At His Feet

  • David Fairchild
  • Nov 2, 2008
  • Series: Encountering Jesus

Luke 10:38-42: "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, which will not be taken away from her.'"

 

RETELLING THE STORY

 

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Imagine you've been invited to your friend's home for lunch.  They want you to come and meet someone special, someone they keep telling you that you'll enjoy getting to know.  As you make your way into their home, you smell the aroma of fresh baked bread and you glance over to the kitchen and notice your friend juggling several dishes which are cooking at the same time.  She looks frazzled and is trying to clean and get the house ready for more guests that are showing up.

 

You ask her if there is anything you can do to help and she politely refuses your help with a smile.  But as she looks away you notice her glare at her sister who is sitting down in the living room, next to their guest.  You make your way into the living room and find a seat next to this man.  As you're trying to listen to what he's saying you hear the lids to the pots being slammed down.  The sister remains attentive to the guest's words and she doesn't seem to notice all the commotion in the kitchen. 

 

You can feel the tension rise in the house and suspect your friend's frustrations will get the best of her.  She always did have a hard time keeping quiet when she felt like others weren't doing their job.  You've been the recipient of some of her frustration once when you were late to pick her up.  You love your friend, but sometimes she can be a little intense and pushy. 

 

Fifteen minutes pass and after your friend drops a dish she was setting on the table, she blows up and walks right over to your guest and asks him, "Don't you care that I'm doing all this work for you and your friends?  Why don't you stop talking to my sister and tell her to get in the kitchen to help me?  She's a woman!  She's not supposed to be sitting at your feet as a disciple anyway?  She always so flighty and emotional and I'm tired of having to do everything since she's met you!  I was your friend first yet you show her more respect than you do for the one that is always trying to serve you.  Don't you care about my feelings?" 

 

The guest is silent for a few seconds while looking at your friend.  He motions to her and she comes closer to him.  He takes her hand in his and says tenderly to her, "Maria, Maria, you're always so busy and so worried about what you have to do that you can never just relax around me.  Do you think that I'm going to love you more by all that you do?  Maria, there is only one thing that you should be concerned with and that's joining your sister so that I can spend time with you.  Don't be so busy that you miss what's most important in your life, a relationship with me." 

 

Your friend's eyes well up with tears and you're shocked at how gentle and yet firm he was to Maria.  He told her the truth, but he did it with such grace.  You start to wonder what he meant by saying that she shouldn't be so busy that she misses "what's most important" by being with him.  What does he mean by that?  Why is it so important to sit at his feet and listen to him?  What does he have to say should cause an organized, driven and busy woman like Maria to stop all she does just to hear his words? 

 

As you're watching this interaction, more guests begin to pour in and sit themselves at Maria's table. 

 

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INTRODUCTION

 

Turn with me to the 10th chapter of Luke's Gospel and let's read verses 38-42.

 

It's not uncommon for us to want to read the most incredible stories about Jesus in the Bible.  We love to hear about how He raised someone from the dead, how He walked on water, how He stilled the storm.  These one-time miracles are great for our imagination and we listen to them and think to ourselves, "If only I were there, then I'd really believe, then I'd have more faith in Him." 

 

However, the majority of His followers, outside of the twelve apostles, only saw or experienced one of the many events we've seen, and some never experienced those.  We assume that if we only could be there, we'd just need one of His major miracles and that would be enough.  However, our memories are short just like those we see in the Scriptures, and the initial impression of such amazing acts tend to fade.  Like the lepers who failed to stop and thank Jesus, we move on to the next big experience in our lives. 

 

In other words, we're hoping for the miraculous to change us.  We're waiting for that one feeling, that one experience to finally cause us to trust Him and follow Him with our whole hearts.  The problem is that our hearts are fickle and change doesn't really come at these big moments.  At least, the radical reshaping of our character doesn't typically come after some one-time experience and event in our life.  I've heard stories of dozens and dozens of people who have experienced something they consider to be blazing proof that God exists and is actively involved in their lives, only to be struggling to trust Him as I'm counseling them.  How many big events can we really have, maybe one or two?  Do they really change us in the nitty-gritty of our lives?  Or do we look fondly at them and move on? 

 

Here we have a story of two sisters who have very different personalities.  It may be that Martha is the older sister who's more organized, more responsible, and is constantly busy doing rather than thinking.  Mary, it seems, is less concerned with work and more concerned with relationships.  Perhaps their brother Lazarus is the middle child and Mary is the youngest.  She seems flighty and irresponsible to her sister.  After all, it's Martha's house which indicates she's the one who's got it together.  Martha is the one acting like the parent and I'm sure the home runs efficiently. 

 

It's not an incredibly overwhelming story.  It's not emotionally sensational.  It's not a miracle narrative.  It's simply a story of conflict over two sisters with Jesus in the center of it all.

 

It would seem as if our hearts should go out to Martha.  We've all been in situations where we've worked very hard only to be disappointed by someone who isn't pulling their weight.  We know the feeling of unfairness that creeps into our heats and causes us to resent someone.  The world doesn't need more lazy people in it, yet Jesus sides with Mary and firmly rebukes Martha for worrying about so many things.  However, it seems from the story that if Martha didn't worry about getting things done, no one would!  Who else is going to be responsible?  Who else is going to get things done?  Martha first rebukes Jesus because He seems to be allowing such laziness to continue unchecked.  

 

That's it, that's the story, nothing terribly compelling at first glance.  Just average people doing average things, with familiar experiences like ours-but that's the point!  It's in these moments that real change happens.  It's in all these "daily littles" that our character is forged and shaped.  It isn't in the big events that character is permanently changed.  The big events only reveal what our character is in the moment.  Big events don't give us time to contemplate, whatever is in our hearts comes out.  These things don't make us, they simply reveal what the daily habit of our hearts really are like. 

 

What Jesus is teaching all of us this morning is that it isn't the big events that are going to really change who we are.  It's all of the little things.  It's the mundane and monotonous duties of life, the daily routine that God is most concerned with transforming.  To desire real, lasting change is to commit to a lifetime of daily change in all the little ways. 

 

Are you consumed with all of the cares and worries of your life?  Does everything seem like it's a big deal?  Are you anxious?  Then this story is for you and it's for me.  So we come to Jesus' feet to hear what He has to say about what's most important.

 

So, what does it mean to sit at Jesus' feet?  What does it look like to do this as a practice of our daily lives and not just a rare event?  What does it look like to have Jesus so invade the mundane that we begin to see real, substantial and lasting change in our character?  Let's compare these two sisters and see if we can unpack this together.

 

STUDY

 

Martha

 

Let's look at Martha first. 

 

Q- What clues does this story give us about what Martha is like as a person?

 

A-She's in charge.  She invites Jesus. It's her home.  She bosses Mary around.  She's focused on her work.

 

Q- Why is Martha so upset? 

 

          A-There's so much work to be done and Mary's sitting at Jesus' feet.

 

Q- What good principle is on Martha's mind?

 

          A-When there's work to be done, everyone should help out.

 

Q- Is this a bad rule?

 

          A-No.

 

Q- What's the problem?

 

A-Martha misuses the rule and it causes her to lose affection for her sister and for Jesus.

 

Q- Who is Martha upset with?

 

          A-Mary and Jesus.

 

Q- Why?

 

          A-Mary's broken the rule and Jesus hasn't enforced the rule.

 

Q- What do you think Martha's tone with Jesus is?

 

          A-Accusatory, demanding, abrasive, self-righteous. 

 

Q- Can you think of a time when someone related to you on the basis of his or her own rule (pet peeve), and forgot about you as a person?  How did it make you feel?

 

Q- What good rules do you have that are now pet peeves and have sometimes made you legalistic?

 

Q- From what we know about Martha in the Scripture, how do you think Jesus feels towards her?

 

Jesus Loved Martha

 

It seems that Jesus loved her.  He came into her home and we know from other stories that He loved the entire family.  Martha, Lazarus and Mary were siblings and lived together.  When Lazarus was dying, the sisters sent a letter to Jesus saying "Lord, he whom you love is sick" (John 11:3).  We also know that when Lazarus died and Jesus arrived at the tomb, He wept profusely for His friend.

 

When Jesus speaks with Martha, He rebukes her but He does it with great affection for her. 

 

In verse 41 Jesus says to her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things..."  Anytime something is repeated twice, it is a Semitic way of magnifying the importance of the statement.  Jesus does this by saying, "Truly, truly I say to you."  But when a name is repeated twice it is a sign of great emotion towards that person.  In Scripture, the doubling of a name is almost always combined with weeping.    

 

For instance, when David's son Absalom dies, He weeps and says, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!" (2 Sam. 18:33).  When Jesus cries out over Jerusalem He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Luke 13:34).  And on the cross, in Jesus' most desperate hour, He doesn't just cry out "My God...," He cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34). 

 

When Jesus addresses Martha, He doesn't just say, "Martha, you're right but you shouldn't have been so disrespectful."  He says, "Martha, Martha," and in doing so shows great love and affection for her.  Jesus is concerned for Martha's heart.  He could have simply gone after her behavior towards Him and Mary, but instead, His heart goes out to her as He speaks to her.

 

However, this doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't rebuke her.  He most definitely does.  An interesting side story with these two sisters occurs in John 11.  As I've mentioned, Jesus receives a letter from the sisters telling Him that their brother, Lazarus, was very ill.  Jesus then does something strange for the one He loves.  Instead of leaving immediately and keeping Lazarus alive, Jesus stays in the town He's in two more days knowing that Lazarus was dead (John 11:14).  As He enters the town, Martha hears that He's there and runs to Him and basically rebukes Jesus by saying, "Lord, had you been here my brother would not have died" (John 11:21). 

 

Jesus responds to Mary by declaring His power to raise, "Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26).  Martha responds by telling Jesus that she believes Him.

 

Then, Mary goes out to meet Him and when she arrives, we see her again at the feet of Christ.  Her time spent with Jesus, learning at His feet, prepared her for this time of grief and she again falls at the feet of Jesus and says, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died." (John 11:32).  These are the same words that her sister used, but Jesus responds to Mary differently.  When He saw Mary weeping, He wept. 

 

Jesus knew exactly what each of them needed.  He knew exactly how to address both of them.  The way that He needed to love Martha was by reminding her that He is the resurrection and the Life and challenging her by asking if she believed this.  But Mary simply needed Jesus' affection.  Mary wasn't trying to control anything, she was simply broken. 

 

So, we see the struggle that Martha had.  She struggled with trying to boss God around.  She struggled with being brash and pushy.  She struggled with control issues.  She knew Jesus was Lord.  She knew He was the resurrection and the life.  But Martha kept forgetting, and Jesus loved her by reminding her who He was. 

 

This is what Jesus is doing with her in this story in Luke.  He's loving her by affectionately rebuking her.  It's what she needed.

 

Martha Was Doing Too Much

 

I'm sure that Martha really laid out an incredible spread for Jesus.  She probably prided herself on her hospitality and she wanted to impress Jesus.  To Martha, she was serving Jesus.  She was doing too much and she was distracted by ministry.  This isn't some story about the cares of the world; it's a story of doing the right things with the wrong heart.  It's serving Jesus in such a way that you're actually getting frustrated at Him because you think this is what He's asking you to do.

 

Jesus isn't talking to someone who is an unbeliever here.  He isn't talking to the Pharisees.  He's talking to one of His beloved disciples.  He's talking to anyone who slipped into thinking that the way Jesus will love you is by staying busy for Him, by serving Him, by focusing all your attention on Jesus.  They're the ones getting rebuked!  Doesn't this sound strange?

 

If this were you or me, we'd be so happy with how committed she was to our cause we'd let her run herself into the ground.  We'd allow her to keep going and applaud her all the way to her breakdown.  Then we'd scratch our heads and wonder what happened?  We'd say, "I thought she loved Jesus because she was always talking about Him and did everything for Him."  But doing for Jesus can be the best way to avoid Jesus.  As long as we're busy, we drown out the words of Christ that call our hearts to rest in Him.  As long as we're working hard for Jesus, we can expect certain things from Him.  This is why Mary was upset with Jesus.  She was working to make Him happy so she could demand that He make her happy by supporting her rules and agenda. 

 

The best way to control God, in your mind, is by doing so much for Him that you're sure He has to support whatever you do. 

 

The reason Martha's heart strays is because she hasn't spent time at Jesus' feet. 

 

Q-How can you tell if you've become a Martha?

 

Jesus says that Martha was:

 

1)    She's Distracted

 

The word literally means "to drag something around all day."  It's a word used to describe something that is constantly pestering you, something that takes your mind and heart off of what's really most important. 

 

It means to be drawn away. 

 

2)    She's Anxious

 

This word means to be troubled in your mind over something.  To over analyze something without a rest.

 

3)    She's Troubled 

 

This means to be bothered by something.  To be so concerned about something that it brings you to a state of unrest with a feeling that you just have to do something. 

 

This is a picture of someone who is so consumed with what she thinks is so important that she's being carried away and taken off.  She is swept away.  He's telling her that she thinks she needs this, but it's only destroying her and emptying her.  She is spinning too many plates at the same time.  Her goals are too important to her.

 

He's telling her the difference between her and Mary is what they think they need.  Mary knows what she really needs.  Martha has taken something good and made it ultimate. 

 

4)    She's Irritable

 

She's snapping at Mary and Jesus.

 

5)    She's Suspicious of God

 

She's not getting what she expects and now she wonders if Jesus really cares for her.

 

In all her worries and concerns she's demonstrating that she's not doing this for Jesus, she's doing all this for herself.  It's about her agenda even when all her activity seems like it's for Jesus.  She's upset at Jesus because she's not getting her way.

 

Are you worried, anxious, troubled and frustrated at God and at those who claim to love Him?  It may be that you've forgotten what's most important. 

 

Mary

 

Mary takes a posture of sitting under Jesus' authority by sitting as His feet.  She's not simply listening to Him; she's demonstrating that He's the Lord of her life. 

 

Unlike Martha, whom we never see at Jesus' feet, Mary wants to hear from Jesus and she wants Him to be the Lord of her life.  She doesn't want to run her own life anymore.  She doesn't want to constantly try to act as if she's Jesus' equal.  She recognizes her need for Jesus to not only be her teacher, but to be her Lord and King.  This is what it means to be at His feet. 

 

Jesus' feet are place of healing, worship, repentance, forgiveness and instruction.  His feet are beautiful because, as the Scripture says, "How beautiful are the feet of Him who brings good news." (Isaiah 52:7).  It's at Jesus feet that the gospel is heard and forgiveness and grace are experienced.

 

These beautiful feet, these feet of mercy and grace come at a cost.  The words He speaks to Mary.  The tears shed upon these feet from a prostitute.  The healing of a paralyzed man at Jesus' feet.  The man once filled with demons sat at Jesus' feet of authority.  The ruler of the synagogue, Jarius, falls at Jesus' feet and asks Jesus to heal his daughter. 

 

All these scenes come at a great cost, the cost of these feet being pierced for you and me.  These same beautiful feet which bring good news will be driven through with iron spikes and nailed to a cross for our sins.  And it is from this place of the cross that Jesus allows all these points of mercy and grace, instruction and forgiveness to collide in Him on Calvary. 

 

Mary has the good portion which will not be taken from her (v. 42).

 

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