Arizona republican., 1917-04-21
Model of airplane designed by Arthur M Johnson.

[ times of communion with them To | bring them some further spiritual gill l He came to Bethany. There IS some ! thing inexpressibly touching ,n those evenings al Bethany during the last week of our Saviour's life on earth He
 came for another purpose also, to nur-
 ture that flame of faith that had been
 kindled in the hearts of many by the
 resurrection of Lazarus. We read III the beginning of Jesus ministry, how, l having performed his first miracle al 1 Cana and faith being awakened Tie 1 afterward came back to Cana to ! ouicken and nourish and strengthen that faith (ch. 4: 54) So here Jesus
 comes back to Bethany for similar nurpose. Jesus did not awaken faith ! and then leave it to 1anguish and dle. 1 But the principal purpose of thls Vlslt
 was communion with Martha and { Mary and Lazarus. Jesus Christ, Whiie ] He was very God of very God, was
 also a very real man. He was our brother The way :n when Belhahs i is spoken of by John is worthy of note. ] "Where Lazarus was, whom Jesus ! raised from the dead" Bethany was
 a little village. but it had title Of dlg-
 nity; there was a resurrected man
 there. There was no one else at the i gathering who brought such Joy to the iaching heart of Jesus as did Mary. She l above all others had listened to linn, understood Him, believed and loved. {, Out of the wealth of her love she had l purchased at a cost of fifty-one dol l lars Ga large sum in those days, her
 whole treasure) an alabaster cruse of l ointment and put it aside to use 1t upon 1 Him when the proper moment came She had understood what one Of the rest had, that He was actually to die and be buried. She had not sat at His
 feet, in vain Gu. 10: 39.3 Mary had
 not stopped to calculate the cost Of the [ ointment ard whether she might not
 better save part of her money for fu- i ture needs. Love never calculates, it gives all. Mary's uncalculating love of Jesus proved safer guide to conduct | than the calculating prudence of Judas and the rest of the disciples (cf. Mat. 26: s. Mary's act was looked upon with suspicion and some very wise crit icisms were made up on it. Judas 1s- Cariot was the leader in the harsh crit icism. The IscariotS usually are the leaders in criticisng the acts of others. But the whole apostolic company were carried away by the bad spirit of Judas. ICensorious criticism is more contagious than smallpox. Envy lay at the bot tom of the criticism. They could not
 understand Mary's act, not because 1t
 was below them, but because it was
 above them. Mary was to have suf-
 ficient compensation for the criticism
 of the sufficient compensation for the
 criticism of the disciples in the ap
 proval of the Master. The disciples
 legarded this use of the exceeding
 precious ointment as waste" (Mat.
 i26: s. That speaks poorly for their
 Hove for Jesus and their estimation of
 Him. But there are always those who
 think money spent on Jesus wasted. To
 save their own consciences they sug
 gested the poor as those to whom the money could be given. There are plen
 ty who never give their own money to the poor who are willing to criticise others for not giving theirs
 II. Mary of Bethany Commended by Jesus Himself, I'll. Jesus praised when His disciples criticised. He told the critics that they had the poor al ways with them and whensoever they
 willed they could do them good (Mk. IA: 7) There was a prick in this for their consciences. He told them fur ther that what was to be done for Him
 must be done at once. So it must be
 today. Upon Marys act He bestowed the highest possible praise, "She hath done what she could" (Mk. 14: S.) That , is all Christ asks for any one e Cor. , s: 12D Mary was not looking for fame
 when she performed this act, but she : got fame immortal. Jesus bestowed : such commendation upon her as He ! bestowed upon no other, and His won derful prediction concerning her (Mat. 26: 13) has been literally fulfilled. Mary . . has satisfied the Saviors heart. She !. just poured out her hearts adoration, she worshiped. Martha was in part
 taken up with her service. Lazarus was in part taken up with his enjoy Z ment, but Mary was wholly taken up ! with Jesus Himself. And she was the one of whom the Lord said, "whereso- . ever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the world. this also that she , hath done shall be spoken of for me- morial of her" It would be pleasing to our Lord if we, in this busy, busting age, and this age, too, of spiritual feasts. were more taken up with Him self than with our services or our ex- , periences. Mary's love was utterly for getful of itself, forgetful of surround
 lngs, uncalculating of cost, regardless
 of criticism. It poured itself out ut terly. The fragrance of it has filled the ; world even as the fragrance of her ointment filled the house. Whence this
 love? Mary had understood a message that apparently no one else grasped, certainly none of the apostles as yet She understood that Jesus was about to die for her (v z, R. VI. Judas was
 stung to the quick by the gentle re- buke of Jesus tMat. 26: 14) He hur- ries to Jesus enemies to strike a bar gain with them for the betrayal of his Lord He seeks to get back part of the money he had lost by Mary's not put ting the 300 pieces into the bag. He comes in just as the priests are plotting Jesus destruction and the bargain is soon closed. Contrast these two pie lures: Mary spending her all to