Spring
1975
Anointing Him Beforehand
Watchman Nee
“Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought
a good work on me. For ye have the poor always with you, and
whensoever ye will ye can do them good: but me ye have not
always. She hath done what she could: she hath anointed my
body aforehand for the burying” Mark 14:6-8.
In these verses, the Lord Jesus introduces a time-factor
with the word “beforehand,” and this is something
of which we can have a new application today, for it is as
important to us now as it was to her then. We all know that
in the age to come, we shall be called to a greater work—not
to inactivity. “Well done, good and faithful servant:
thou has been faithful over a few things, I will set thee
over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
Matthew 25:21; and compare Matthew 24:47 and Luke 19:17. Yes,
there will be a greater work; for the work of God’s
house will go on, just as in the story the care of the poor
went on. The poor would always be with them, but they could
not always have Him. There was something, represented by this
pouring out of the ointment, which Mary had to do beforehand
or she would have not later opportunity. I believe that in
that day, we shall all love Him as we have never done now,
but yet that will be most blessed for those who have poured
out their all upon the Lord today. When we shall see Him face
to face, I trust that we shall all break and pour out everything
for Him. But today—what are we doing today?
Several days after Mary broke the alabaster box and poured
the ointment on Jesus’ head, there were some women who
went early in the morning to anoint the body of the Lord.
Did they do it? Did they succeed in their purpose on that
first day of the week? No, there was only one soul who succeeded
in anointing the Lord, and it was Mary, who anointed Him beforehand.
The others never did it, for He had risen. Now I suggest that
in just such a way the matter of time may be important to
us also, and that the whole question for us is: What am I
doing to the Lord today?
Have our eyes been opened to see the preciousness of the
One whom we are serving? Have we come to see that nothing
less than the dearest, the costliest, the most precious, is
fit for Him? Have we come to see that working for the poor,
working for the benefit of the world, working for the souls
of men and for the eternal good of the sinner – are
right only if they are in their place? In themselves, as things
apart, they are as nothing compared with work that is done
to the Lord.
The Lord has to open our eyes to His worth. If there is in
the world some precious art treasure, and I pay the high price
asked for it, be it one thousand, ten thousand, or even a
million dollars, dare anyone say it is a waste? The idea of
waste only comes into our Christianity when we underestimate
the worth of our Lord. The whole question is: How precious
is He to us now? If we do not think much of Him, then of course
to give Him anything at all, however small, will seem to us
a wicked waste. But when He is really precious to our souls,
nothing will be too good, nothing too costly for Him; everything
we have, our dearest, our most priceless treasure, we shall
pour out upon Him, and we shall not count it a shame to have
done so.
Of Mary the Lord said: “She hath done what she could.”
What does that mean? It means that she had given up her all.
She had kept nothing in reserve for a future day. She had
lavished on Him all she had; and yet on the resurrection morning
she had no reason to regret her extravagance. And the Lord
will not be satisfied with anything less from us than that
we too should have done ‘what we could.’ By this,
remember, I do not mean the expenditure of our effort and
energy in trying to do something for Him, for that is not
the point here. What the Lord Jesus looks for in us is a life
laid at His feet – and that in view of His death and
burial and of a future day. His burial was already in view
that day in the home in Bethany. Today it is His crowning
that is in view – when He shall be acclaimed in glory
as the Anointed One, the Christ of God. Yes, then we shall
pour out our all upon Him! But it is a precious thing –
indeed it is a far more precious thing to Him – that
we should anoint Him now, not with any material oil, but with
something costly, something from our hearts.
That which is merely external and superficial has no place
here. It has already been dealt with by the Cross, and we
have given our consent to God’s judgment upon it and
learned to know in experience its cutting off. What God is
demanding of us now is represented by that flask of alabaster:
something mined from the depths, something turned and chased
and wrought upon, something that because it is so truly of
the Lord, we cherish as Mary cherished that flask –
and we would not, we dare not break. It comes now from the
heart, from the very depths of our being; and we come to the
Lord with that, and we break it and pour it out and say: “Lord,
here it is. It is all Yours, because You are worthy!”
– and the Lord has got what He desired. May He receive
such an anointing from us today.
From THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE by Watchman Nee. Copyright
1957 by Angus Kinnear. Christina Literature Crusade, Fort
Washington, PA. Used by permission.