Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

Rooting Life in Scripture, Worship, Prayer

"Now as they went on their way, he 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 10:38-41

Today is Ash Wednesday, and it is tradition to give up or take something on. In other words, to add one more thing to our overly scheduled and demanding lives in the hopes that that something will draw us closer to God. I've already heard people say, "I'm going to do such and such for God," or "I'm going to do such and such for others." We church people have become convinced that doing makes us better Christians, that doing is our outward sign of an inward grace, that doing is a mark of our salvation. We do a lot as a church, but can we honestly say that all our doing is making us better disciples, or even making new disciples? In part, I hope our doing is growing and nurturing people in discipleship, but I'm not fully convinced that much of our doing is doing anything. Perhaps it's time to trade in some doing for being; to give up doing in place of simply being fully present before God. 

Today as I think about Ash Wednesday I am reminded of the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10. I confess that I am a doer; I am a Martha, and I have to work at being a Mary, work at simply being fully present and attentive before God. But I've been thinking about Mary and Martha a lot lately as I reflect on my own spiritual practices and watch the busy-bee doers of my church. There is certainly a time we need to be Marthas, but I think too often we expect people in our church--and ourselves--to be Marthas all the time. If we aren't doing then we aren't being church. Perhaps in a world--even and especially outside of the church--that is consumed by lives of doing, doing, doing, we, the church, need to offer a place to simply be, to listen, to pray. A people and a place to be Marys who stop doing and simply sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus essentially told Martha that what Mary did--her seemingly doing "nothing"-- did more for her life, her soul, her walk with God than all the doing she could have been doing. 

One Sunday afternoon I was leading a Bible study, and a faithful family of our church came up to church to mow the grass and do the bulletin boards during bible study. This family were faithful Marthas of our church, always volunteering to do anything we needed. I always greatly appreciated all they did. But they never attended bible study. When I approached this family about putting down the lawn mower and the paints for just an hour to come join us in bible study, they said, "We don't have the time. This is how we give to God and the church. When will all this work get done if we go to bible study instead?" My heart broke. I remember thinking, "They just don't get it. What could be more valuable than time with Jesus and his people?" 

Unfortunately I see this all too often. People choose to attend and go to and volunteer for the things that involve a lot of doing rather than those opportunities of spiritual formation--opportunities to pray, read the bible or simply sit at the feet of Jesus.  If only we could see that such time spent with Jesus would better inform and direct the doing of the church. 

So, this Lenten season, maybe we all need to practice and commit to being more like Mary. We've been conditioned and trained and expected to be people that do and produce and never sit for a moment. Just typing that makes me feel so exhausted. What if we were to give more time to simply sitting at Jesus' feet than doing? What if the church during Lent were to cut some programs and offer opportunities for people to come and sit in silence and pray? What if we were to gather more often to read and talk about God's Word rather than doing some of the others things we fill our daily schedules?