To be a disciple of Jesus is to be like Mary: to leave everything else behind so that we can sit at His feet, be renewed by His Word, and find our rest in Him.
Luke 10:38-42, 18:18-30
Aside from being primarily the Good News about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Gospels are rich with lessons about the followers of Jesus. It details their coming to know Him, their slow and painful growth, and in some cases, even their falling away. But not all those who followed Jesus became His disciples. Jesus drew huge crowds and many followed, but in the end, even many of those closest to Him rejected His call. We might say that Jesus’ ministry was essentially to the twelve who became His disciples, who then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, went out to make more disciples. The history of the Church grows from there. The Gospel narratives provide us with several examples of what Jesus’ followers must do to become disciples, sometimes shown in the form of a contrast between two characters.
Mary and Martha
One such story is found in Luke 10, when Jesus enters the village of Bethany and is received by a family that includes sisters Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus. A confrontation happens between Martha and Jesus over Mary’s abandonment of the ministry of hospitality in favor of sitting at the feet of Jesus. Mary is being educated by the Teacher while Martha is trying to give Him honor by following the precise cultural custom for what a good Hebrew woman should do if a rabbi came to visit: prepare the feast.
But Jesus is not just a rabbi, and Mary understands this. Mary’s recognition of the importance of Jesus’ words frustrates Martha, so much so that she actually commands Jesus to instruct Mary to help with the preparations. She gives the Creator of the universe - the very One who at that moment holds her entire being together - an order, as one who is in authority.
Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter with Martha. “You are anxious and distracted (Luke 10:41).” Martha is missing it. She is so caught up in the work she believes is necessary that she superimposes herself above the One for whom she does the work. The Supreme Authority sits in her house and she can only think about the work that she needs to do. But Mary had found “the better portion.” Mary knew that the work that Christ asks His disciples to do begins at His feet.
The Word of Christ makes one whole. The power of God is in His Word, not our work.
The Wealthy Ruler
Later in the book of Luke, a would be disciple of Jesus, a man described only as a “ruler,” asks Jesus what he may do to inherit eternal life. He is a ruler, probably a Pharisee, which may indicate that he also believed himself to be specially situated to receive eternal life. Notice also this ruler’s claim of full obedience to the commandments, “All these I have done from my youth” (Luke 18:21). The ruler essentially wants to know, “what else can I do to help myself in the life to come?”
Jesus answers his question in an entirely unexpected way. He does not say, “Obviously you cannot do anything to inherit eternal life. You simply must trust in me.” Jesus gives the ruler a task, just as the ruler asks, though he finds it too hard to bear.
Jesus tells him to sell all that he has, to give away the money, and to “come, follow me.”
This proves too difficult a task for the ruler, and it shows the true nature of his question. It also shows his ignorance at his own failure to keep the law: he does not love the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, as he has been commanded (Deuteronomy 6:5). Financially, he has all that he needs and all he could ever want. And yet, he still finds himself lacking. But he recognizes this, and he asks Jesus what else he needs to do. In the end, he will not sacrifice all that he has earned to gain that which he could not earn. He will not forego his position as a ruler to become a follower of the Ruler of the universe. He will not cease from living a life of strict obedience to the law to give his life to the Lawgiver. The ruler wants the gifts, but not the Giver.
True discipleship means loving Christ for what He came to do: to die and to overcome death, taking our sin to the grave with Him as He went. True discipleship means dying to self entirely, so that we can be made alive with Him in His resurrection. True discipleship means not being so distracted by what we feel we must do while we miss what He has already done.
Christ promises to meet us in the reading and proclamation of His Word. It is there that we, even now, can sit at Christ’s feet and learn how to follow Him. It is in His Word that we grow to cherish both the Giver and His precious gifts. How easy it is to be like Martha and be distracted by all of the work we must do, or like the ruler, to believe our rule keeping and behavior will appease our Lord when He only asks us to come: “come, follow me.” To be a disciple of Jesus is to be like Mary: to leave everything else behind so that we can sit at His feet, be renewed by His Word, and find our rest in Him.