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THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
in troduction : The life of Mary Magdalene Is com prised in a very few verses of Scrip tu re, but these: few verses are a love story; fra g ra n t w ith a sp irit of devo tion to the Lord, and LESSON a sp iritu al i n s i g h t EXPOSITION m a r v e l o u s to the T. C. H orton m i n d s of men who lack sp iritu al percep tion. The story has a preface which fur nishes th e foundation for the rem ark able ch aracter of th is woman whose love knew no change, and whose ex ample of unfailing discipleship is set before us as one well w orthy of emula tion. (Luke 8:1, 2). Nine words give th e foundation facts, “Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils.-” Seven is the num ber of completeness and we undër- stand, then, th a t Mary Magdalene was th e victim of complete demcniac pos session,— a child of the devl. and con trolled by his power. W hat was th e reason? W hat sin or sins were th e cause we know not; but we are assured th at, like th e man a t Gadara she was controlled by and con tribu ted to th e domain of Satan. The Bible is rem arkable in th a t it uses no unnecessary words in connec tion w ith the lives of the people it in troduces to us, and th is is illu strated here. A sin n e r' of th e vilest kind, demon-possessed, is, introduced to us as having been healed. At th e close of His m inistry she appears as one of His most devoted followers,— h er devotion outshining th a t of His most intim ate friends and followers. (1) THE POWER OP DEVOTION. W hat was it th a t controlled th e life of th is woman and compelled h er to be th e first of the followers to rally a t the tomb of our Lord? W hat was it th a t hurried her feet to th e disciples w ith th e story of His resurrection?
She loved Him. Love made h er the herald of the resurrection of th e Son of God. On “ the first day of the week,”— th e day we all love, the day of power — she came twice, came before th e oth ers of her companions, and finding the stone removed, sped to tell P eter and John. While she was absent, th e other Mary and Salome came (Mark 16:1) “ A n d w h e n t h e S a b b a th w a s p a s t, M a ry M a g d a le n e ,. a n d M a ry th e n o f t B o f J a n ie s , a n d S a lo m e , h a d b o u g h t s w e e t sp le e s,* t h a t t h e y m i g h t c o m e a n d a n o i n t h im .” . and saw the angel who told them of Christ’s resurrection. These two wo men retu rn ed to th e city; P ete r and John, in th e meantime, coming another way, followed by Mary Magdalene, who then stayed afte r th e dep artu re of P eter and John. Jesus met the other two women and revealed H imself to them (Matt. 28:9, 10). In th e meantime, Joann a and her companion arrived a t th e sepulchre, en tered in and beheld the two angels, one a t th e head and the other a t th e feet where th e body of Jesn s had lain, who told to them th e story of the resurrec tion (Luke 24 :1 -1 0 ); then they, too, went on th e ir way to tell th e disciples. P ete r evidently retu rn ed the second tim e to th e sepulchre and found only th e linen clothes lying in th e place where Jesus had been. ■ Mary Magdalene was the first. She had th e first message of the resurrec tion to give to th e sorrowing, downcast followers who had forgotten His prom ise and were absorbed in th e ir grief. (2) THE PERSEVERANCE OP DE VOTION. Mary stayed. H er love kept her feet in the presence of th e tomb. She was not satisfied. H er h eart longed for something th a t He alone could give. She wanted His presence, His voice. Love held her fast to the spot where they had laid Him. He had promised to arise. She had forgotten this. She
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