A Sweet Fragrance: Mary of Bethany

My Mother-in-Law asked me on Monday to speak tot her ladies on Thursday because her speaker canceled. Since, it was short notice, she suggested I do my lesson on Mary of Bethany. I decided that would be wise since I have studied her so in depth and all ready have a full lesson written out since I spoke on her a few years back at the ladies meeting at my church. Normally when I speak I spend countless hours in preparation and I would not have time to put something else bran new together, not well anyways. Anyhow, please pray for me that I will be a blessing to someone, and that I am a clean vessel, surrendered to God. Here is my lesson if you are interested. As I have been preparing for Thursday, this lesson on Mary of Bethany has GREATLY touched me and convicted me yet again!

Introduction
Have you ever been talked about? Of course you have! No matter what we do we are going to be talked about. It is a fact of life that we are going to be talked about…the question is “What are people saying about you?” If we are all honest we want people to say great things about us. We want people to think that we are beautiful, sweet, talented, wonderful, and so on.

Imagine… leaving a room and everyone looks to the person next to them and says, “She loves Jesus more than anyone I know.” If we are women that desire a right relationship with God, isn’t that the BEST compliment that you could ever receive? We should be the kind of women that people around us believes Jesus Christ is real because His presence is so real in our lives.

Our attitudes are like fragrances. (Object lesson….have a person smell something gross and something pretty.) I will never forget this one time in when I had a friend over to stay the night. She opened up my closet and as she got closer to my clothes she said, “This closet smells like you.” Just like we all have a “smell” our attitude leaves a good or bad flavor in people’s minds. We should leave behind a sweet fragrance of Christ, A fragrance that stays on people’s minds.

Mary of Bethany did just that. She is mentioned in the scriptures three times. In each scene she left behind a sweet fragrance.

I. Luke 10:38-42
While Martha was frustrated about being left with all the work, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet feeding on His every word. She knew that spending time with Him was the most important thing of all and in the end He assured her that she was doing right.
What jumps out to me in this passage is that if I was Mary, I think I would have gotten in Martha’s face and be like “I am doing the best thing of all. Why don’t you leave me alone and mind your own business?” But Mary did not say anything nor did she need to say anything because Jesus defended her.

II. John 11:1-46
Here we read about the death of Lazarus. Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus about Lazarus being ill. The delay of Jesus greatly affected Martha and Mary.
Martha dealt with her emotions by running to tell Jesus in verse 20 that if He had been there her brother would not have died. Then in verse 28 Martha went away and called her sister Mary saying, “The master is come, and calleth for thee. Then Mary got up and went quickly to Jesus. When Mary saw Jesus, she fell to her feet and said, “Lord if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” When Jesus saw Mary with great sorrow and a broken heart, the Bible tells us that HE WEPT. Her tears broke the heart of the master.

In this passage I see so clearly the different attitudes between the sisters. Martha ran out quickly to Jesus and I can hear her tone of voice, “LORD IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE MY BROTHER WOULD NOT HAVE DIED!” In Martha’s defense, haven’t we all been there? If you have lost someone close to you, I know you can relate. We probably have all said at one point something like, “Lord why didn’t you heal my husband of cancer, or why couldn’t you have allowed my Mom to live to meet her Granddaughter, and ect…I can totally relate to how Martha was feeling in this passage.

But while Martha rushed out of the house, Mary sat still until Jesus specifically called to her and then as SOON as she saw Jesus she fell at his feet and said “Lord if thou hadst been here….” The sisters said the exact thing but the attitudes were very different.

This is off the subject of Mary a bit but as I was preparing for the lesson the Lord showed me something new. Jesus wept in this passage because first of all, Lazarus was a dear friend to him but he also wept at seeing Mary weep as if He was feeling her pain. Not only does Jesus understand what it feels like to loose someone close to Him but isn’t such a great comfort to know that He hurts when He sees His children hurt?

III. John 12:1-11
This event took place in the home of Simon the Leper. It was a dinner to honor Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead. In attendance were the people closest to Jesus.
When no one was speaking Mary burst out with an impulse from her heart. She took a pound of ointment of Spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped the excess perfume on His feet with her Hair. And the fragrance filled the entire room. Spikenard was an aromatic ointment that was extracted from an East Indies plant. It was very rare and very expensive. It was sold for 300 pence which was equivalent to a full one year salary!

Mary’s heart was filled with GRATEFULNESS to Jesus and felt compelled to express how grateful she was. (Have you ever been stunned at something God has done or a prayer that He answered and you were just so excited about it that you couldn’t wait to tell everyone around you how happy you were about it?) Then you can relate to how Mary was feeling. She was so overwhelmed at what Jesus did for her that the only way she knew how to express her gratefulness toward Him was to give Him the VERY BEST THING that she had.

When Mary broke the seal on that alabaster box some were curious, some were very critical, and Judas was ANGRY! He believed it was a waste because it could have been used for the poor. Again, Jesus defended her, in verses 7-8 He says, “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.” Even though some were very critical, later it was something talked about by Mathew, Mark, and John. They all wrote about the impression that Mary made on them that day.

Character traits that Mary had that we as women should try to exemplify:

I. Her Quiet Temperament
Even when Martha’s sharp tongue lashed out at her she said NOTHING. To be quiet under provocation is a wonderful quality that as women we should pray for. Also, when Mary sobbed at Jesus feet she did not complain unlike her sister Martha. Then again, she remained silent when she was being criticized at the dinner table for pouring out the ointment on Jesus.

II. Not a People Pleaser
Mary was a Jesus pleaser. Every time she was criticized she never defended herself. And she did not need to because Jesus defended her. A characteristic of someone who is deeply in love with Jesus is that her DEEPEST desire is to please HIM! And then the longing that we have to be praised by men diminishes. When we are focused on pleasing God rather than man, He will defend us by allowing others to see His love shining through us in our testimonies.
I am sure that Mary must have felt hurt by the criticism, she was…after all…human. But she was so focused on pleasing God that she could not even think about pleasing man. This is an example to us that in time of criticism let God be our Judge!

III. A Grateful Giver
Mary was not just a giver but she was a grateful giver. She did not give to Jesus just because she loved Him but also because she was grateful to Him. She was grateful to Him for raising Lazarus, her brother from the dead but I believe she was also grateful to Him for what He was about to do which was going to the cross to die. Because she was so grateful, she gave unselfishly the VERY BEST THING that she had.
What will you say, when Jesus asks you if you have given you very best for Him?

IV. A Devoted Friend
Mary was truly a devoted friend. There was nothing that she would have rather done then to spend time with the Lord. The thing that we need more than anything is fellowship with Jesus. We get so caught up in the busyness of life that we do not spend quality time with the Lord like we should. Every time we see Mary in the scriptures, where is she? She is at the feet of Jesus. She worshiped at the feet of Jesus every chance that she had.
I believe that Mary knew that Jesus was going to die soon. I believe this because of what He said in John 12:7-8. I also believe this because she spent so much time listening to His every word. Isn’t it true that those that sit at the feet of Jesus are more apt to see things about the Lord that others completely miss? All through His word scripture tells us that if we earnestly desire to know Him that we will understand mysteries that others can not understand.

As I close I would like to ask you this, what kind of fragrance are you leaving? We should be women that are leaving behind a sweet fragrance because of our love for Him.