On this day that we honor the Lord and also recognize the gift of women who nurture and shape us and who set an example for us to follow, I want us to take a look at Mary of Bethany, a woman who is a great example of a devoted disciple of Christ. We’ll move through three moments in her life during which we see her heart for Christ on display.
The first moment I want us to consider comes from Luke 10:38-42. 38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, (what is better) which will not be taken away from her.”
Jesus was in the house of Mary and Martha because He was friends with them. He was also friends with their brother, Lazarus. Martha was busied with, preoccupied with what she meal preparation for entertaining Jesus. Someone has to be in the kitchen, right? Onions don’t chop themselves. Tables don’t get set on their own. If people are going to eat, someone or several people, have to be at work.
Jesus wasn’t trying to discount Martha’s efforts, but He was spotlighting Mary’s wise and strategic decision. Martha was missing the moment with Jesus. She hadn’t embraced the magnitude of the moment that had been afforded to her. Jesus was teaching. Mary didn’t want to miss it. Mary of Bethany was commended for being at Jesus feet. She had assumed the posture of a disciple. She was taking Him up on His invitation from Matthew 11:28-30, the invitation to “learn of Him.” A vital exchange was taking place. Something significant was taking place as Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, and Jesus said it wouldn’t be interrupted to prepare dinner. Mary of Bethany had chosen to be in the right place at the right time. She had chosen to learn at the feet of Jesus.
Notice that verse 40 says Martha was distracted with much serving. In that moment, Martha was distracted from what should have been her priority. Yes, everyone needed dinner, but when the Lord was teaching, preparation could have waited. In that moment, learning from the Master was more important than peeling potatoes, and Mary had chosen what was most important.
Church, are we guilty of living distracted lives? Are we preoccupied with lesser things when Jesus invites us to take the posture of discipleship and learn from Him?
Martha labored in the presence of Jesus while Mary listened at His feet. Yes, there are times we are called to labor, but when the Lord is speaking, we need to prioritize our listening.
The second time we see Mary of Bethany is after the death of her brother Lazarus. Jesus had been away when Lazarus died, and even though He had received word of his illness, Jesus delayed going to Lazarus. He indicated to the disciples that there was a purpose for the delay. God was going to be glorified through Lazarus illness and his death. The other disciples got to hear Jesus say that. Mary and Martha didn’t have a heads up about God’s glory being revealed, about the greater purpose, and when Jesus finally arrived in Bethany, two days later, Lazarus was gone. Mary and Martha were in full on grief.
Jesus came upon Martha first. He explained to her that He was the Resurrection and the Life and that anyone who believed in Him would never die. She said she believed what He was saying, but that had to have been difficult to reconcile with the reality that Lazarus’s body had already been laid in a tomb. However, the conversation seemed to soothe Martha’s soul, and she went to get her sister.
John 11:28-37-28 …she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
Don’t miss that. Jesus called for Mary. She was grieving in the house. Jesus asked about her. He wanted to comfort her. He sought her out. He wanted her to hear from Him.
29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Don’t miss it, Church. The one who had learned the truth at the feet of Jesus now laid her pain at the feet of Jesus. She fell at His feet. She laid her pain at Jesus feet. Listen, there is no one but Jesus from whom we need to learn the truth, and there is no one who understands our pain like Jesus. We can trust Him for the truth, and we can trust Him with the grief of our hearts. When we are shattered, when we don’t understand, we can go to the feet of Jesus with the confidence that He cares about the condition of our hearts.
Mary of Bethany, laid her heart bare, pouring out her pain at the feet of Jesus.
This is a picture of the place of prayer, friends. This is the place where our tears are heard. This is the place where comfort can be found. This is where Jesus reminds us of His presence. This is the moment when Jesus weeps with us. Look at the next verse:
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Jesus entered into Mary’s grief. As she wept at His feet, He wept with her. We know the rest of the story. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and Mary’s sorrow turned to great joy. I wonder how often she revisited what happened before Lazarus’s resurrection. I wonder how many times her mind went to the empathy, the compassion and the comfort of the Savior who allowed her that moment to grieve and joined her in her anguish.
Well, the third and final time we see Mary of Bethany, guess where she is? Once again, she was at the feet of Jesus. This story took place RIGHT before Jesus’ crucifixion. Here is the account from John’s Gospel in chapter 12:
John 12:1-8- Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, (of course )and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. Mary didn’t take a little bottle of olive oil off the mantle and put a few drops on Jesus’ feet. No, this was an extravagant and expensive moment. The perfume bottle she broke open and poured out on Jesus was the equivalent to a year’s wages for the average worker. She was pouring out this treasured possession because of her love for Jesus. That costly act represented her deep love, her deep devotion and was an act of sacrifice and great honor. Soon, Jesus was going to pour out His life for Mary, and to demonstrate her devotion to Him, ahead of His sacrifice, she symbolically poured herself out at His feet.
Understand that in that culture, it wasn’t appropriate for a woman to be seen with her hair down. You get the idea that in that moment, it didn’t matter who else was in the room, for Mary of Bethany, it was just her and Jesus. She didn’t care what anyone else thought. When she was at Jesus’ feet, she was at the place of abandon, a place of selflessness, a place of authentic worship.
Oh, there was an opinion expressed. Judas, the disciple who was used to helping himself to what was in the treasury, the guy who was used to stealing and lived for himself, the guy who would betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, he criticized her for anointing Jesus with such costly perfume. He said it should have been sold and the money given to the poor, but he didn’t have the poor in mind. He was sorry he couldn’t have gotten his hands on the money the perfume would have brought.
Judas would give Jesus up for thirty pieces of silver. Mary would give Jesus her all in worship. She would give her all to prepare Jesus for the sacrifice He was about to make. She wasn’t concerned about her reputation or the personal cost. She was all in with Jesus. Judas condemned her extravagant gift as a waste. Mary saw it as the only way to express Jesus’ worth to her. She couldn’t help herself. I don’t know if her act of devotion was premeditated or was an act of passion in the moment, but I will tell you this:
Mary knew what Jesus’ worth. He was worth the most extravagant sacrifice she could offer.
Jesus was worth 30 pieces of silver to Judas. That was the price of the slave. But to Mary, He was worth the most expensive thing she owned. How could Mary have been so generous, so selfless? How could she have poured out something so expensive on Jesus’ feet? I don’t think she viewed it as costly. I think she saw it as the only appropriate response to the One who had taught her the truth, to the One who had entered into her pain, to the One that had brought the reality of the resurrection to life, to the One who was planning to give His life for her.
Remember, Mary hadn’t missed the moment when Jesus came to her house in Bethany. She discerned that He had something to say, something she needed to hear. She willingly sat at His feet to receive His message. Mary also didn’t miss the moment to pour out her pain at Jesus’ feet after Lazarus had died, and when she did, she experienced Jesus as the Savior who enters into the pain of humanity. She encountered Him as “God with us,” and she received His comfort and a subsequent miracle. Because she didn’t miss those earlier moments with Jesus, and because she encountered Him as Teacher, as Comforter, and as the Resurrection and the Life, she didn’t miss the moment, she didn’t miss her last opportunity, to express her devotion to the Savior who was about to give His all for her.
Friends, when you have sat at Jesus feet and learned about God’s love and plan for your life, and when you have laid your broken heart at His feet and received His comfort and the miracle you need to go on, and when you have understood the depth of His sacrifice for you, you have nowhere else to go than to the feet of Jesus and you nothing else to do but to pour out your worship and devotion on Him.
Every time we read about Mary of Bethany, we find her at the feet of Jesus. Why? She was at the feet of Jesus because that’s where she found everything she needed. How long has it been since you have been at Jesus’ feet? To learn of Him. To open the pain of your heart to Him. To worship Him with abandon.
Mary didn’t miss the moments she needed with Jesus. Don’t miss your moment today. Don’t miss the opportunity to find yourself at the feet of Jesus and in so doing, receive all you need.
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