She Did What She Could, Did You?

(Mark 14:8 KJV) She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

Prior to the death of the Lord Jesus, a woman came to him to anoint his body for burial. This was met by much indignation at the crowd who was present at Simon the leper’s. In fact, some of the people were incensed that she took a bottle of spikenard which cost about a year’s wages and spilled it on the Lord Jesus. They said the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. John 12 gives us some insight into the real reason that Judas was upset. (John 12:6 KJV) 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. Judas was a thief and couldn’t give two hoots about the poor. What he saw going down the Lord Jesus was a good amount of money which would have eventually found its way into his own pockets. Judas tried to show his false concern visibly but his deep seated greed became evident when he betrayed the Lord Jesus for 30 of pieces of silver. One quick point, it is interesting to see who Jesus allowed to be the treasurer. If Jesus came to bring us a health and wealth gospel, He definitely would not have allowed Judas to be the treasurer.

I am not focusing on Judas and the money. I want to focus on the first part of this verse: “She hath done what she could:” Mary of Bethany loved the Lord Jesus as He had stayed there as their guest. She knew from His teachings that He would have to go to the cross to pay for the sins of His Elect, so Mary in her humble manner had paid honor to the Lord Jesus by anointing his body for burial. These few words teach us a great spiritual truth. Mary could only do so much in her sphere of influence, but she did what she could. Too many Christians focus on what they can’t do, instead of focusing on what they can do and then getting busy. This weekend we are celebrating Memorial Day, where we remember all those who had died in wars. We remember our veterans of the Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, The Civil War, The Spanish-American War, The First World War, The Second World War, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, The Gulf War of 1990, and the present Iraq conflict.

Each soldier who fights in a war, does not fight the war as an independent person but they are part of a larger army. If one soldier went against an enemy, the enemy would have no reason to fear because if you kill that one soldier, you have total victory. When an army presents itself with millions of soldiers fighting one specific enemy, then that enemy has a reason to be frightened. Each soldier will not be able to win the war single handed, but will be able to attain victory through the army he is a part of. The method to win a war is teamwork but each soldier does what they can in their particular sphere of service. Not every soldier is going to be a combat soldier. There will be some who will be in the Intelligence Corps, the Communications Corps, Artillery, Surveillance, Mess Hall, etc.

Each soldier may be called to a different position but they are all called to fight in unison as one army advancing upon a specific army. Every member of that army has an important function and there is none which is more important than the other, though some positions are wrongly glorified above others. When we look at the body of Christ, we see that many Christians are called to different positions but are all called to fight the same spiritual war, and that is to bring the light of the Gospel to a dark world. There are some who are called to different vocations, some are called to the mission field, some are called to minister in their congregations, some are called to write books, some are called to write tracts, some are called to change diapers. Whatever God directs us to do, He empowers us to do. We do not seek the areas where we are not qualified to minister but we work faithfully and diligently in the areas where God has gifted us to minister.

We may be in a ministry where we face much opposition but that is okay, we are not facing that opposition alone. True Christians all over the world are facing the opposition of the unsaved. (1 Pet 5:8-9 KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: {9} Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. The Lord wants us to remain steadfast which means strong or firm. During World War 2, General Patton had one standing order and that was to advance. He never wanted to pay for the same real estate twice. He was right because if you back up and regroup, the enemy will retake that area and will entrench themselves much firmer the second time around. Christians cannot give back the spiritual victories that have been accomplished in this world. The Banner of the Lord Jesus Christ goes before us and that Banner never retreats.

During the Civil War, one of the strategies for winning the individual battles was to try and gain the high ground in every battlefield. From the high ground, you can set your cannons and pulverize the enemy before they get near your emplacements. If you had the high ground, you normally suffered less casualties. Because of Christ, Christians are always on high ground and when we surrender any of our spiritual strength, whether through sin or compromise, we give the enemy the high ground in our life. You can either conquer or defeat an enemy, one soldier at a time. Satan’s strategy is to try and defeat each individual Christian. He does it by trying to convince them that their part in the Great Commission is valueless and makes no impact for the Gospel. This strategy has neutered many Christians into stagnation. Stagnation will always lead to spiritual decline and spiritual decline will always lead to spiritual depression. Then when a Christian is in that mindset, they will look at others and claim that they have no spiritual gifts to offer.

This is why it is important that Christians remain an army on the move. We don’t have time to pause because there is always one more fight to fight and one more soul to bring to the Lord. Our rest will come when the Lord brings us to Heaven for eternity. (Rev 14:13 KJV) And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. Until that time we must remain vigilant as the Scriptures teach us because our enemy, in these last days, will try what he can to hinder us from being an army on the move. This Memorial Day, when we remember our fallen veterans, let us also remember how many Christians have fallen in the line of duty to the Lord Jesus. During the day we live in, there are more Christian martyrs than ever before. We truly are an army under assault but we can turn those attacks into victories for the Lord Jesus Christ. We can attain those victories by doing what we can!