Misunderstood Mary. Captivated by Christ

It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. It’s calm. Today.

The hymn plays through my soul like a gentle wind through still waters.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

And I am transported to Bethany. I see Mary. She is sitting at Jesus’ feet. So still. Her gaze transfixed.
Her eyes locked onto His wonderful face.
Around her, the room stirs. Martha is busy, and then she’s complaining. Martha is offended.
"Mary isn’t helping. She’s not doing her duty," she says.
But Mary… Mary is somewhere else.
The things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Now Lazarus has died. The air is heavy with grief. And Jesus is late.
But now, He is here.

Martha runs to meet Him. She’s weeping.
She pours her grief out before Him, and He listens. He comforts her.
But she doesn’t quite understand His words.
Is Jesus being gentle? Or is He patronizing her?

But where is Mary?
She is still at home, until something stirs, and suddenly she rises.
She walks toward the tomb. The crowds follows. Its noisy.
She finds Jesus.

And she weeps.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, because Jesus is now weeping too.
He weeps with Mary.

The crowd watches. They pity Him. They think they understand.

Now the scene shifts. Jesus is at Lazarus’ table. There is laughter, noise, the clatter of dishes, the hum of voices. But suddenly, something shifts.

A strange smell rises, sweet, overpowering, out of place in a room like this.

But where is Mary?

She has broken the jar of nard. The fragrance floods the air. She is at His feet again, pouring the perfume on her Saviour’s feet. Wiping them with her hair. The room gasps.

This time it is Judas who is offended. "Why wasn’t the perfume sold and the money given to the poor?” he snaps.

But Mary doesn’t hear him. She is lost in adoration.

And once again, the things of the earth grow strangely dim --in the light of His glory and grace.

Captivated by Jesus. Captivated by His love, His mercy, His grace.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus,

the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame,

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners,

so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

(Hebrews 12)

Where did Mary learn to worship like that? How did she learn to drown out the noise, to fix her eyes upon Jesus, to tune her heart to His voice? She scorned the shame. She endured the opposition. She did not grow weary, nor did she lose heart.

She wept at the feet of her Saviour, enduring with Him, not knowing the joy that was set before her at the tomb of her brother.

Lord, is it possible? Can I, too, learn to worship You in spirit and in truth? Can my life, my words, and my actions reflect that? That somehow, when I turn my eyes to You, and when I look full in Your wonderful face, the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of Your glory and grace.