Fitting In

Excuse the dangling sentence ending preposition, but Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the woman who sat at the feet of Jesus listening to every word, does not fit in.  Certainly, she does not fit in our culture.  In the secular world no one gets applause for looking like they are doing absolutely nothing.  What counts in that world is staying busy, being productive, and modeling skill at multi-tasking.  There simply is no room for a person such as Mary who is obviously doing little more than wasting time.

 

Unfortunately, it is also true that Mary does not fit in the church.  Such is a strange thought since Mary is such a prominent person in the gospel story.  But, the truth is that the church has moved away from the lifestyle, or the spiritual mindset of someone like Mary.  In the church today keeping everyone busy is the mark of successful spiritual leadership.  Coming up with new programs and new methods of getting folks to do what they are supposed to be doing as a disciple is the virtue that the denominational leadership applauds.  People want to be on working committees, not attending prayer meetings.  And if too much scripture is read in worship service which might enable people to be in a position of listening more to Jesus, the masses start looking at their watches.  The church looks for those who can keep the wheels of the institution moving, not those whose spiritual life will strengthen the very soul of the body of Christ.

It is interesting that this woman who would not fit in our culture or our church fits in at the feet of Jesus.  At His feet she is at her best.  At His feet she is waiting in a spirit of expectancy soaking up every word which came from His mouth and experiencing completely the love that was in His heart.  Jesus applauds her for her choice.  He would no doubt do the same for us if we could simply still ourselves long enough to experience what it means to be with Him for no other reason than to be in His presence.