At His Feet
To be read with your morning coffee (or tea) 😊🥰 🩷
There are 4 parts to this reading. Take your time. I pray it blesses you as it did me.
Part 1
Whenever I heard, read, or thought, of Mary (Martha’s sister), sitting at Jesus’ feet, I always thought that what Jesus meant about Mary choosing the ‘good part’ was that she had chosen listening to His word over being busy serving Him.
But, over the past couple of days I’ve felt a nudge at my heart that has questioned if that was what Jesus really meant. It’s what many of us have been taught. And yes, God’s word is amazing- but I don’t think Jesus was talking about Mary choosing His word above all else.
Let’s look at the scene.
According to Scripture (Luke 10- from verse 38), Martha is the one who invites Jesus into her home. Then she gets super busy serving Jesus. But her sister Mary just sits at Jesus’ feet.
Martha, perhaps overwhelmed by the workload, then goes to Jesus and says, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
Have you ever felt like Martha?
And asked Jesus: ‘Lord do You not care? Do You not care that I’ve been left to serve alone? Send help!’
I have felt that plenty times.
I have wept from that feeling of overwhelm and utter solitude. And yes, I’ve cried out to God and asked Him, ‘Do You not care!’
Sometimes we’re even specific telling Jesus who we think should help us. For Martha she blamed her sister for her overhwlem.
I would imagine she might’ve even felt some resentment toward her sister for not helping her.
To Martha’s questions about whether Jesus cared for her, and her plea that He get Mary to help her- Jesus, beautiful Jesus, gets to the heart of Martha’s anguish-
Martha thinks her overwhelm is that she’s serving alone- that she is alone- that she has been left to do everything by herself- she feels all that load is too heavy. But Jesus knows there’s more, and He points it out to her. And in His beautiful words to Martha He both shows her:
– how deeply He cares for her, and
– He gives her the help she really needs: a revelation of what’s truly eating at her, and the solution.
To Martha’s questions, Jesus answers:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.”
BOOM💥
Martha’s anguish is not just in this moment when she’s serving Jesus and feels alone, she is worried and troubled about MANY things.
I love how Jesus says Martha’s name twice. Like we would to our child when they are overwhelmed with emotion- we say their name a few times to calm them down-
Can you feel the whirlwind of chaos and frantic in Martha’s head? Can you see how frazzled her heart is by ‘many things’?
Part 2
Then Jesus says to Martha: “…one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
According to this portion of Scripture Mary had done two things:
1. sat at the feet of Jesus
and
2. heard His word.
But, according to Jesus, Mary had chosen one thing.
We might’ve been told that one thing was hearing His word- but while that is important, I don’t believe that’s what Jesus meant.
Why do I believe this?
Because people hear the Word of God, they get revelation, they hear even more Word, and yet they continue to be frazzled, worried and troubled by ‘many things’. So, while hearing the word is vital there was something else Jesus told Martha was the ‘good part’.
The one thing Mary chose, while her sister was busy- Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus. I believe, the ‘good part’ Jesus meant was simply sitting.
— We don’t sit enough. —
I believe Jesus was speaking about the posture of Mary’s heart. She chose to sit at His feet rather than be frantic with the tugs of life- even the tugs of serving Him.
We can hear all the Word that’s possible for us to consume every single day but if we don’t sit at His feet- just stop everything and sit- a lot of that incredible Word is lost on us.
Something else that I felt confirmed to me that this posture of sitting was the ‘one thing needed’, and the ‘good part’, is that this story of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, is only found in the book of Luke.
Why is this significant?
The apostle Paul describes Luke as the beloved physician.
Some of the most tender and remarkable stories of Jesus healing people are told by Luke, the beloved physician.
That term ‘beloved physician’ tells me that Luke was a man, and doctor, who truly cared for people. Having seen and treated various ailments as a physician he must’ve found Jesus’ healing miracles astounding.
And it is the beloved physician who records this beautiful story of Jesus speaking to Martha’s heart- and telling her that the answer she seeks is found by sitting at His feet.
If she will sit at His feet, her heart and mind will calm down. If she will sit at His feet all the many things that worry and trouble her won’t anymore- because the weight of sitting at His feet will take over.
I believe the beloved physician knew how a troubled heart affects the physical body. And this tender exchange between Jesus and Martha, Creator and Daughter, was one Luke thought we must be told of.
Another confirmation about the ‘good part’ being sitting is that the parable of the sower tells us that the Word we hear can be taken away from us (Matthew 13 from verse 18); but when it comes to this posture of sitting at the feet of Jesus, Jesus says it will not be taken away from us.
“Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42).
Part 3
For a while I pondered how, what Mary had chosen could not be taken away from her.
As I meditated, I was reminded of what Paul shared with us in Ephesians 2:6 – that God had seated us with Jesus ‘in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus’.
The reason this sitting cannot be taken away from us is because it has already been done.
When we are in Jesus, we are seated with Him.
Our part is only to believe that God has already seated us in Jesus.
And yet, even though we are already seated with Jesus we have to choose to experience that sitting.
✨ Show us that we are already seated with You Jesus. ✨
May this revelation be so very real to us.
Part 4
Delving a little deeper.
The meaning of Martha’s name is ‘the Lady’ or ‘Mistress’ (a feminine form of the Aramaic word for “master” or “lord”).
My first thought of a ‘lady’ is that because of her high position of honour, she is served.
I feel as though when Jesus says her name, ‘Martha, Martha…’ it’s also as if to remind her that she is to be served. And knowing how Jesus loves to serve, I believe He’s reminding Martha that, yes it’s so beautiful to serve Him but, He wants to serve her.
So, the invitation today is, will you sit at His feet?
Will you allow Him to serve you?
The rent might be due- the car payment might be long overdue- the marriage might be a mess- the kids might be acting all kinds of crazy- your body might be hurting- your heart might be troubled by so many things, but will you accept His invitation to sit at His feet?
He told us that one thing was needed, and that one thing was the good part.
That one thing is abundant, at His feet 💖
I send you Love,
Hannah