Mary of Bethany: Always At Jesus’s Feet
“Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said..” - Luke 10:39
"The Teacher is here... and is asking for you". When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him... when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet..." - John 11:28-32 -
“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair” - John 12:3 -
Every verse that mentions Mary of Bethany, we find her at the feet of Jesus. No, she didn’t have a foot fetish, but what she did have was a desire and dependency for her Savior that is tenderly unique. Indeed, Mary was familiar with the feet of her Lord. She sat at them and listened to His every Word like a sheep to a shepherd, she ran to them for refuge when her heart was crushed with sorrow, and she anointed them as more valuable than the most expensive perfume. When we read of this woman at Jesus’s feet it is not only a depiction of her humble and dependent heart posture, but the value she ascribed Jesus of Nazareth. To Mary, the soul satisfying aroma of the Lord's presence was more intoxicating than any perfume’s fragrance. The presence of Jesus was Mary's singular greatest joy. To see Him, to hear Him, to be near Him...there her heart was home.
Our hearts, like Mary’s, long for satisfaction, security, and significance. And the best place for our hearts is also "at his feet". Oh, the privilege to be at the feet of the eternal Son, the radiance of God's glory (Heb. 1:3). Don’t forsake the privilege of His presence nor substitute it with lesser things! Find yourself at His feet daily, in celebration and sorrow. Our Lord's feet are precious, and we would do well to be found frequently by them just like Mary. Whether the idea of being beside the feet of Jesus is a foreign concept, or you long for a relationship with Jesus that parallels Mary’s, Burke Care would love to walk alongside you in that journey. Let’s walk and find His feet together!
