Mary Foot Worship

Mary Foot Worship

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Digging Deeper: Mary and Martha as Disciples of Jesus

Discussion Questions

Do you most identify with Martha or Mary?
What tends to distract and pull you away from Jesus? What is the result when you are distracted with much serving?
How is “sitting at Jesus’s feet” viewed by the culture and world around us? How about by the Church?
What surprised you in this Bible study session?
What do you hear the Spirit saying to you/your family/your church/your community?

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Continue this Bible study as a book Get your copy of the She Is Called Women of the Bible Study Vol. 2

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The story of Mary and Martha in the Bible shows us two different approaches to following Jesus. In Luke 10:38-42, Martha works hard to welcome Jesus to her home. Her sister, Mary of Bethany, simply sits at his feet and listens. Both Mary and Martha serve, yet Mary understands the priority and necessity of choosing to abide with Christ. Sitting at the feet of Jesus prevents Mary’s service from becoming distracted and unhealthy.
Jesus, you call us to seek your presence and to serve the world in your name. Teach us to seek you wholeheartedly and to serve you without distraction or self-righteousness. Fill us with your love that we might bring it to a broken and hurting world. Amen.
“Now as they went on their way, [Jesus] entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’” – Luke 10:38-42
In our text, we find Jesus headed two miles east from Jerusalem toward the nearby village of Bethany. Jesus stops in Bethany where his friends Martha and Mary and their brother, Lazarus, live. John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus “loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). One commentator indicates that Mary and Martha may have been the most important and prominent women in Jesus’s life after his own mother. 1
If we consider the passage in its canonical order, we first meet Jesus’s friends here in Luke, and later in John 11 and 12. Mary positions herself at the feet of Jesus in each of these stories. Luke says Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” John 11 says she falls at Jesus’s feet. Mary anoints and wipes the feet of Jesus in John 12. The connection between Mary and Jesus’s feet is significant.
As Mary sits at Jesus’s feet, Martha finds herself “distracted by her many tasks” (Luke 10:40). Consumed by worry and anxiety, Martha demands that Jesus tell Mary to help her. Feeling justified, Martha receives an answer from Jesus she surely did not anticipate. Jesus commends Mary for sitting at his feet, inviting Martha to consider the way in which she serves.
Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying” (Luke 10:39). Without understanding the cultural context, we might miss the profundity of Mary’s posture. In Jewish tradition, “sitting at the feet” was what a disciple did. In Acts 22:3, the apostle Paul tells us that he was educated “at the feet of Gamaliel.” Gamaliel, an esteemed rabbi in Israel, trained Paul who would later self-describe as a “Pharisee of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6; cf. Philippians 3:5).
Mary sits at the feet of her rabbi, Jesus. Since this was the posture assumed by a disciple, we can safely conclude that Mary was a disciple of Jesus. Mary, a woman in a male-dominated world, yet a disciple! Scandalous and profound, indeed! Jesus’s affirmation of Mary’s posture reveals his acceptance of Mary as a legitimate disciple. Jesus welcomes women to learn at his feet.
At first glance, we might assume this story invites us to be either a Mary or a Martha. We ask, “Does a disciple sit at Jesus’s feet or serve?” While this may seem like the main point the passage is making, a clue to a deeper meaning may lie in a small word in verse 39 that is often left out in translation: the Greek word “kai,” translated into English as “also.” A more literal, word-for-word translation would read like this: “And she had a sister called Mary, who also having sat at the feet of the Lord, was listening to his word.”
What might “also” be referring to here? We might consider it to mean that Mary also served. Or, perhaps the word communicates that Martha “also”—just like her sister Mary—sat at Jesus’s feet. This could mean that, in general, they both sat at Jesus’s feet when he came around, but this time, it was only Mary. Either way, Jesus does not condemn Martha, nor does he pit the sisters against each other. Jesus seizes a teachable discipleship moment.
Disciples are not called to either sit or serve but are called to both sit and serve.
Was this distracted state Martha’s characteristic way of serving? Perhaps, given Jesus’s pointed answer to her demand. The word “distracted” means to be drawn away, driven about mentally, over-occupied. Very literally, it means to be pulled and dragged in different directions. Martha’s distraction leads to a sense of aloneness and self-righteousness, to self-focus and questions about Jesus’s care.
Martha’s distraction leads to five Ds:
Martha’s distracted serving led her to a place she did not want to go. Martha surely regrets the way she speaks to Jesus. We hear him lovingly acknowledge the state of her heart when with tender repetition Jesus says, “Martha, Martha.” Jesus invites her to consider a way of serving that is without distraction or self-righteousness. In Martha’s mind, she seems to have no choice but to serve alone with much worry. Jesus reminds her that she does have a choice. Martha can spend time doing the one “needed” and “necessary” thing from which all else flows.
Jesus did not acquiesce to Mary’s sitting at his feet. He unequivocally applauds it. Jesus affirms Mary as his disciple as well as her choice to abide with him. Jesus declares that “one thing” is needed as his disciple: a kind of attentiveness to Jesus that glories in his presence, a serving that bears eternal fruit.
Not long after visiting Mary and Martha, Jesus uses a vine as a teaching metaphor (John 15). As he walks through the grapevines of the Kidron Valley, Jesus emphatically endorses a choice like Mary’s. He instructs the disciples how to live without his physical presence. The key, he says, is abiding in him and allowing his words to abide in them. For apart from Jesus, they will not be able to do anything of kingdom value. It is to the Father’s glory that they bear much fruit. Mary models that fruit will not be born apart from remaining in Jesus.
Yet and still, each of us needs to be a Mary and a Martha. As disciples, we are called both to sit and to serve. We are called both to abide and to bear fruit. We sit and hear Jesus’s word. We bow at his feet in worship. We kneel before him in prayer. In all these ways, we follow after Mary’s example at the feet of Jesus. It is in this place that we find the discernment, clarity, wisdom, strength, and courage to bring Christ’s loving presence into the world.
In our desire to follow God’s call by serving him with everything we have, we can easily find ourselves overcommitted, “worried and troubled about many things.” Distracted. In a culture that exalts multitasking and a “we-can-do-it-all” mentality, we have a teacher who invites us to learn his way and adopt his priorities. This one, who Paul says “ascended on high … and gave gifts,” gives each of us gifts for such a time to best express God’s love in our appointed generation (Ephesians 4:8, NIV).
We each have our uniquely given expression in the body of Christ. If we are all trying to do it all , we are driven to distraction. Instead, we remain and abide in Jesus by sitting at his feet. We receive and absorb his love. We hear Jesus’s word, and these words remain in us. For apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Friends, how will you choose to serve? Many of us find ourselves mostly like Martha. We can learn from Mary. Distraction is sometimes translated as “cumbered.” “Cumbered” speaks to hindrance, hampering, and obstruction. How might our hampered and hindered lives stand as an obstruction to the lasting fruit Christ desires to bear in and through us? What might it look like for us to abide at the feet of Jesus and to receive his invitation to be un encumbered by the weight of self-imposed responsibility, anxiety, and control?
Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
How fitting are these words! The one who sits at the rabbi’s feet learns the rabbi’s yoke. The rabbi’s yoke was a way of living and being in the world. Jesus’s yoke is easy and light. With Jesus’s yoke, there is work and there is rest. Jesus invites you: “Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how … Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message ).
[1] Ben Witherington, Women and the Genesis of Christianity (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1990), 99.
Michelle Christy is a speaker who passionately and faithfully leads others to personal and transforming encounters with God through the study of his Word. She brings almost 25 years of experience to her inspirational speaking and Bible teaching ministry, Defining Word. Michelle has spoken nationally and internationally, and thousands have experienced her sincere and natural style inviting them to a deeper relationship with God in Christ Jesus. Her Bible studies include The Goodness of God in the Waiting Rooms of Life, Defining Words for Daddy’s Daughters, and When Jesus Sees. For the last two years, she has also been serving as director of adult discipleship at Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. Michelle’s husband and her three adult children describe her with one word: intentional. Michelle is learning to be less of a striver and more of an abider.
This Bible study is from the second book in the Women of the Bible Study Series. Get the book to discover how women like Mary and Martha, Abigail, and Junia embraced God’s call for their lives.
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Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet – Keeping What Is Given

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So, they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor people?’ Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore, Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me. (John 12:1-8, NASB)
Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her. (Matthew 26:10-13)
These events took place the final days of Jesus’ life. Raising Lazarus from the dead incited a passion in the multitudes to make Jesus their king. This in turn drove the Jewish rulers to hasten their plans to arrest and execute Him. Jesus returned to Bethany where a supper was prepared for Him. The resurrection of Lazarus meant that many people were now following Jesus. In these first verses, we have the memorial scene of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with a pound of pure nard and wiping them with her hair. As the aroma of her worship filled the house, John reports that Judas began to grumble about the waste of the nard. “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor people?” One denarius was one day’s wages; so if it was indeed worth three hundred denarii, this was costly perfume!
But John tells us that Judas did not care for the poor and was a thief. This shows us the wretched heart of Judas. Many feel pity for him, but the Bible tells us that even as Judas was following Jesus he was stealing from Him. We can see this in many places in the church today, especially among those who preach the prosperity message. They use the name of Christ to reward and enrich themselves.
See the contrast here between Mary who pours out on Jesus the most precious thing she owns, giving it all to Him in a memorial act of pure worship, and Judas the thief, who complains that this sacrifice was wasted – wasted on Jesus! Many believe this perfume had been given to Mary by her parents for her wedding night, to anoint the marital bed for her husband. What a precious gift she was giving to her Lord!
See also that Jesus entrusted the money bag to Judas even when He knew Judas would steal from it. What has Jesus entrusted to you? Do not think that because Christ has entrusted to you power, authority, riches, or anointing, that it is a sign of His favor.
This passage illustrates for us that any act of pure worship, sacrifice, or charity will have those who oppose it, and the greater the sacrifice the more they will complain that it is wasted. Jesus rebuked Judas (and possibly the other disciples who may have agreed with him) and some believe this was the moment Judas determined to betray Christ (see Matthew 26:14). Keep in mind that Judas’ betrayal came shortly after he had witnessed one of the greatest miracles of all time – the raising of a dead man after he had been in the tomb for four days.
Finally, Mary’s act of abandoned worship became a memorial to her, as Jesus prophesied, “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13). Today we remember Mary and honor her deed. May it be a strong reminder and encouragement to us that whatever we give to the Lord in service, in sacrifice, in suffering, or in material possessions, will never be lost.
“Christ commanded that the record of this loving deed be preached throughout time until the judgment; and, in such a proclamation, she did in fact truly ‘keep’ the last drop of that precious perfume poured upon Jesus’ feet. Did not Joseph of Arimathea keep his tomb and the lad his basket, after giving them to Jesus? Did anyone ever give anything to Jesus without at the same time ‘keeping it’? What is given to the Lord is kept; all else is lost; and can it be any different with this nard? Mary poured all the nard on Jesus; but she ‘kept it all.’ Against the day of his burial? Yes, but also for all time until the judgment!” (Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible, James Burton Coffman).
May you pour your life out for our Lord Jesus Christ, and in doing so may the fragrance of your sacrifice fill the hearts of all you touch for His glory.
The Keystone Project is a global missions network of churches and leaders committed to the fulfillment of the Great Commission in this generation.
© 2022 The Keystone Product, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Scripture quotations taken from the NASB .

Fritz Chery

Jul 25, 2022

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Do you know the answer? Are you confident in your salvation?
Bowing down and praying is a form of worship. Catholics bow down and pray to statues and images of Mary which Scripture clearly forbids. They worship Mary more than they do Jesus Christ. Nowhere in Scripture does it say Mary will be a mediator.
Nowhere in Scripture does it say to pray and give thanks and honor to a man-made carving or a man-made painting. Nowhere in Scripture does it tell you to ask Mary to pray for you.
If I drew a woman on a piece of paper and called it Mary would you go in front of that paper, bow down, and start praying to it? You can’t worship God through created things. Jesus Christ is eternal and Mary is not the mother of God because God has no mother.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Mary was not in the beginning, but Catholicism turns her into a goddess. Mary was a sinner just like I am a sinner, just like you are a sinner, just like Paul was a sinner, just like Joseph was a sinner, etc.
Jesus Christ came to die for the sins of the world including Mary and everyone including Mary has to accept Jesus
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