Mary of Bethany – A Life of worship – week 1
I was excited to study Mary of Bethany because in the story of Mary and Martha, I tend to resonate more with being a Martha, task oriented … hospitable … good things … unless they come before relationship with Jesus. I wanted to learn more about Mary and her ways that Jesus commends in hopes that I too could have a relationship with Him like she did.
We see Mary three times in the New Testament:
The first time is in Luke 10 when she is sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to Him speak and her sister Martha gets frustrated that she is not helping prepare dinner. Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen what is better.
The second time is in John 11 after her brother Lazarus has died Mary leaves the mourners visiting in her house and runs to Jesus in distress. Again, she falls to His feet weeping and says “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
The third time is in John 12 when a feast is being thrown in honor of Jesus after He has raised Lazarus from the dead, and Mary comes in, pours her expensive jar of perfume worth a year’s wages and most likely is her dowry at Jesus’ feet, and then wipes His feet with her hair … in the middle of a dinner, in a culture where this would not be appropriate, and in front of everyone.
What I love about each of these scenes when we look at them put together is that not only does Mary sit or even fall to Jesus’ feet each time, she puts Him above whatever is going on. In the first scene she is not worried that there are things she should be helping with or that she is offending her sister. In the second scene she’s not worried about being inhospitable to the mourners in her house when she runs to Jesus after Lazarus dies. And in the third scene we see her most sacrificial expression of worship where she pours her perfume at Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair, she is not worried that she’s interrupting a dinner, she’s not worried about offending others by being inappropriate, she’s not worried about the cost of her perfume, and if that perfume was indeed her dowry she’s not even worried about her future. She WANTS to give all that she has to Jesus, her time, her possessions, her future.
What an absolute heart of adoration and worship Mary has for Jesus! She goes ALL IN.
I was so inspired by Mary’s passion to sacrificially show love, time and worship to Jesus when I first read these passages that I asked myself how I could be more like her when it comes to my own relationship with Him.
As a mom of tiny kids, my time with Jesus typically involves reading my Bible and journaling at the breakfast table while one arm is spoon feeding a baby and everyone and everything is going on around me. While in many ways this has been a blessing, it has taught my kids that I have time with God and they can too, I also have been craving more time alone with Jesus in quiet, stillness, listening. Inspired by Mary’s willingness to sacrifice all that she had, I made a deal with myself that I need to start making a sacrifice of my sleep and making time for quietness with Jesus every morning.
The problem is that when I made this deal with myself, I was also in my first trimester of pregnancy and having terrible morning sickness and fatigue … all day. Getting up early much less staying awake all day just hasn’t happened. Day after day after day, I’ve felt so behind just in general let alone getting to anything new or extra such as the quiet time I was hoping to have!
I got super down on myself about it, asking myself questions like, “am I missing out on God’s purpose?”, “Is this a bigger issue such as fear or laziness?” “Why am I so weak and such a failure?” I let these ugly thoughts beat me up, and by late afternoon of each day I was a cranky, tired, nauseous ball of frustration over my daily failure and weakness to set aside alone time with Jesus. I was short tempered with my family which just made me even more upset with myself because I knew it was wrong. “Jesus, please forgive me of my weakness. I’m so sorry I’m failing you at the very thing I’m inspired to teach on! I know these thoughts aren’t of You, but I also know you want me to sit at Your feet! I know this tiredness is temporary and for a blessing, but when will I ever be myself again?”
And the Holy Spirit in His gentle and loving way spoke to me these two things:
First was His answer, “Oh my daughter, I’m not making you more like yourself, I’m making you more like ME.” Typical me (and probably typical Martha) wanted to obediently schedule in my “sacrificed” time with Jesus, check it off, and feel good about my accomplishment. But God was using this tiredness and nausea beyond my control to teach me about His ways and break me of my own!
Second was over and over I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart “The Joy of the Lord is my strength” from Nehemiah 8:10. And it occurred to me that in those moments when the heat of the day happens and there are kids sports and dinners to make and kitchens to clean all while I want is to crawl into bed and sleep off nausea, that this is when I’m weak and this is when I need the Joy of the Lord to be my strength!
So how does Mary apply to this? While alone time with God is important, something that Jesus Himself modeled, the lesson that Mary gives us is a bit different. She didn’t make time with Jesus a task to be checked off in her day, she didn’t set aside quiet time every morning with Him that we know; What Mary did that we can learn from, is that it was when a LOT was going on in the day, that is when Mary chose to fall at Jesus’ feet. He wasn’t a task, she wasn’t just performing an act of obedience, she loved Him so much that she WANTED to be with Him more than anything, even if it wasn’t the best time or an appropriate audience. He was her priority above all. The greatest desire of her heart was to worship Him, love Him, know Him, give her best to Him.
For me lately, when it’s the time of day where a lot is going on and I get down, THIS is exactly when I need to humbly fall at Jesus’ feet and worship Him. I need to not worry or be distracted by all of the things that are hard during this time of day, and let God make me more like Him with His joy as my strength. I need to make the acts of serving my family during this time joyfully become acts of worship to Him. But I don’t just want to be obedient to worshipping Him, I want my heart to want nothing more! And it’s so funny because His gentle answers in my frustration, telling me that He is making me less like me and more like Him, and reminding me that I can have His joy as my strength … its His loving kindness that changes my heart from not just wanting to be obedient but wanting to adore Him! It really is true that we love because He first loved us, and I believe Mary had also experienced the power of this in her own life.
Whatever sitting at Jesus’ feet looks like for you right now, I encourage you to especially remember that He is with you all of the time, especially the busy times and the hard times. The sacrifice of being with Him might be your own time, but it might also be that worshipping Him is offensive to others, or as in my case, requires sacrificing our own ways and emotions when they are wrong.
Mary is our example of passionately seeking to love and know Jesus more, and she shows us that this can be done any time and all the time.
“God please give us the heart to WANT to sit at your feet more than anything. Thank you for making yourself available to each of us and for lovingly helping us to know you more. May we worship you well. Amen.”
- In this season of Lent, what are you sacrificing in order to worship Jesus?
2. Is your sacrifice an act of obedience (which isn’t a bad thing!) or do you feel it comes from a deeper desire of wanting to adore Jesus?
3. What reminders of what Jesus has done for you can help you worship and adore Him more in your sacrificial obedience during this time?
4. How can your sacrifice during Lent create a practice of sitting at Jesus’ feet and worshipping Him that lasts even after Easter?
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