SheLeads Part 5…At Jesus’ Feet
Would you consider Mary (sister of Martha in scripture) to be a worship leader?
If your paradigm of worship is an event enjoyed only by worship leaders or people on a platform, then probably not. However, if you believe worship is a lifestyle which engages our hearts and minds to enter a deep relationship with Christ, then Mary was totally a worship leader.
Worship is one of those hard to define, nebulous words. In most biblical references, worship literally means to bow down low to the ground.
Mary’s worship leadership was powerful because it wasn’t an event. Studying her lifestyle of worship reveals how she expressed it in her posture and position before Christ. We almost always find this Jesus-girl at the Master’s feet.
Luke 10:39 describes Martha (Mary’s sister) in a distressed state because she was doing all of the house work while her sister was soaking up a lesson from Jesus.
She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.
John 12:3 describes how Mary made a costly sacrifice to anoint the feet of Jesus.
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.
In John 11, we read the sad story of the death of Martha and Mary’s brother Lazarus. They called for Jesus to come intervene, but He was four days “too late”. Martha ran out to meet Jesus declaring she believed that He was the Christ. Mary remained behind in her mourning at the house, but when she finally laid her eyes on the Master…
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Mary learned at Jesus’ feet, sacrificed at His feet, and grieved at His feet. In her worship, she gave herself mentally as she listened to the lesson. She gave financially with her sacrifice of the perfume. And when she was emotionally wrung out due to grief, she threw herself at Jesus’ feet.
We all need a little Mary and a little Martha in our lives to balance us. Good grief, without Martha, laundry never gets done. But if we starve our Mary, we will neglect “the good part” (Luke 10:42). We will neglect developing the worship leader who lives inside all of us.
Mary knew who Jesus was…teacher, healer, the anointed one. The only appropriate response to this knowledge is giving Jesus everything and falling at His feet.
For other posts in this SheLeads series…
SheLeads Part 2…Jewel Leads Herself
