1. Mary “sat at the Lord's feet, and heard his word.” Several thoughts suggest themselves to our minds as we see her sitting there. Let us dwell upon them for a few moments.
(1) First, sitting at His feet she is taking the place of the lowly; and only those who wish to be such can learn of Jesus. The proud and self-confident, whether they be intellectually proud, or morally proud, or spiritually proud, will ever have to go empty away; but “such as are gentle, them shall He learn His way.”
My time fails me-my thoughts how much more-in trying to imagine what this sweet world will be when the meek inherit it indeed, and the lowliness of every faithful handmaiden has been regarded of her Lord. For the day will come, the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit-the meek shall He guide in judgment, and the meek shall He teach His way.1 [Note: Ruskin, Fors Clavigera, Letter xciii. (Works, xxix. 476).]
(2) Next, it is the place of true honour and dignity; for it is better to be a junior scholar in the school of Christ than to be a distinguished philosopher untaught by Him. It used to be the boast of the ancient Christian apologists that the merest babe in Christ was familiar with the true solution of problems that had vainly exercised the greatest thinkers of the heathen world. We may still affirm that there is an inward and practical knowledge of God and of His relations with us which can never be acquired by any acquaintance with the mere theory of religion, or by any educational process save that which takes place when, in all humility of soul and self-distrust, we sit at Jesus' feet.
Let all our employment be to know God; the more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him. And as knowledge is commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater our love; and if our love of God were great, we should love Him equally in pains and pleasures.2 [Note: Brother Lawrence.]
Tis joy enough, my All in All,
At Thy dear feet to lie;
Thou wilt not let me lower fall,
And none can higher fly.1 [Note: Cowper.]
(3) While she was sitting there she was in a position, not only to learn by Him, but to learn of Him. It was not merely that she heard the truth from Him; it was rather that she found the truth in Him. He was Himself to her the Truth. She found in Him the “Word of God.” Everything about Him spoke-that tender earnestness, that womanlike sympathy, that manly indignation against all that was false and mean and hypocritical. His winsome manner, His benevolent expression, the eloquent glance of those eyes, now sorrowful or plaintive, now kindling into vehement flame, His look, His features, even the very tones of His voice-all seemed to her a revelation, and such a revelation as rendered her heart spellbound, as by the charm of some great Enchanter, while she drank in the wondrous lessons and felt the new, strange joy of such discoveries in her heart.
The pure in heart shall see the truth means that-given equal data and the same intellectual advantage-the morally better man will strike the truth more nearly, will be more happy in his guesses and ventures, since he is more in harmony with reality, more subtly responsive to its hints. Not only the mind but the whole soul is the organ of truth.… Christ is not merely a truth to be believed, but a way to be trodden, a life to be lived. We get to know Christ as fellow-travellers, fellow-workers, fellow-soldiers get to know one another-by mingling their lives together.2 [Note: George Tyrrell, Oil and Wine.]
2. What is the result of sitting at Christ's feet? One good result we see in the case of Mary. When her sister bursts upon them with the complaint, “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister did leave me to serve alone?” she makes no retort. Keble observed this with satisfaction: “She goes on quietly sitting at our Lord's feet; perhaps she does not even hear her sister's complaint, so entirely is she taken up with listening to His sacred and gracious word. Or if she thinks at all of what Martha is saying, her thought is just this, that she will leave it to Jesus to reply for her. She says to herself what the Psalmist said when he heard men speaking mischievous things against him: ‘I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.' The Psalmist then said, and Mary seems to say with him, in silence, ‘In thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.' ”
“O sister! leave you thus undone
The bidding of the Lord;
Or call you this a welcome? Run
And deck with me the board.”
Thus Martha spake: but spake to one
Who answered not a word:
For she kept ever singing,
“There is no joy so sweet,
As musing upon one we love
And sitting at His feet!”
“O sister! must my hands alone
His board and bath prepare?
His eyes are on you! raise your own:
He'll find a welcome there!”
Thus spake again, in loftier tone,
That Hebrew woman fair.
But Mary still kept singing,
“There is no joy so sweet,
As musing upon Him we love
And resting at His feet.”1 [Note: Aubrey de Vere.]
