STXWM Blog

I love Springtime. The grass seems greener, the trees are fuller, and fresh flowers seem precariously scattered in fields, gardens, and almost everywhere there isn’t consistent foot traffic. After a long, cold winter and a season filled with joy and so many events and activities, I look forward to the spring and the gradual ease back into routine. I have even spent this beautiful time of year in Israel, where our featured woman of the bible spotlight takes place.

I love the various mentions of Mary and Martha in scripture. Maybe because they are almost always mentioned together and, like them, my sister and I were inseparable before adult life took over. With only two years between us, our mother dressed us the same, we shared similar interests, and we shadowed one another almost everywhere. One crucial difference between my sister and me, which Mary and her sister also shared, is our personalities and the way we interact with the world, has always been very different.

Mary tends to be known for the woman who sat at Jesus’ feet while he preached and shared, while Martha tended to the hospitality tasks. I have always longed to be more like Mary; desiring and delighting in dwelling at the feet of Jesus no matter what else needed doing. But alas, I just am not. I am an over planner who loves to think and make lists and plans, then contingencies for each plan, then bite my nails, and stress until whatever it is, is over. Then, I take a deep breath and wish I had just enjoyed myself more. Can you relate?

As we enter the season leading up to the death of Jesus, the bible gives us a dinner party. John 12 begins with a dinner presumably in honor of Jesus, who had recently raised Lazarus from the dead; arguably one of the biggest reasons the Pharisees now sought more than ever to have Jesus killed. Verse two tells us they had made him a supper and it is safe to assume the atmosphere was one of great joy and celebration, especially for Lazarus’ sisters. I want to zoom in on verse three. “Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.”

Have you ever diffused oils? Or perhaps broken a perfume bottle? Have you ever spilled a pound of oil? If you have, you know it is not only highly fragrant but does not wipe up easily. It takes persistence and patience to work all the oil out of whatever surface it covers. I once broke a half liter of olive oil in my kitchen and as I cried and cleaned it up the Lord brought this scripture to my mind.

Culturally, it wouldn’t be strange if someone had washed Jesus’ feet when he arrived at the dinner party. However, in John 12, it tells us of them reclining at the table, and then verse three immediately says, “Mary therefore took a pound of very costly oil…” We can assume that as the meal was being enjoyed or at the very least directly after it had concluded, Mary was overcome with love and gratefulness to Jesus that she lowered herself to the dirty floor, poured expensive oil on his traveler’s weary feet, unbound her hair, and wiped his feet.

This was truly the most incredible gift Mary could have given Jesus. More than her attention, this is an act of devotion. Judas commented that this oil was worth about a year’s wages. Can you imagine liquifying a year’s worth of your income and then being in a room full of people getting down on your knees to pour out those wages onto someone’s feet and then using your hair to mop it up? A Jewish woman acting like this is unheard of, but Mary wasn’t just any Jewish woman and this expensive act of devotion wasn’t the first time she had acted counter culturally. I pray this over all you precious women reading this. I pray for this kind of uncalculated, humble, extravagantly audacious faith over us all. No matter what culture says is acceptable or too far or too expensive, may we all learn from Mary here and, out of utter devotion, fall to our knees and worship our savior with all that we have and all that we are.

I want you to think about your hair saturated with oil like Mary’s. No matter if you took a shower or five, the fragrance would linger. Mary and Jesus would both smell of this decadent oil in the days leading up to his death and after. Every time the wind would blow and her hair would sneak out of her veil, the reminder of her devotion would rise like the fragrance on the wind. I can imagine as Mary grieved Jesus’ death she would be able to smell the oil and vividly remember that just a week prior she had celebrated with him. Mary’s devotion left its mark and all who were around her could not only see it, but smell it. I wonder how long the smell lingered. I wonder if, years later, whenever she would smell that same perfumed oil again, if the smell would transport her mind back to that dinner party where she lovingly cradled her savior’s feet and anointed them with all she had. May we also have a deep devotion for Jesus that is as inviting to all around us as it is fragrant.

MaKenzie V.

As I have been spending time with the Lord this morning, the song “More Than Enough” has been playing repeatedly.  The version I am listening to today is performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  I have loved this song for years for all the ways it reminds me of what God has done for me.  “Jehovah Jireh, my Provider.  Jehovah Rapha, you are my Healer.  Jehovah Shamah, you are with me.  You supply all my needs.  You are more than enough for me.”  But today, I reflected on that last line the most: “You are more than enough for me.”  

When Mary kneeled at the feet of Jesus, Martha let it be known that there was plenty of work to do and that it wasn’t fair that her sister was leaving her to do it all.  I can definitely identify with Martha.  There were people over, for crying out loud!  Things needed to be cooked, cleaned, organized, served!  And there was Mary, sitting on the floor.

But what Mary had discovered that Martha was missing was that nothing else mattered in that moment.  No one else’s opinion.  No one else’s comfort.  Nothing mattered to her but that she was able to worship at the feet of her Savior.  

When my kids were little they would come to me with arms outstretched and say “Hold you, Momma?”  Nothing would stop me from turning to them immediately to pick them up and hold them even if I could only spare a moment or two.  This interaction wasn’t about me at all.  It was about them.  It was about showing them that they were my first priority.   It was about showing them that my attention could be caught by them at a moment’s notice.  That if they called, I would show up.  

This is what Mary was communicating to Jesus.  We often read this story and compare the behaviors of Mary and Martha but this story isn’t about them.  Mary was practically screaming at us through the ages “it’s about Him!”  She didn’t care that Martha was mad.  She didn’t care that Judas told her it was a waste.  She didn’t care about anyone but Jesus.  

I want Jesus to be so much “more than enough” that no one else’s opinion or words matter to me.  So much “more than enough” that I cannot be deterred from worshiping my Savior immediately, loudly, audaciously.

Recently, I discovered that I have allowed myself to be hindered by the absence of certain people in my life being proud of me.  I had never realized before that I had allowed the opinions of some people to erode my confidence.  A dear friend said to me, “Stephanie, Jesus is proud of you.  Isn’t that enough?”  It broke my heart because I realized that I had not been allowing Jesus to be enough for me in this area.  I was allowing my contentment and my confidence to hinge on the approval of someone other than the God of the universe.  Since then I have been seeking out time to sit with Jesus and ask him to help me understand how He sees me.

I want to sit at His feet like Mary without concern for the opinions or comments of others.  I want to worship more than others think is necessary because I know that it could truly never be enough.  

Stephanie S.

King Jesus, we are grateful that your word has beautiful examples of women with audacious faith that we can look to and learn from even now. Thank you for the example of Mary and Martha and for the love you showed to them both. Give us the courage to extravagantly love you no matter who else is in the room or at the table. I ask that you give us the boldness to use what you have given us, our personalities, our positions, or even our hair to worship you. Maranatha. ~MaKenzie

Jesus, today we want to sit at your feet and allow our tears, our talents, our hearts to pour at your feet all the worship that you are worthy of.  We want to say to you that you are worthy of our praise because of who you are.  You have done so much for us but if you had never done anything but love us, you would be worthy of our praises.  It is because you love us that you are our Healer, our Provider; You are more than enough!  We love you and today we bring all that we have to tell you.  You are worthy of our praise.  Let the fragrance of our worship be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, O God. (Psalm 141:2)~Stephanie