Mary Did A Beautiful Thing Pt1

COMBINED GOSPEL READINGS

See also:
MARY DID A BEAUTIFUL THING Pt2

  

Matthew 26.6-13, Mark 14.3-9, John 12.1-8  - Individual Texts New King James Version

Matthew 26.6-13	6And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. 8But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.” 10But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. 11For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. 12For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. 13Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Mark 14.3-9	3And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. 6But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
John 12.2-8	1Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said,5“Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.” 9Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

Matthew 26.6-13, Mark 14.3-9, John 12.1-8

1.	John 12.1	1Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was £who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.
2.	Matthew 26.6	6And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,
3.	John 12.2-3a	2There they made Him supper in His honour; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who reclined at the table with Him.3Then Mary took
4.	Mark 14.3	an alabaster jar containing
5.	John 12.3	one half a litre of
6.	Mark 14.3	very costly perfume, made of pure spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured the perfume on
7.	John 12.3	Jesus’
8.	Matthew 26.7	head
9.	John 12.3	and feet
10.	Matthew 26.7	as He reclined at the table
11.	John 12.3	and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
12.	Matthew 26.8	. 8But when His disciples saw it,
13.	John 12.4	along with Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him
14.	Matthew 26.8	they
15.	Mark 14.4	said among themselves, “Why was this fragrant perfume wasted?5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.
16.	John 12.5	Judas said this, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
17.	Matthew 26.10	10But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them,
18.	Mark 14.6	“Leave her alone. Why do you trouble
19.	Matthew 26.10	this woman?
20.	Mark 14.6-8	She has done a beautiful thing to Me. 7For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8She did what she could.
21.	Matthew 26.12	12For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body.
22.	John 12.7	She has kept this for the day of My burial and
23.	Mark 14.8,9	came beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Combined Text     Matthew 26.6-13, Mark 14.3-9, John 12.1-8

John 12.1 Matthew 26.6 John 12.2-3a  Mark 14.3 John 12.3, Mark 14.3 John 12.3 Matthew 26.7 John 12.3 Matthew 26.7 John12.3 Matthew 26.8 John 12.4 Matthew 26.8 Mark 14.4, John 12.5 Matthew 26.10 Mark 14.6 Matthew 26.10 Mark 14.6-8 Matthew 26.12 John 12.7, Mark 14.8,9

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who was dead, whom Jesus raised from the dead. And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, they made supper in His honour; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who reclined at the table with Him. Then Mary took an alabaster jar containing one half a litre of very costly perfume, made of pure spikenard. She broke the flask and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head and feet as He reclined at the table and then wiped His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But when His disciples saw it, along with Judas Iscariot (who was later to betray him), they said among themselves, “Why was this fragrant perfume wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. Judas said this, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, had the money box; and used to take what was put in it. But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She did what she could. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body. She has kept this for the day of My burial and came beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

SEE ALSO:

MARY DID A BEAUTIFUL THING PT2

Pastoral Ministry in the Baptist Denomination C17 to C20

I An Historical Basis and Insights of Pastoral Ministry From Baptist History
Seventeenth to Mid-Eighteenth Century
From the early days of the Baptist Movement the "pastoral ministry" developed from the theological premise of the "priesthood of all believers". From the days of Smyth, as a small group of believers, their theology of praxis was far from developed. This doctrine of every believer being a priest was coupled with their initial rejection of the Roman Catholic priesthood as they knew it. From the time of 1640 to 1660 they "put into practice the priesthood of all believers and had no paid ministry released from the discipline of ordinary life". In these early days, then, the preaching and teaching side of the pastoral ministry was left up to laymen in the church who were usually untrained theologically. Preaching from at least 1650 did have certain guidelines, though, as to who could preach. The members of the church were primarily responsible for the evangelism or visitation and it was not left up to any single individual. The worship service was to be participated by all and interestingly enough, women were utilised in the preaching and teaching roles during this period. This pastoral role, although enjoined by an every member ministry, had by 1679, delineated functions for the "called" pastor as a "servant of Christ" ;
1. Attending the ministry of the Word and prayer (Acts 6.4),
2. The oversight of the church (Heb. 13.17),
3. Not to be entangled in the affairs of the world (2 Tim. 2.4) , and
4. Exercise hospitality (1 Tim. 3.2),
Pastoral ministry was still shared out among each believer in each church. These ideas remained normative in practise through to the middle of the eighteenth century. Isaac Bachus made Middleborough the leading Baptist centre in New England. He repudiated the idea that the minister was in any way superior to the brethren, he wrote that each saint should improve the gifts he had to preach or to pray in public.


Mid-Eighteenth Centrury to Nineteenth Century
The move from the pastoral ministry being predominantly lay-led to professional minister-led happened in Southern America from the mid eighteenth century onwards under the influence of the "Landmark Movement". Its successionism and high concept of the ministry effectively denied the traditional understanding of the priesthood of all Christians in favour of a more professional role of the pastoral ministry.
Students were sent from churches to be trained in theological colleges which sprang up prolifically in the nineteenth century. As these students trained and came back into the churches there seemed a clear demarcation between the "skilled and learned" and the "unskilled and unlearned" laymen. This caused a great shift in the churches leaving the preaching and teaching to those who were trained, making the laymen feel incompetent or second class as this professionalism came into the ministry.
High profile preachers such as Spurgeon, Robert Hall, Robert Robinson, Keach, Dr. Gill, Dr. Rippon and Maclaren did much to raise the standards of the Baptist denomination as far as its solid teaching base and professionalism of the pastor is concerned. They were often in the media limelight and not very far away from controversies.


The Twentieth Century
As recently as World War I only 20% of Southern Baptist Pastors served full time, with 80% working bivocationally serving mostly in rural areas. This was soon to change after the depression and World War Two.
In the post World War II era an acute problem arose in American Christianity, which was also reflected in England, that the laity tended to leave the pastoral care to the highly gifted pastor and the unpaid staff.
With the growth of the number of churches being above 2000 members, meta-church models have needed to be drawn up to cater for more diversified ministries. The Pastor's job has become more specialised and narrower, as increased work loads and diversification processes occur in the churches. As these churches grow they often appoint additional pastors, creating a pastoral team to keep up with these growing needs of the church. Each person on the pastoral team would then oversee a specific area of ministry, such as children's work, men's minitries, etc. The team leader is often referred to as the Senior Pastor and the other pastors as Associate Pastors. Usually the smaller churches would see the pastor as more diversified or the church may in fact be led by laymen, which is often the case in rural churches.


II The Scriptural Principles that are the Foundations and the Guidelines of the Baptist Principle
The Baptist Church has sought in her history to be governed by the Scriptures. The problems arise when a definitive, detailed structure for a system of pastoral ministry for all churches is attempted to be drawn up. You cannot do it. Instead pastoral ministry in the New Testament needs to be put into its historical, theological and cultural perspective.
To begin with, in the church there were apostles sent out to preach the Good News of Christ. It was not until a lot of growth, a number of years later and problems in the church that they found their needs for specialization of the various ministries, so that the pastoral work could be shared and the apostles kept their focus. Then as the churches expanded into neighbouring cities and lands the organisation level needed to be expanded to three levels, namely, Bishop, elder and deacon. All of these positions including that of the role of the Apostles, overlap. Stephen (Acts 6, 7) clearly has a wider role than just to serve tables and the elders at Ephesus also had a widened role of overseeing the church which the Bishop also had as well (Acts 21.17-38).
When the area of pastoral ministry is studied by looking closely at the Greek words episkopo (elder) or poimen (pastor), we find that the former is used five times. Once they occur together when Jesus is described as the episkopo and the poimen of our souls. (1 Peter 2.25). This suggests why pastor, poimen, never appeared as a term of leadership or title in the early church. episkopoi, is used in reference to church leaders and is quite clearly the product of a settled community. 0
When Peter described the work of the bishop and that of the elder, the terms are interchangeable, Peter uses "tending the sheep, shepherding or pastoring (c.f. 1 Peter 2.25; 5.2)", suggesting that they are elders in status... bishops in responsibility".
References to bishops (pastors) in 1 Tim 3.1ff. and Titus 1.5ff leave little doubt about the official nature of the bishops role. The hard thing to distinguish is how it worked out in practice. We have the job's role to a smaller extent and the character referral check list but Paul gives no detailed job description. The elders at Philippi were basically "pastoral staff" at Phillippi charged with providing stable and continuous leadership in the absence of the apostle.
Baptists have strived to maintain the biblical definitions from the above passages (i.e. Acts 6, 1 Tim. 3.1ff, Titus 1.5ff., etc.) in the drawing up of their confessions of faith as well as in their faith and practice throughout the last four hundred years. Things have had to be modified with the introduction of many meta-churches. The Scriptures on these issues have become guidelines and principles which we are to use. They, however can not describe the pastoral ministry intricacies for a modern day, complex and multi-cultured world.


Conclusion
As in Luther's time, there are subtle tendencies to clericalism within the Baptist denomination, which separates status and functions of the pastors from the laymen in a misleading way. The phrase "full-time service" in specialized church vocations fosters the impression that full-time service means that you are engaged in some activity of the institutional church. This does not necessarily have to be the case. With the increasing incidence of burn-out in the pastorate linked with an increasingly more dysfunctional humanity the Baptist pastor needs to look at the importance of letting go some of their "ministerial" activities in the church, so that others may be more involved with doing the work of a pastor. Pastors need to be aware of inner tendencies and temptations that can lead to the "Messiah Complex", when pastors "feel they can do everything best and set out to do it [and] setting themselves up for personal failure and possible burn-out in the pastoral ministry.
The outworking of the pastoral ministry needs to be tailored to each individual church. Obviously there are differences in ministries to a church of 10 people and a church of 1 million people such as Yonggi Cho's church in Seoul, Korea. Pastoral ministry also needs to adapt and reflect their respective cultures (or multi-culturism). As the church grows, structures and models need to change and grow with it. It is important to recognise that the early church needed to change to meet the growing needs of the widows in Acts 6. Change was part and parcel of a growing church. We need to see that the New Testament becomes our guideline for ministry and that it is important to be led in that growth by the Holy Spirit.

Endnotes

i W.T. Whitley, A History of British Baptists (Cambridge: University Press, 1915, 2 Vols, Vol. 1),737 c.f. J. Hoad, The Baptist; An Historical and Theological Study of the Baptist Identity (America, Grace Publications, 1986), 288:

ii W.H. Brackney, The Baptists (Conneticut: Praeger, 1994), 5, 51.

iii W.L. Pitts, The Priesthood of all Christians in the Baptist Heritage, Southwestern Journal of Theology Vol. XXX, Spring, No. 2, 1988, 36; c.f. R. Bailey, "Multiple Ministries & Ordination", Review & Expositor LXXVIII:4 Fall, 1981, 532-533

iv Brackney, 52; H.L. McBeth, The Baptist Heritage (Tennessee:Broadman Press, 1987), 77.

v 1-4 from 1677 Confession of Faith, Article X and 1679 London Protestant Confession of Faith, Article XXXI; v W. Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1959), 287-289. The South Wales Association Meeting in 1654 had a more comprehensive guide to the pastoral office which included both joint offices of the pastor and elder as well as a more clearly defined list of the pastor's office; H.L. McBeth, A SourceBook for Baptist Heritage (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1990), 61-62.

vi Which did not seem to work in practice until later in some of the bigger churches.

vii Although in theory, according to the 1677 Confession of Faith, there were some guidelines allowing ministers to be full-time and paid; 1677 Confession of Faith Articles X & XI. Although the churches acknowledged this in practice, many of the pastors received little or no income from their church work. This forced many of the early pastors to become bivocational pastors and mostly long pastorates; McBeth, Heritage, 76.

viii Pitts, 36.

ix Brackney, 16; McBeth, Heritage, 440-447.

x Pitts, for a good overview of the problems of divisions between Baptist laymen and pastors with relevant critical discussion of recent American Baptist writers, 41-45.

xi R.G. Torbet, A History of the Baptists (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1950), 136-141.

xii Brackney, 19

xiii In 1980, nearly 15% of the co-operating churches of the Southern Baptist Convention reported a membership of 2 000 or more; Baily, 531.

xiv N.E. Weston, ed. D.Parker, Baptists in Queensland (Brisbane, Baptist Historical Society of Qld, 1994), 4,5,7.

xv W.M.S West, Baptist Principles (London: B.U. of England, 1986), 20.

xvi W.R. Herzog II, "The Origins of Ministry in the New Testament", American Baptist Quarterly Vol. III, No.2, June 1984, 125.

xvii Lightfoot as reviewed by W.R. Herzog II, 118-119.

xviii For a great review of the pastoral ministry in the light of the minister as an overseer; c.f. W.C.Jackson, "The Minister as Overseer" Review & Expositor Vol. LXXXIII, No. 4, 1986, 559-571.

xix c.f. W.R. Herzog II, 121-123.

xx D.G. Congo, "What Causes Burnout?, Theology, News & Notes March 1984, 7.

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Bibliography
Bailey, R., "Multiple Ministries & Ordination", Review & Expositor LXXVIII:4 Fall, 1981, 532-533.
Brackney, W.H., The Baptists (Conneticut: Praeger, 1994).
Congo, D.G., "What Causes Burnout?, Theology, News & Notes March 1984.
Herzog II, W.R., "The Origins of Ministry in the New Testament", American Baptist Quarterly Vol. III, No.2, June 1984.
Hoad, J., The Baptist; An Historical and Theological Study of the Baptist Identity (America, Grace Publications, 1986).
Jackson, W.C., "The Minister as Overseer" Review & Expositor Vol. LXXXIII, No. 4, 1986, 559-571.
Lumpkin, W., Baptist Confessions of Faith (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1959).
McBeth, H.L., The Baptist Heritage (Tennessee:Broadman Press, 1987).
McBeth, H.L., A SourceBook for Baptist Heritage (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1990).
Pitts, W.L., The Priesthood of all Christians in the Baptist Heritage, Southwestern Journal of Theology Vol. XXX, Spring, No. 2, 1988, 36.
Torbet, R.G, A History of the Baptists (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1950)
West, W.M.S, Baptist Principles (London: B.U. of England, 1986).
Weston, N.E., ed. D.Parker, Baptists in Queensland (Brisbane, Baptist Historical Society of Qld, 1994).
Whitley, W.T. , A History of British Baptists (Cambridge: University Press, 2 Vols, Vol. 1, 1915)
W.T. Whitley, A History of British Baptists (Cambridge: University Press, 1915, 2 Vols, Vol. 1),737 c.f. J. Hoad, The Baptist; An Historical and Theological Study of the Baptist Identity (America, Grace Publications, 1986), 288:
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