"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" (John 11:5.)

The love of Jesus is individual.

Martha was a practical woman. She owned a house. She was hospitable, and she entertained the Lord. Martha stands for practical service, and "Jesus loved Martha."

Martha was sometimes ruffled in spirit. She found fault with her sister and said, "Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me" (Luke 10:40). Yet after this, it is recorded, "Now Jesus loved Martha." The Lord loves His own with a personal love despite their failures.

Martha's sister, Mary, was a quiet, thoughtful woman. She sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word, and when she was criticized for inactivity, Jesus defended her, saying, "Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Jesus loved Mary.

Again, Mary was a pious soul, a devoted character. When Martha made a supper for the Lord, Mary brought very costly ointment and poured it on the feet of the Saviour and Lord. She was criticized by Judas the thief, but again the Lord defended her, saying, "Let her alone:against the day of My burying hath she kept this" (John 12:7).

We can well understand how the Lord's heart was refreshed by this devotion in contrast with the selfish greed of the traitor Judas. Jesus loved Mary.

And yet again, Mary was intelligent. She alone of all the disciples understood the Lord's approaching sacrifice and anointed Him beforehand for the burial. Surely the Lord appreciates every bit of piety and devotion, every act of intelligent worship by one of His own.

But what shall we say of Lazarus? We have no statement of his deeds, no hint of his character. Probably he was without remarkable traits, or out-standing deeds such as marked his sisters. He is an ordinary person, yet not unlovely to the eye and heart of Jesus. "Jesus loved Lazarus," and when he was ill they sent to the Master saying, "He whom Thou lovest is sick." What a comfort to know that the Lord has a peculiar love for the least known of His people. You may be lost to the eye of man, but not to the ken of the divine Lover of your soul.

So "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." The writer of this quaint and touching statement was the one who styled himself, "The disciple whom Jesus loved." He was keenly conscious of the personal individual character of the Lord's affection for himself:and he answered that love with his own unique love and worship:"We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

And may we claim the special love of Jesus for ourselves? We may indeed. The chief of sinners claimed it. Saul was stopped on the Damascus road in his mad course of persecution of the Church:and a voice said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." The rebel was arrested and his heart won by the sovereign love of Jesus. Thereafter Paul lived for Christ, and said, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

The Cross of Christ was the mighty act which proves the extent of His love. But the personal love of Jesus was enjoyed by His own before the cross. Let us bask our souls in the sunshine of His love.

He gave Himself for me-not only His life, His precious blood, but Himself-an abiding gift; a continual loving; a permanent ministry; His care and correction now, and His blest company throughout eternity. A. S. Loizeaux