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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April -May, 1933
heart of the woman. He knew that she had wanted to bring the best that she had to Him. He said to the others, “Let her alone— she hath wrought a good work on Me. The poor you have always with you; but Me you have not always.” So many times Jesus’ disciples had been selfish and thoughtless of Jesus, that it must have made Jesus feel glad to find a person who was ready to give the best she had to Him. Jesus wants from us the best that we have to give Him.
This woman took her beautiful treasure with her to Simon’s house and went into the feast and broke the bottle and anointed Jesus’ head with the perfume. The fra grance filled the house. Some of the people present did not like what the woman had done. They said, “This perfume cost much money. The woman wasted it. She should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor.” But Jesus did not think that the perfume had been wasted. He could see into the
BLACKBOARD LESSON
3. The expression of understanding. It was the Lord who understood. He gave the woman and her action full en dorsement, in the face of the criticism, by saying, “Let her alone .. . she hath wrought a good work on me.” Then He gave the reminder which is frequently overlooked: “Ye have the poor with you always . . . but me ye have not always.” Before we criticize, let us be sure we are doing what we can to take care of the poor who are ever with us and ever in need. We should learn to do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Whatever our own poverty, we have always what the poor need most, the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. Jesus explained why this woman had per formed a good work, by revealing that she had, consciously or unconsciously, anointed Him for His burial. She was the only one who apparently understood Him and knew His program of going to the cross. She was the one who sympathized with Him in His own heart, and she used this ointment for that purpose. G olden T ex t Illu stratio n A converted cowboy gives this as his idea of what religion is: “Lots of folks that would really like to do right think that servin’ the Lord means shouting themselves hoarse praisin’ His name. Now, I’ll tell you how I look at it. “I’m working for Jim, here. Now if I’d sit ’round the house here,’ telling what a good fellow Jim is and singing songs to him and gettin’ up in the night to serenade him, I’d be doing just what lots of Chris tians do, but I wouldn’t suit Jim, and I’d get fired mighty quick. “But when I buckle on my straps and hustle among the hills and see that Jim’s herd is all right and not suffering for water and feed or bein’ off the range and branded by cow thieves, then I’m serving Jim as he wants to be served.” —T he B ottles of H eaven . Som e F riends of Jesus M ark 14:1-9 Memory Verse: “A friend loveth at all times” (Prov. 17:17). Approach: During the week which Jesus spent in Jerusalem before His death, He spent some time visiting friends. One of His friends, Simon who had been a leper, invited Jesus and some friends for dinner. Lesson Story: Now there was a woman
JUNE 4, 1933 JESUS FACES BETRAYAL AND DENIAL M ark 14:10-72
noticed when Jesus said, “One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.” Their reaction to this announcement re veals that the other disciples had no sus picion of Judas. Outwardly he was as they were, wholly devoted to the Lord. But Ju das was the tare among the wheat, so cleverly imitating the wheat that he could not be distinguished from the real thing. But the One who searches all hearts knows just what is hidden to outward _appear ances, and He judges by the motives and purposes of the heart and not by deeds. While these disciples did not know who Jesus meant, they did know something of their own failings. Their recent contention as to who should be the greatest in the kingdom had revealed their selfishness. And selfishness, once allowed to sway the actions, knows no limit when its own grati fication is at stake. The disciples began to ask, “Is it I?” when Jesus told them one should betray Him. It is always a good sign when a person knows himself well enough to be aware that there is no sinfuj- ness so atrocious but that he himself is capable of cohimitting it. In verses 20 and 21 the Lord reveals, at least to Judas, who He had in mind as the betrayer. Judas would be aware that Jesus knew and was giving him a chance to re pent and forsake his intended evil deed. But the betrayal would be no surprise to God; it was already written in Scripture that thus it would be. There are some who would justify Judas, because God knew be forehand what Judas would do. But the foreknowledge of God does not in any wise relieve the doer of evil x>f his own re sponsibility. Judas had a chance to forsake his intended crime. He could have done so had he chosen, even though it was written he would commit it. From our Lord’s words, it is seen that by this deed Judas would seal his own doom; there would be no “second chance” after his death, and no annihilation, else our Lord’s words are without any meaning. Judas was doomed because of his per sistence in the betrayal in the face of what Jesus said. Even after the betrayal had been accomplished, there was still oppor tunity for him to go back to Jesus with true repentance. Had he done so, he would have been forgiven and restored as Peter was. But Judas had only remorse which drove him farther away from Jesus, until at last it drove him to take his own life. His remorse must not be mistaken for re pentance. Peter had true repentance which drove him to Jesus for forgiveness of his denial, but Judas had nothing but remorse. The devil would tempt the sinning saint to go on in misery of heart and unrest of soul and fear of mind instead of turning at once to the Lord with the confession that brings forgiveness and full restoration (1 John 1:7).
Lesson Text: Mark 14:17-31. Golden Text: “He is despised and re jected of men; a man of sorrows, and ac quainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). T h e L ast S u p p er e have spoken before of the meal which we enjoyed with the Bedouin sheik in the land of Moab, but it is so characteristic of the meal which Jesus ate with His disciples that we shall mention it again. The food, two roast kids, was placed in a large wooden bowl in the cen
ter of the room. We all sat around it on rugs on the floor. It is likely that our Lord and His dis ciples did the same, as it was only the rich and fashionable people who reclined upon couches when they ate. To each of
us was given a “loaf” of bread. This was a circular piece of whole wheat bread, about half as thick as a hotcake, and about twelve or fourteen inches in diameter. Each of us tore a piece from this loaf of bread, and taking it between the thumb and forefinger, reached into the common bowl and tore off a piece of meat with it. Thus we had a sort of sandwich. In an cient times, it was the custom for the host to reach into the dish first, pick up a choice piece of meat in a piece of bread, and hand it to the honored guest. When Jesus “dip ped the sop,” He did this very thing, and gave it to Judas. We are nowhere told that the “cup” which Jesus gave to His disciples contained wine. In our lesson, it is suggested that it may have been wine when Christ said, “I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” However, we know that there are two words used in the Greek of the New Testament which are trans lated “wine.” One of them refers to intox icating wine, and the other refers to unfer mented grape juice. It seems most likely that what Jesus used as a symbol of His blood was unfermented grape juice. O u tlin e a n d E xposition I. T he A nnouncement of the B etrayal (17-21). Matthew 26:20-46, Luke 22:14-46, and Mark 14 should be read to get the sequence of events. Judas had already bargained to betray the Lord, and of this the Lord was fully aware. There is nothing hid from His eyes. He knew just what Judas was, and what fie was planning to do. Evi dently Judas was an accomplished actor, or he would certainly have given some sign which the other disciples would have
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who was a friend of Jesus. She wanted to do something for Jesus which would show her l o v e for Him. She had a very beautiful bottle of precious perfume. It was the custom in those days to pour perfumed oil on the hair of one w h om you wanted to honor.
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