woman did what she
could; perhaps she gave more in proportion than anyone in the city.
When we were in London eight years ago, we wanted the city to be
canvassed; we called for volunteers to go and visit the people in
their own homes and invite them to come to the meetings. Among those
who came forward was an old woman, eighty-five years of age. She said
she wanted to do a little more for the Master before she went home.
She took a district and went from house to house, delivering the
messages of invitation and the tracts to the people. I suppose she has
now gone to her reward, but I shall never forget her. She wanted to do
what she could. If every Christian man and woman will do what Mary
did, multitudes will be reached and blessed.
Years ago, when Illinois was but a young State, there were only a few
settlers here and there throughout a large portion. One of these was a
man who used to spend his Sundays in hunting and fishing. He was a
profane and notoriously wicked man. His little girl went to the
Sabbath-school at the log school-house. There she was taught the way
into the kingdom of God. When she was converted the teacher tried to
tell her how she might be used of God in doing good to others. She
thought she would begin with her father. Others had tried to reach him
and had failed to do it, but his own child had more influence with
him. It is written, "A little child shall lead them." She got him to
promise to go to the meeting. He came to the door, but at first he
would not go in. He had gone to the school when he was young, but one
day the boys laughed at him because he had a little impediment in his
speech. He would not go back, and so he had never learned to read.
However he was at last induced to go to the Sabbath-school. There he
heard of Christ, and he was converted to God. His little child helped
him and others helped him, and he soon learned to read. This man has
since been called to his reward, but about two years ago when I saw
him last, if I remember well, that man had established on the Western
prairies between 1,100 and 1,200 Sunday-schools. In addition to all
these school-houses, scattered about over the country, churches have
sprung up. There are now hundreds of flourishing churches that have
grown out of these little mission schools that he planted. He used to
have a Sunday-school horse, a "Robert Raikes" horse he called him, on
which he traveled up and down the country, going into many outlying
districts where nothing was being done for Christ. He used to gather
the parents into the log school-houses and tell how his little girl
led him to Christ. I have heard a great many orators, but I never
heard any who could move an audience as he could. There was no
impediment in his speech when he began to speak for Christ; he seemed
to have all the eloquence and fire of heaven. That little girl did
what she could. She did a good day's work when she led her father to
the Savior.
Every one of us may do something. If we are only willing to do what we
can, the Lord will condescend to use us; and it will be a great thing
to be instruments in His hand that He may do with us what He will.
I remember reading in the papers that when the theatre in Vienna was
on fire a few years ago, a man in one of the corridors was hurrying
out. Many others of the people were trying to find their way out so as
to escape from the fire. It was dark, but this man had a single match
in his pocket. He struck it, and by doing so he was able to save
twenty lives. He did what he could.
You think you cannot do much. If you are the means of saving one soul,
he may be instrumental in saving a hundred more. I remember when we
were in England ten years ago, there was a woman in the city where we
labored who got stirred up. I do not know but it was this very text
that moved her, "She hath done what she could." She had been a nominal
Christian for a good many years, but she had not thought that she had
any particular mission in the world. I am afraid that is the condition
of many professedly Christian men and women. Now she began to look
about her to see what she could do. She thought she would try and do
something for her fallen sisters in that town. She went out and began
to talk kindly to those she met on the street. She hired a house and
invited them to come and meet her there.
When we went back to that city about a year or so ago, she had rescued
over three hundred of these fallen ones, and had restored them to
their parents and homes. She is now corresponding with many of them.
Think of more than three hundred of these sisters reclaimed from sin
and death, through the efforts of one woman. She did what she could.
What a grand harvest there will be, and how she will rejoice when she
hears the Master say: "Well done, good and faithful servant."
I remember hearing of a man in one of the hospitals who received a
bouquet of flowers from the Flower Mission. He looked at the beautiful
bouquet and said: "Well, if I had known that a bunch of flowers could
do a fellow so much good, I would have sent some myself when I was
well." If people only knew how they might cheer some lonely heart and
lift up some drooping spirit, or speak some word that shall be lasting
in its effects for all coming time, they would be up and about it. If
the Gospel is ever to be carried into the lanes and alleys, up to the
attics and down into the cellars, we must all of us be about it. As I
have said, if each of us will do what we can, a great multitude will
be gathered into the kingdom of God.
Rev. Dr. Willets, of Philadelphia, in illustrating the blessedness of
cultivating a liberal spirit, uses this beautiful figure--
"See that little fountain yonder--away yonder in the distant mountain,
shining like a thread of silver through the thick copse, and sparkling
like a diamond in its healthful activity. It is hurrying on with
tinkling feet to bear its tribute to the river. See, it passes a
stagnant pool, and the pool hails it: 'Whither away, master
streamlet?' 'I am going to the river to bear this cup of water God has
given me.' 'Ah, you are very foolish for that: you'll need it before
the summer's over. It has been a backward spring, and we shall have a
hot summer to pay for it--you will dry up then.' 'Well,' said the
streamlet, 'if I am to die so soon, I had better work while the day
lasts. If I am likely to lose this treasure from the heat, I had
better do good with it while I have it.' So on it went, blessing and
rejoicing in its course. The pool smiled complacently at its own
superior foresight, and husbanded all its resources, letting not a
drop steal away.
Soon the midsummer heat came down, and it fell upon the little stream.
But the trees crowded to its brink, and threw out their sheltering
branches over it in the day of adversity, for it brought refreshment
and life to them, and the sun peeped through the branches and smiled
complacently upon its dimpled face, and seemed to say, 'It's not in my
heart to harm you;' and the birds sipped the silver tide, and sung its
praises; the flowers breathed their perfume upon its bosom; the
husbandman's eye always sparkled with joy, as he looked upon the line
of verdant beauty that marked its course through his fields and
meadows; and so on it went, blessing and blessed of all!
And where was the prudent pool? Alas! in its glorious inactivity it
grew sickly and pestilential. The beasts of the field put their lips
to it, but turned away without drinking; the breeze stopped and kissed
it by _mistake_, but shrunk chilled away. It caught the malaria in the
contact, and carried the ague through the region; the inhabitants
caught it and had to move away; and at last, the very frogs cast their
venom upon the pool and deserted it, and heaven, in mercy to man,
smote it with a hotter breath and dried it up!
But did not the little stream exhaust itself? Oh, no? God saw to that.
It emptied its full cup into the river, and the river bore it on to the
sea, and the sea welcomed it, and the sun smiled upon the sea, and the
sea sent up its incense to greet the sun, and the clouds caught in their
capacious bosoms the incense from the sea, and the winds, like waiting
steeds, caught the chariots of the clouds and bore them away--away to
the very mountain that gave the little fountain birth, and there they
tipped the brimming cup, and poured the grateful baptism down; and so
God saw to it that the little fountain, though it gave so fully and so
freely, never ran dry. And if God so blessed the fountain, will He not
bless you, my friends, if, as ye have freely received, ye also freely
give? Be assured He will."
A young lady belonging to a wealthy family in our country was sent to
a fashionable boarding-school. In the school Christ had a true witness
in one of the teachers. She was watching for an opportunity of
reaching some of the pupils. When this young lady of wealth and
position came, the teacher set her heart upon winning her to Christ.
The first thing she did was to gain her affections. Let me say right
here that we shall not do much toward reaching the people until we
make them love us. This teacher, having won the heart of her pupil,
began to talk to her about Christ, and she soon won her heart for the
Savior. Then instead of dropping her as so many do, she began to show
her the luxury of working for God. They worked together, and were
successful in winning a good many of the young ladies in the school to
Christ. When the pupil got a taste of work, that spoiled the world for
her. Let me say to any Christian who is holding on to the world: Get
into the Lord's work, and the world will soon leave you. You will not
leave it, you will have something better. I pity those Christians who
are all the time asking if they have to give up this thing and that
thing. You won't be asking that when you get a taste of the Lord's
work; you will then have something that the world cannot give you.
When this young lady went back to her home the parents were anxious
that she should go out into worldly society. They gave a great many
parties, but, to their great amazement, they could not get her
interested. She was hungering for something else. She went to the
Sabbath-school in connection with the church she attended, and asked
the Superintendent to give her a class. He said there were really more
teachers than he needed.
She tried for weeks to find something to do for Christ. One day as she
was walking down the street, she saw a little boy coming out of a
shoemaker's shop. The man had a wooden last in his hand, and he was
running as fast as he could after the boy. When he found he could not
overtake him, he hurled the last at him and hit him in the back. When
the shoemaker had picked up his last and gone back to his shop, the
boy stopped running and began to cry. The scene touched the heart of
this young lady. When she got up to him she stopped and spoke to him
kindly.
"Do you go to the Sabbath-school?" "No."
"Do you go to the day-school?" "No."
"What makes you cry?" He thought she was going to make sport of him,
so he said it was none of her business. "But I am your friend," she
said. He was not in the habit of having a young lady like that speak
to him; at first he was afraid of her, but at last she won his
confidence. Finally, she asked him to come to the Sabbath-school, and
be in her class. No, he said, he didn't like study; he would not come.
She said she would not ask him to study; she would tell him beautiful
stories and there would be nice singing. At last he promised that he
would come. He was to meet her on Sabbath morning, at the corner of a
certain street.
She was not sure that he would keep his promise, but she was there at
the appointed time, and he was there too. She took him to the school
and said to the Superintendent: "Can you give me a place where I can
teach this boy?" He had not combed his hair, and he was barefooted.
They did not have any of that kind of children in the school, so the
Superintendent looked at him, and said he did not know just where to
put him. Finally he put him away in a corner, as far as he could from
the others. There this young lady commenced her work--work that the
angels would have been glad to do.
He went home and told his mother he thought he had been among the
angels. When the mother found he was going to a Protestant school she
told him he must not go again. When the father got to know it, he said
he would flog him every time he went to the school. However, the boy
went again the next Sabbath, and the father flogged him; every time he
went he gave the poor boy a flogging. At last he said to his father:
"I wish you would flog me before I go, and then I won't be thinking
about it all the time I am at the school." You laugh at it, but, dear
friends, let us remember that gentleness and love will break down the
opposition in the hardest heart. These little diamonds will sparkle in
the Savior's crown, if we will but search them out and polish them. We
cannot make diamonds, but we can polish them if we will.
Finding that the flogging did not stop the boy from going to the
school, the father said: "If you will give up the Sabbath-school, I
will give you every Saturday afternoon to play, or you can have all
you make by peddling." The boy went to his teacher and said: "I have
been thinking that if you could meet me on the Saturday afternoon we
would have longer time together than on the Sabbath." I wonder if
there is a wealthy young lady reading this book who would give up her
Saturday afternoons to teach a poor little boy the way into the
kingdom of God. She said she would gladly do it; if any callers came
she was always engaged on Saturdays. It was not long before the light
broke into the darkened mind of the boy, and a change came into his
life. She got him some good clothes and took an interest in him; she
was a guardian angel to him. One day he was down at the railway
station peddling. He was standing on the platform of the carriage,
when the engine gave a sudden start; the little fellow was leaning on
the edge, and his foot slipped so that he fell down and the train
passed over his legs. When the doctor came, the first thing he said
was: "Doctor, will I live to get home?" "No, my boy, you are dying."
"Will you tell my father and mother that I died a Christian?" Did not
the teacher get well paid for her work? She will be no stranger when
she goes to the better land. That little boy will be waiting to give
her a welcome.
It is a great thing to lead one soul from the darkness of sin into the
glorious light of the Gospel. I believe if an angel were to wing his
way from earth up to heaven, and were to say that there was one poor,
ragged boy, without father or mother, with no one to care for him and
teach him the way of life; and if God were to ask who among them was
willing to come down to this earth and live here for fifty years and
lead that one to Jesus Christ, every angel in heaven would volunteer
to go. Even Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, would
say: "Let me leave my high and lofty position, and let me have the
luxury of leading one soul to Jesus Christ." There is no greater honor
than to be the instrument in God's hand of leading one person out of
the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of heaven.
I have this motto in my Bible, and I commend it to you: "Do all the
good you can; to all the people you can; in all the ways you can; and
as long as ever you can." If each of us will at once set about some
work for God, and will keep at it 365 days in the year, then a good
deal will be accomplished. Let us so live that it may be truthfully
said of us: We have done what we could.