10. He Invites Us to Sit at His Feet

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. Luke 10:38-39

There’s a mic drop moment at the beginning of this story that’s completely lost in the context of our culture. Here it is: Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet.” Did you see it? Probably not because when we read this, it really doesn’t sound all that surprising. As in so many of the gospel stories, this story has to be read on multiple levels. On the surface, we are told that Martha was distracted with much serving.” She asked Jesus to send Mary in to help her. But Jesus’ response hints at something deeper. He told Martha that she was “anxious and troubled about many things.” Jesus recognized that Martha was incredibly anxious, and not just about the housework—that would only be one thing. But Jesus, who has a habit of seeing beyond our words and into our hearts, recognized that there was something else, something deeper that was bothering Martha. Cleary, one of the “many things” was that she was frustrated about being left with the housework. But what we can’t miss is that by sitting with the men at Jesus’ feet, Mary was disrupting the social order, and Martha wasn’t having it.

When we read that a woman was sitting at a man’s feet, we probably assume it was in a posture of humility and service. But that’s not what was happening here. It’s important to understand that it was considered a great privilege to sit at the feet of a respected rabbi—a privilege reserved for men. In the Book of Acts, when Paul wanted his listeners to understand what a devout Jew he was, he proclaimed that he was educated at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). The same phrase, “at the feet of” is used in both instances and it was a common phrase that would be the equivalent today of telling someone what school you went to. To sit at a rabbi’s feet was to belong to his school, to be one of his disciples.

It was incredibly stressful for Martha to watch her younger sister cross into a space that was reserved for men. It would have been fine for the two sisters to listen from the background, picking up on the scraps of the conversation they were able to hear as they went about their preparations. But to walk into the space where Jesus was teaching His disciples and to sit down? That was too far. People were watching. What would they think of Mary? What would they think of her family? Would any man want to marry her, a woman who had no respect for social customs, or marry her sister for that matter? Mary was taking a huge risk by sitting down at Jesus’ feet.

And how did Jesus respond? Did He agree with Martha and tell Mary it was probably a better idea for her not to sit at His feet? That was likely what everyone in the room expected Him to do. And Mary? Did she hold her breath, wondering if Jesus was going to point her to the door? Or did she stare up at His face, fully confident that He would advocate for her? Which is exactly what He did. He lovingly comforted Martha, recognizing that she was rightfully worried. But He assured Martha that Mary was right where she was supposed to be, that in taking a risk and crossing a barrier to be nearer to Jesus, she had made the right decision. And He went a step further, telling His listeners that, not only had Mary made the right choice, but that it wouldn’t be taken from her.

This story wasn’t included in the Bible simply to recount the story of one brave woman. The story was recorded to invite each one of us to take the same risk and sit down at the feet of Jesus. We are all invited to sit at His feet and be His disciples regardless of who’s watching, or what barriers we have to cross to get there. We all have the opportunity to choose Jesus, and when we do, He promises that He is our portion, and will not be taken from us.