Kingdom Living: Mary of Bethany

It's easy to talk about the Kingdom of God, but how about living there?  It's easy to write a theological treatise on it, but what about when you are persecuted, feeling poor in spirit, and having to forgive someone you rather not?  Then the Kingdom become real:  It is Jesus' map on how we navigate life, and how we should think about what is confronting us as well as how we should react.  

Life in the Kingdom is not easy but it gives us a hope because we now we have the answer.  The  answer is a person:  Jesus.  

So, how do you live in the Kingdom when something earth-shaking and faith-shattering happens?  When the rug is pulled out from underneath you and you hit the floor really hard? Suddenly, Jesus sitting on a mountainside talking about the Kingdom feels distant, unreal, and not at all powerful, for what is happening to you is so overwhelming, everything gets pushed to the margins.

Including Jesus. 

Well, there is one person we can trace in the Gospels whose life went from trusting Jesus, to being so devastated that she accuses Jesus, to finding there was no one or nothing else but Jesus:  Mary of Bethany.

Her trajectory shows us life in the Kingdom.  As we dwell there, let's take inspiration from those who have gone before us.   Mary is in that cloud of witnesses that cheers us on.

We meet Mary as the sister of both Lazarus and Martha.  I want to include the full passages so you can understand the context.  Each passage will have a titled theme.  

Acceptance: 

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

 Mary starts with a fundamental attitude as she neared the Kingdom: acceptance.  She was intrigued by what Jesus had to say.  She then sat enraptured at His feet, ignoring all that was going on around her. The two sisters had “opened their home to him,” and Mary sensed there was much more to this travelling rabbi than just a few blessings or a few teachings.  She could have busied herself with Martha in preparing the meal and all that goes with it.  She went beyond extending hospitality, because she wanted more than just making Jesus and His disciples comfortable. She offered her heart and Jesus touched it with His kindness.  But it was more than that:  She accepted Him and then responded to Him  because He was so much more than anything or anyone she had ever experienced.  

She sensed He was a kind of journey.  She set out courageously on His path. 

Accusation, Part I

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” (John 11:1-7)

Jesus knows that a kind of stage has been set.  It is a grievous one, played out generation after generation: the confrontation with death.  It is a thief, stealing away loved ones. It is a destroyer, taking away life and replacing with cold pale stillness.  It is a sun that sets but never rises. It is a final good-bye, bathed in tears, regrets and finality. Jesus knew that He would change all of that. Death came to Lazarus, took him into the tomb and Satan danced, snickering that Lazarus, like that stone, wasn't going anywhere.   

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 11:17-27) 

Lazarus was dead. Period. No one would even think to dispute that. The silence, the tears, the finality of it all signaled Lazarus was no more.  

I am indebted to Timothy Keller in his wonderful book, Encounters with Jesus, for his insight into this passage.  He remarks that Jesus gave a divine answer to Martha's accusation of Jesus' seemingly dereliction of duty.  He answered her by saying something only God could say: He is the resurrection itself; it is not some distant day or time.  God gives life.  God breathes life into us, animating dust into a sentient being whose sole purpose is to worship God. Martha's words are piercing but so it Jesus' reply. 

At the moment, Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, answered from Heaven to Martha's cry from earth.  Her theology, while correct, did not fully comfort her.  It gave her hope, but in the moment, the hurt and loss was so overwhelming, that theology didn't matter. 

Accusation, Part II

What was Mary's reaction to her and Martha's loss, and Jesus' absence? She stayed home.  The One she so loved, and thought held the answer for how live should be led, now hung back, her hopes dashed that He might not be who she thought He was. Finally Mary shows up, after her sister comes home and says that the Teacher is asking for her.  Her hope once again springs to life and she says the exact same words as her sister did: 

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept. (John 11:32-35) 

Again, Timothy Keller observes that Jesus isn't just upset, but He is deeply angry inside, for death is everything He is against.  

His Father made creation very good.

He made man and woman to laugh, walk and sit forever in the presence of His Father.

Death walked through the door of sin, and sought to push God away.  It has been walking alongside humanity ever since.  Humanity blames God for death, and Satan fans that flame, deflecting who was really responsible: himself. 

Jesus was saying to Death that day, in His anger and His tears:  "Victory?  Not on My watch." 

Timothy Keller comments that Jesus answered Mary from His human side.  He offered His divine answer to Martha, but His human answer was to Mary.  Both are essential in this moment.  If Jesus had only answered as God, Martha and Mary would still have been devastated, glad to know God will defeat death one day, but they needed to know God was acting right here, right now. If Jesus had only answered as Man, He would have been a lovely counselor, confidante and yet limited, in the sisters' estimation, as to what He could realistically do.  

So He did both:  He made it clear He was going to defeat death and yet this loss was real and He embraced it with all of His heart. He wept.  He entered the very human experience of loss.  

That's dwelling in the Kingdom.  We see Jesus from both vantage points. We see Jesus as fully God:  able to plumb to the deepest part of our heart with words and power that only He can provide.  But we also see Him as fully Man: standing alongside us, weeping at our loss and rejoicing with our gain. 

We can accuse Him of not caring, not understanding, but He always shows up. 

We know the end of the story, but the sisters and everyone else that day did not. What a day!  Lazarus pushed aside the cold embrace of death and walked out into the light of day, all because of Jesus.

That is Kingdom living:  We know that one day, God will dwell with us in the new earth and the new Jerusalem; in the meantime, we have Jesus.  

Did you hear that?  We have Jesus. 

Anointing 

We meet Mary again, after her brother's resurrection:  

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume..." (John 12:1-3)  

Judas complained that her gesture was a waste of money, but after what Mary experienced, money was no object.  In fact, nothing could get in the way of her anointing her Lord, pouring out sweet perfume as well as adoration.  Jesus then commended her by saying she did this in preparation of His burial.  She understood Jesus at a deeper level now; did she perceive what was to come?  

We know that Jesus' raising of Lazarus sealed His fate: the Pharisees plotted and planned His death. 

Once more, Timothy Keller weighs in.  Jesus' act of sacrifice brought Him to His death.  He knew this, but loved those around Him and us enough to bring one man out of the tomb, only to go in Himself. Love is sacrifice. Jesus demonstrated this love by willingly dying on a cross.

John identifies this woman as Mary because he wrote long after these events. Timothy Keller suggests that Luke, writing earlier, while many of these people were still alive, didn't name her. 

Awareness

We catch another glimpse into Mary:   

“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:36-39). 

Jesus then told a story about those who are deeply in sin are all the more grateful for forgiveness than those who think they have little to confess.  

Jesus told her that her faith saved her, and He commended her love. While she poured oil on His feet and the Pharisees poured contempt on her head, she loved Jesus without any reservations.   

She became aware, through Jesus' love, just how much she meant to Him, no matter what others say. 

This is Kingdom living in a nutshell:  Her love for Jesus, her faith in Jesus, brought her to His forgiveness.  He loved her and even if she had been the only one who believed in Him, He would have hung on that cross for her.  

We live in the Kingdom with our doubts, our fears, our hope and our love, knowing Jesus never fails to show up, meeting us as fully God and fully Man.