Musings on Mary

Yesterday I was reading one of my favorite passages in the Bible, John 12, which tells the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with ointment. For some reason, it seemed very new and fresh, although I have read it probably hundreds of times.

There are 4 main characters in the passage. Jesus, who came to Bethany 6 days before the passover; Martha, who is (you’ll never guess) serving, and Lazarus, who is a sort of secondary guest of honor, having been raised from the dead. Oh, did I say four? Yes, there was Mary. “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.”

So here Martha is, serving the Lord as usual. We all know Martha’s. They are a blessing – they make meals and fix roofs and give rides and, well, serve. And here is Lazarus, of the spectacular testimony – “I was dead, and now I am alive!” We know some of them, too. They were thieves, drug addicts, rebels, God-haters – and now they live in Christ. They love to share what God has done for them and glorify Him for His saving grace and love.

And here is Mary.

Really, when you consider the fact that the only remarkable things that Mary did were to not help Martha serve and to waste a whole year’s wages on Jesus’ feet, well, it is no wonder that those around treated her like they did. All they saw was someone whose values seemed foreign to their world.

And that’s what Jesus saw, too.

I am not trying to discount the worth of the Martha’s and Lazarus’s in the church, but it is worth noting that it was Mary whom Jesus commended. It was Mary who was so close to His heart that she alone, of all His friends, understood why He had come and what He was facing. It was Mary who stood by when all the world turned away in disgust and confusion. Mary was the friend of Christ.

I long to do that, to be that, for my Lord. But I have to confess that often I lose sight of those other-worldly values and wish I could be a Martha or a Lazarus. Just sitting at Jesus’ feet and pouring out my love and life to Him seems like such a …waste.

Let us remember that “the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Learning to sit…

Tags: contentment, happiness, peace, service