At Jesus’s Feet

Greetings to all my friends in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ! All the glory to my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ!

At Jesus’s Feet

Jn.12:2-3, ‘There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. ³ Then 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.’

Mary, Martha and Lazarus belonged to one family. They lived in Bethany and were close to Jesus. Among the three, we see Mary different from the other two. In the Bible, we don’t find her speaking much but her life and posture spoke much about her. We find three passages exclusively speaking about her and in all these three passages, we see her at the feet of Jesus.

In the above verses, this family had Jesus with them in their house. Lazarus, who had resurrected from the dead sat with Jesus at the table. Martha served Him, while Mary was at His feet anointing them with costly oil of spikenard. Judas estimated its cost to be 300 pence in v 5. And this was termed as ‘costly’ in the Bible by the writer, John himself.  What Mary gave was not like those of others. She expressed  the great revelation received about the Lord through her giving. In V 7, Jesus Himself testified about it, saying that she had kept the expensive spikenard  for His burial. Mary had received a deep revelation about Jesus’s death for the sins of mankind, which was much more expensive than the spikenard poured out over His feet. What we give to the Lord speaks about the revelation we have received about the Lord. It might have cost her the entire saving of her lifetime, yet she considered it worth anointing the feet of Jesus. She wiped His feet with her hair, which is an adornment of  any woman in this world. By this, as Mary  laid down the purpose of her beauty at His feet, in turn, the precious ornaments of meekness and complete submissiveness adorned her. The whole house was filled with its fragrance. When the Lord accepts and is pleased by our offerings, heaven refuses to be silent.  What Mary offered to Jesus could not be restricted to a particular area of the house. Its fragrance filled the whole house, not just by its sweet smell, but also by the words of appreciation  and acceptance of same by Christ.

Jn.11:32-33, ‘Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”³³ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.’ Jesus came after four days had passed by since death of Lazarus . Martha went out to meet Him. Later, Mary who was at home was informed about Jesus arrival. She arose quickly and came to Jesus & fell down at His feet. Had she  asked Jesus to raise Lazarus from dead, that would have been a prayer. But by confessing that Jesus had power over death & by saying that Lazarus would not have died if Jesus would have been there, Mary was offering worship at His feet. She was acknowledging openly that Jesus had power over death, even though her brother had died. She had no complains of Jesus reaching late. Mary’s posture and words were that of a worship.  Being able to worship the Lord at her most painful time of loosing her brother was indeed precious in God’s sight.  Jesus was troubled and groaned in spirit when He saw Mary weeping. He might have seen tears in Martha’s eyes too, but that did not move Him. But after what Mary did and said, her tears stopped the very heavens for her. Our tears are indeed precious in God’s sight but its value appreciates considerably when its accompanied by a worship which touches the core of His heart. By worshipping the Lord, Mary boldly expressed the truth that Jesus was worthy of all worship even at a place and time of mourning.

 Lk.10:38-39, ‘Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’  feet and heard His word.’  What we learnt in the earlier two passages were consequences. And what we read here is the cause. In this same house of Bethany, though it was Martha who welcomed Jesus into her house, it was Mary who welcomed Him into her heart. She chose to sit at Jesus’s feet and hear His words, for which she paid a cost. She had to separate herself from all other activites happening in the house. She had to get disconnected  from the world around her which was later misunderstood by her own sister. She had to hear the murmuring words of her sister against her. In return, she did not speak a single word to justify her stand.  Dear friends, when we focus our hearts and  life  to His words, we take a great risk of being misunderstood by our own family and closest of friends. But when the world around us blames us, our Lord speaks for us. Jesus spoke for Mary &  appreciated her  choice. Lk.10:42, ‘But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”’ The part which Mary chose indeed was not taken away from her. The worship which she offered at her most painful times of her life and the precious spikenard which she offered at His feet was the result of what she chose this day. The words of Jesus dwelt in Mary and transformed her. Her revelation about Christ grew beyond human understanding. Her offerings at His feet  prophesied about the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of mankind. Her worship at His feet spoke out loud about who He was and that He was worthy of worship at all times and circumstances of our lives.

Mary’s giving was the result of what she chose to receive from Him. Lets remember that we have a Lord who watches carefully as to what we give unto Him. In Lk.21:1-4, He saw the rich casting their gifts into the treasury box of the temple. He also saw a certain poor woman putting  two mites  into same .  Jesus saw both the giving out of abundance and out of poverty, and appreciated the later. What we give is important for the Lord.  Mary gave Jesus what made Him appreciate, testify and even weep. She touched His heart, moved His hands and made Him speak through her giving. She gave out of what she received from Him. We can give Him only from what we have received from Him. For we ourselves came empty handed into this world and nothing we have belongs to us.

Mary sat at feet of Jesus and received  His words. She received words of eternal life and divine power into her heart.  Today, we are in a world where messages of various preachers are easily available.  And surely they are a blessing. But on the other hand, we seldom take time to hear from the Lord ourselves. Many of us hesitate to sanctify our hearts to have a personal word meditation on a daily basis, because it requires sacrifice of the usually most desired things of our lives . Sanctification of our hearts to hear from the Lord requires us to close the doors to all other sounds of this world and give undivided attention to His word.  We ought to learn a truth that how much ever we hear  from various preachers, nothing abides in our heart more than what we munch from the Word ourselves. If we sit before His word with a prayerful and an earnest heart, lets be assured that we will hear Him speak into the depth of our hearts. By sitting at His feet and hearing His words, Mary was establishing a close relation with the Lord. By making herself available to His word, she was giving herself to the Lord. By giving Jesus her undivided attention, she was giving Him her love more than all else around her. The more she received from the Lord, the deeper revelation she received about Him and the more she could give  unto Him.

Mary received His words at His feet and she gave Him back worship, reverence and prophetic anointment at His feet. She learnt and served Christ at His feet. She learnt in humbleness  and served Him in return by sustaining in her meekness. The Word of God humbles us and enables us to sustain in same. Lets have a heart to learn from His Word and thus grow in giving, for giving expresses who we are in Christ.

God bless us all 

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