Discipleship
Definition
What does the word disciple mean?
In Hebrew the word for disciple is limmood.
As a verb it means to be taught, to learn, or to be trained. As a noun it means to be the one who is taught or trained.
In Greek there are a few words that are translated as disciple. The root word is math-AY-teys, and it means a learner or a pupil.
Another word is math-AY-too-O, which can mean either to be one who is being taught. Or it can mean to teach.
The Greek word math-AY-tree-ah means a female disciple.
And there’s also a word for “fellow disciples” - soom-math-AY-tace - which means co-learner, or peer disciple.
The word disciple wraps up the whole concept of learning and teaching, as well as being one who learns, or one who teaches. It is a word that is rich in meaning, and encompasses the whole essence of our words teacher, student, teach, and learn. It applies to all people, individually or in groups.
As a funny example, you could say “The discipler is discipling the disciple.” And you can see how that one word means all those things.
Significance
Now, why is this word so important?
Because it has to do with the final mission that Jesus gave the disciples just before He ascended into heaven.
In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus gave His disciples what has come to be known as The Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT) Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
To me, this seems to be what Jesus had been training the disciples for over the three years they spent together. He was not merely walking around with them to show off His powers to heal, cast out demons, and teach. He was preparing them to start their own ministries and carry on His work.
Jesus taught them everything they needed to know in order to produce fruit for His kingdom, and then He told them to go out and start teaching others to do the same. And that legacy of discipleship has been passed down to us over the past 2,000 years.
For 2,000 years people have been going through the process of being born-again babies in Christ, learning from those who have matured in their faith to the point where they become mature enough to guide others, and then training and equipping others to go out and do the same.
Martial arts analogy
Now, everyone is probably familiar with the concept of martial arts having different colored belts, right?
When I think about discipleship, I can’t help but see parallels between it and martial arts.
It’s pretty common knowledge that beginners have white belts, and the most experienced have black belts. And every martial art uses some system of different colors in between to indicate the different levels of experience and ability.
I practiced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a while, and that belt system goes white, blue, purple, brown, black, red. So red is the highest level belt. Each color belt has a number of degrees to mark progress made within the rank. And the black belt turns into a red belt by a matter of degrees, ending in a 10th degree belt.
That 10th degree belt is never going to be awarded to anyone because it is reserved only for the 5 Gracie brothers that created the art. And, if you were devoted to practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for your whole life it would take you until you were 67 years old to go from an absolute beginner to the highest belt you can attain. Needless to say, most practitioners never reach the highest degrees of the belt. And to get the 9th degree belt you must have had some major impact on the world that advanced the art in a big way.
I think the concept of that belt system has a wonderful parallel with discipleship. First, a master disciple is someone who can be identified by the impact they have made on the world for God’s kingdom. But most importantly the final belt is red, and is unattainable by anyone but the author.
I see Jesus as the red belt master of our faith. His belt is red because, after mastering life as a human, He bled on it. And we cannot attain His belt because we cannot master life, nor can we bleed the blood that He bled for us.
We can all aspire to become black-belts to a certain degree, but we will never reach that final level of honor and authority, which is reserved only for the author of life.
Levels of maturity
And I want you to think about this… The two most dangerous belts in any martial art are the black-belt and the white-belt. But for opposite reasons.
The black-belt is dangerous for obvious reasons. They know when to attack, how to attack, and have devastating ability to attack. You do not want them to attack you.
The white-belt is dangerous for the opposite reason. They don’t know what they are doing. They can’t really hurt you on purpose, but they sure can hurt you by accident.
This makes the black-belt the safest person to train with and the most dangerous person to battle. While the white-belt is much less threatening in battle, but in training they are the most likely to accidentally hurt themselves or others.
And that distinction is important because many of us have been hurt by our fellow Christians in the past. I think the most common cause of this is that we gave people the respect and trust that we would give a black belt, when, in fact, they were nowhere near that level in their walk with God. So we must have discernment even with each other. Not that we have zero trust for each other, but that we acknowledge and honor each other for our individual walks with God, and we also humbly walk with each other without assuming more responsibility than we can actually handle.
Don’t misunderstand my intention with this analogy. I am not saying that we should dogmatically rank each other and create a bunch of boxes for everybody to check as a sign of the level of their faith. I am saying that there are deeper spiritual parallels.
The more you grow and mature in your walk with God, the more that maturity will show in the fruit you bear and in how you relate to everyone around you. And as you mature and master your own walk with God, your focus will naturally turn away from yourself and toward others.
We all know that we are supposed to love God and love each other. And we can all do that to different degrees.
We all know that we are supposed to go and make disciples. And we can all do that to different degrees.
We each need to discern our own level of maturity and ability in doing these things, and seek, first God’s help and guidance, and then each other’s, to grow from there.
Signs of a mature disciple
So if we don’t all walk around with different colored belts on, how can we discern a disciple’s maturity?
Jesus tells us how in Matthew 7:15-20
Matthew 7:15-20 (NLT) “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
Granted, Jesus is talking about deceptive people in this passage, but the main point remains the same for us. Just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, you can identify people by their actions.
And I would say it’s not just actions but that we should even look for the fruit that the Holy Spirit has produced in each one. It’s not just trees that bear fruit, but we can even identify each other by our fruit.
And Galatians 5:22 tells us what those fruits are.
Galatians 5:22 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
You can ask these questions about someone to get an idea of their maturity. How patient? How kind? How gentle? How self-controlled? How peaceful? How joyful? How loving? How faithful? In short, how well do I know this person, and do I see the fruit of the spirit being produced in them and through them?
I want to make sure to emphasize that we are not judging, we are discerning. There is a difference. If I see you struggling to lift something, I don’t judge you for being weak, instead I discern that you might need help, and even offer to help if I can. And if I can’t then maybe I will try to find someone else who can help you.
Likewise, you are not likely to ask a 3 year old to help you lift this thing that is too heavy even for you. Why? You’re not judging, just discerning that they may not be able to help, and that you might even be putting them in danger by asking them to help you.
This business of discerning another person’s maturity might sound like a new concept, but give it some thought and intention, and you will develop the ability to discern a disciple by their actions and their fruit. And you can happily honor them for who they are - just like a black belt honors a white belt even though they know that there’s a long journey ahead for that person.
How to progress in maturity
Nobody is going to require you to advance in the ranks. That decision and desire is purely between you and God. What we can do, is begin to understand and humbly acknowledge where we rank in our faith.
Also, there is no set path to advance. Your path has been created specially for you by God. You only grow by following Jesus wherever He leads you, not simply by following other people wherever He’s leading them.
And don’t worry about checking all the disciple boxes in order to show that you are a believer. Being a disciple is a lifetime effort, and we are all still growing. Just be faithful and patient.
We also must understand that different levels of maturity require different areas of focus.
You see, a white-belt has to focus only on themselves because they don’t know what they are doing. As you gain maturity and mastery you don’t need to focus on yourself as much, and you can turn your attention more and more toward others and learn more both about your enemy and your friend.
And, to be clear, a black-belt does not stop doing white belt things. The white belt things are simply the foundation that is required for and expanded on in all the other levels.
The path to mastery
I heard that the martial arts belt system evolved from a natural phenomenon. A new student would be given a white belt and they were never to wash it. As they practiced and sweated, that belt would begin to turn yellow.
And as they rolled around in the grass it would turn green.
And as they wore out the grass and it turned into dirt the belt would turn brown.
And as they bled on the belt it would turn red.
Until finally they ended up with a nasty, grimy black belt. And that belt became a representation of all the effort that they had put into their training and practice.
So, without creating a dogmatic program, what are some examples of things you might do to grow in your maturity with Jesus?
At the white-belt level I would say you need to be reading your bible, praying, and worshiping God. This is the very core of everything you will do, and become, in your walk as a disciple of Jesus. If you are not turning your belt yellow in the sweat of these activities you are only going to hurt people if you try to advance.
Many Christians say that regularly reading the Bible, praying, and worshiping are hard to do. In fact, many admit that they have never actually read the Bible, and they don’t make time to pray, and they don’t know how to sing or worship. These things are essential, and non-negotiable if you are going to gain any level of maturity as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Church attendance - or, rather, being part of a group of disciples - can be considered another essential part of being a white-belt - but it’s perhaps at the 3rd or 4th degree white-belt level because finding a good church can be difficult. So, I will say that it comes after you pray, read, and worship because if you at least know what the Bible actually says, and you know how to ask God for help, then you have a better chance of finding a decent church or group of disciples.
Then after you have sweated your way through building those basic disciplines you will naturally advance to the next level.
At the yellow-belt level I would say are things like getting involved in church ministry, whether it be joining the worship team, or helping in the children’s ministry, or simply attending other church activities than just Sunday service - such as Bible studies, prayer groups, community outreach, etc…
And as you grow within the training grounds of the church you can begin to turn your belt green by rolling around in the grass of your community. You don’t have to knock on doors, but simply be a blessing to others and begin learning how to love sacrificially, offer to pray for others, invite people into the kingdom of God, and simply offer to walk with them as they begin their own journey as disciples.
Once your belt is nice and green from the discipline of reaching others for Christ you can begin to get your hands and belt dirty in the mud of ministry. By this point you will have developed the foundational skills and disciplines for things such as leading a hospital ministry, prison ministry, church ministry, or to head out into the mission field.
And, once you are thoroughly caked, head-to-toe, in the mud of ministry, then you will find that you have had to overcome many difficulties, develop many different skills, and forge an unshakable self-control all while surrendering over and over, deeper and deeper to Jesus your Master. At that point you will have given so much of yourself that thinking of others will have become your default way of living. And your belt will begin to blacken as naturally as you now follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
And as you grow as a black-belt, you will become like Paul - being all things to all people. Knowing how to be content with whatever you have. Knowing how to live with nothing or with plenty. Knowing that it is through Christ that you do everything. And patiently serving those around you while you wait to attain that glorious final degree where you will give up your grimy belt, and go to be with Jesus in heaven for all eternity - where you will get a new name, and a new belt.
Our mission as disciples
With that framework in mind, let’s talk about our mission. If you only focus on attaining a belt, you will likely lose interest in the belt and quit. The belt is a side-effect of your true devotion - your true mission.
The western church has turned the great commission into simply getting people to repeat a prayer for salvation, and then measuring results by how many butts are in the seats on Sunday. The western church has become a system of signing up white-belts who dutifully pay their monthly dues but never seek to train or mature.
That’s not to say that some churches don’t try to do discipleship. I’ve been blessed by at least two that do. But by and large, discipleship has just become one of those high and mighty sounding words that people only talk about on Sunday.
When Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples of all nations, He did not tell them to make their own disciples. He told them to make disciples for Him - teaching them to obey all the commands that He has given.
Let me repeat that. We are not making our own disciples. We are making disciples of Jesus.
And the best way for us to make disciples is for us to simply be disciples. We are all still advancing through the ranks, so we are only going to be effective by modeling our obedience to the master. If we try to take the place of the master we will, sooner or later, find ourselves disqualified from our position.
Let your walk as a disciple of Jesus be a model to other disciples. Let everything you do show your submission to His authority, your love for Him, and your love for others. Because that’s the greatest commandment, which makes it the most important one for us to teach.
Of course, how you show your love to God, and how you love others is going to take work, intention, and even sacrifice. But your focus, your mission, is to just love God and others. That’s how you be a disciple, and that’s how you disciple others. Just live in love.
Love is our mission.
And, to help you to train for that mission I have an exercise that you can do daily, or even all day, every day. In martial arts we might call it a kata, which is a series of movements that you can repeat to develop muscle memory, strength, speed, and power.
Everybody stand up, if you’re able.
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. And relax.
Put yourself in a state of love. Just feel love. Bring it to the top of your heart, and the top of your mind.
Repeat some affirmations to yourself like: Love… God loves me… I love you God… I love everyone around me…
I even like to pray.
Oh Lord, break the rock of my heart and let Your living water flow through me. Let your love overflow through me and pour out on those around me.
That’s God. God is love. You’re communing with God right now. Isn’t that amazing. You can reach out and touch God as often as you like, so start making it a daily part of your walk with Him right now.
Do this daily. Do this as part of your prayer time. Let it be something you practice before a big meeting, or when you feel upset in any way, or even as you sit among your family and friends.
Meditate on love. Don’t make it a mental experience only, but allow it to flow through your heart.
I encourage you to practice this as often as you are able, and make it part of your skill set as a disciple.
You may be seated.
When you start doing this, and other things like it, and living this way, you will model discipleship in such a way that people will be drawn to you. You will also draw the attention and aggression of the enemy. The enemy hates when we do things like this, and it will do everything in its power to pull you away from it.
But you know something interesting about one of the commands that Jesus gave? Love is the weapon that we should all be training to use against the enemy. Jesus said to love your enemies. And Satan is the enemy of God and all who follow God.
Now, we’re not loving evil. But we are not letting evil overcome love. Love is the greatest of all gifts, powers, and strengths. So, if you find yourself struggling to love, then work harder at it and love until that struggle is overcome. Like Jacob in the wilderness, wrestle until you receive a blessing.
And as you regularly do this, you will grow as a disciple, and you will always have a blessing to offer any disciple that you walk with.
So that’s the lesson on how to think about discipleship. That’s the mental framework that we can use to make discipleship a little more practical.
Mary and Martha
Now I want to change gears, and tell a story that can help you see what discipleship looks like in real life.
As I was studying for this sermon God kept putting a certain story on my heart. It started with one passage, and then every time I’d get into my flow I’d get curious about another detail and end up searching for other passages in this story.
The story is about Mary and Martha. And you may think you know where I’m going with this, but man did God unpack some things for me about these two. This is not a story about two women. This is a story about two disciples.
First I want to say that I might come off as being a little hard on Martha. But I am absolutely not trying to criticize her. She is a beginner disciple and I am simply comparing her to a mature disciple. So, she’s not hopeless, she’s just new.
Also, Mary and Martha represent two different types of disciples. I call them expressive and contemplative. Expressive disciples are like extroverts always on the go and always doing something. Contemplative disciples are like introverts always sitting quietly and focusing on the Lord. Both can be at any level of maturity in their faith, and we are all some mix of the two.
And one more thing I need to tell you is that I have adopted the assumption that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany are the same person. Nobody can prove it, and there is, of course, a never-ending debate about it, but if they are not the same person then they have very similar personalities.
That being said, everyone please turn to Luke chapter 10, and we will start at verse 38.
Luke 10:38-42 (NLT)As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
So here we have two people who represent opposite ends of the discipleship spectrum.
Martha shows her belief and submission to Jesus by calling Him Lord, and by appealing to His authority - rather than just complaining directly to her sister. But she thinks that she is doing the best thing. She shows that she does not understand what her sister is doing by naively telling Jesus to make Mary do something else.
Jesus doesn’t do what she wants, though, and instead points out that Mary, in fact, is doing the better thing, and that Martha is not doing the best thing.
That’s how we are when we’re young and immature. We think we know everything. We get wrapped up in ourselves. We try to get people to do things our way. And we often end up showing our own faults without even knowing it.
But Mary is showing all the signs of a mature disciple. She is sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening to His teaching. She remains silent when Martha accuses her to Jesus. I’m sure if Jesus told Mary to go help Martha she would without hesitation. But instead of trying to make Martha happy by giving her what she wants, Jesus uses Mary as a lesson to Martha.
When you look at it closely it kinda stands out that Mary knows Jesus a lot better than Martha does. Mary doesn’t have to say anything. She shows the depth of her relationship with Jesus simply by what she does - by remaining still at His feet.
And we can see how Mary appears foolish to those who do not know Jesus that well.
Psalm 46:10 (NLT) "Be still and know that I am God."
Being still is not easy. It takes practice. Being still is a sign of maturity. And Mary is showing that maturity in a big way in this passage.
Now let’s turn to John chapter 11. This chapter starts out telling us that Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus to tell Him that Lazarus was sick.
Then Jesus has this whole discussion about Lazarus with His disciples, who seem to show that they are not that mature in their walk with Him quite yet.
And we’ll start with verse 20.
John 11:20 (NLT) When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.
When Jesus got to Bethany, He wasn’t even in town yet and Martha set out to talk to Him. I can imagine her, in her grief, feeling a mixture of anger and desperation.
She sent Jesus a message and He was supposed to fix it. She’s mad, which is a natural part of grieving, but worse, her faith seems to have been shaken. And she’s on a bee-line to go talk to Jesus.
John 11:21-22 (NLT) Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Martha made a statement of faith when she addressed Jesus as Lord, and said she knows that He has the power to have healed Lazarus if only He had been there. I see that as a statement of faith.
But then she adds to it. Like - hint, hint, nudge, nudge - I know you can pray to God and God will fix it. Just like before when she wanted Mary to get up and help her, now she wants Jesus to get to work on her behalf.
John 11:23-24 (NLT) Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Again, Jesus didn’t give her directly what she wanted. But He reassured her that Lazarus would rise again.
Then she turned to head knowledge and started assuming she knew what He was talking about and started saying, “yeah, yeah, I get it. He’ll rise again at the last day.” And this, again, shows her immaturity in her walk with Jesus by showing what I perceive as her impatience because she doesn’t hear what He’s saying but instead just jumps to a conclusion.
Patience is definitely something that has to be forged into most of us, and that makes it a good sign of your maturity as a disciple.
John 11:25-26 (NLT) Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
Then Jesus questioned her faith.
And I see this as part of the growing process. As disciples our faith can and will be tested. And the question is always, are you going to stay faithful, or are you going to quit. I will give it to Martha, she didn’t quit. Quitting is a sign of immaturity. It doesn’t mean you can’t come back. It’s just a sign that you are still at the very beginner level.
John 11:27 (NLT) “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
Martha reaffirmed her faith, and even threw in some more head knowledge for good measure.
Martha didn’t quit, but she did leave frustrated.
John 11:28-29 (NLT) Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” So Mary immediately went to him.
Now I can see Martha walking into the house, seeing Mary sitting there weeping in her usual “disciply” way. And being like “your teacher wants to talk to you.”
John 11:30-31 (NLT) Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.
Notice, Mary didn’t run out with Martha to intercept Jesus when He entered town. She stayed still, and patiently waited for Him to come - again, showing signs of maturity. Only when she heard that Jesus wanted to speak to her did she get up and go out to Him on the outskirts of town. And that shows that she was not holding out for Jesus to come to her. It simply shows that she remained surrendered to Jesus throughout.
John 11:32 (NLT) When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Mary reached Jesus she made the exact same statement of faith that Martha made. “Lord, I know if you were here he wouldn’t have died.” But she left it at that. Simple faith. Nothing more. And she continued grieving. And then what happened?
John 11:33-35 (NLT) When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept.
Jesus got angry. Jesus joined Mary in her grief. Anger is part of the grieving process. And Jesus wept with Mary.
When you are mature in your faith, there’s nothing standing between you and Jesus. There are not many more lessons for Him to teach you. He simply meets you where you are, and joins you in whatever you are going through.
John 11:36-37 (NLT) The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
I can’t help but draw a parallel here. Remember when Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah in Nazareth and the people didn’t believe, so He didn’t do any miracles there. Well here we have some people questioning Jesus’s abilities, but Mary is showing this absolutely mature faith in Him, and He’s about to do the most amazing miracle.
John 11:38-39 (NLT) Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
So Jesus said to roll away the stone, and who was standing right there to show her immature faith yet again. Martha.
“But Lord.”
She tracked Jesus down, reminded Him that God would give Him whatever He asked for. He told her that her brother would rise again, and she completely missed the point. And now, He’s about to do exactly what she wants Him to, and she’s there with a big ole “But Lord, it’s gonna be stinky.”
John 11:40 (NLT) Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”
And, of course, Jesus is ever the patient teacher, and He reminds her to just believe.
And then Jesus performed this amazing miracle for all to see.
John 11:41-44 (NLT) So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
And we get one more statement about Mary.
John 11:45 (NLT) Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.
We’re told that the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. So, Mary wasn’t knocking on doors getting people to “repeat after me” and handing out pamphlets. She was simply walking with Jesus - completely surrendered to Him. And as a result of her walk, all the people who were walking with her saw Jesus and believed.
That to me is what discipleship means. I’m not here to give you all the right answers. I’m just here demonstrating my faith to you, and surrendering myself to God, so that you may see Him working through me, and believe in Him. I’m a vessel, and my job as a disciple maker is simply for you to see Him being poured out through me. Jesus is the one you need to follow, all I can do is lead you to him.
Now let’s go to John 12.
John 12:1-2 (NLT) Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.
Jesus is in Lazarus’s house. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to be there with them. The buzz of awe about what Jesus had just done, and the joy of the celebration of life. I mean, you wanna talk about an atmosphere of worship!
In verse 2 it says Martha served. Notice, she’s not complaining any more, and she’s not worrying about all the details. She’s just serving.
I see in this a growth of Martha’s faith. She has matured a little bit. I imagine her happily preparing the meal, humming a tune and dancing her way through the house. Lazarus is sitting by Jesus side sharing that meal - literally with a new lease on life.
John 12:3 (NLT) Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
And here comes Mary with the grandest of offerings, anointing Jesus with the most expensive perfume in the house, and wiping his feet with her hair in the most magnificent gesture of worship she can perform.
John 12:4-5 (NLT) But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”
And sure enough, there’s another immature disciple present that just can’t help but interrupt. Judas speaks out with a “But Lord.” “But Lord, that perfume was worth a lot of money.”
Again, Jesus defends Mary. He tells Judas to leave her alone. And, again, Jesus patiently takes the opportunity to teach His immature disciple a lesson - reminding Him that there will always be poor people in need of help, but death awaits.
And, as a side note, I wonder if the disciples remembered what Mary did when Jesus was washing their feet. That’s something that really stood out to me as I meditated on this story. Mary was miles ahead of the other disciples when it came to this. She didn’t just wash Jesus’s feet with water and dry them with a towel. She anointed His feet with the most expensive perfume, and then wiped them with her hair. At that point I realized that Mary was probably, by far, the most mature in her faith of all the disciples. I can’t put it any other way, she is just exemplary.
And now we get to the crucial detail of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany being the same person.
In John 19:25 we are told that there are 4 people from Jesus’s group standing at the cross when He is crucified. Mary, His mother. Mary Magdalene, another Mary, and John (aka the disciple that He loved).
John 19:25 (NLT) Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene.
Mary is there, still at the Lord’s feet. No matter where He goes, she’s there at His feet. Most of the other disciples ran and hid, except for her and John. If John is the disciple that Jesus loved, I would say that Mary is the disciple that loved Jesus. If we are the bride of Christ, she is our best example of what that looks like.
And finally, there’s one more place where we find Mary fully devoted to Jesus, and that’s outside Jesus’s tomb.
John 20:1 (NLT) Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
She’s the first one there. It says it was still dark when she got there, and she found it open before anyone else. And then Jesus appeared to her first after His resurrection.
John 20:11-16 (NLT)Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
What a sign of faith. Mary was relentless in her faith and devotion. Even after He died she was right there at his feet, weeping and grieving. And He rewarded her by appearing to her first. Jesus didn’t take Mary for granted. And He didn’t play a man card and only appear to the fellas. He knew who loved Him the most, and He reciprocated. He also loved the rest of the disciples, but it was clear that they were not yet at Mary’s level in their love for Him.
And that brings me to this conclusion. We are all still growing in our walk with Jesus. Some of us are at a Martha level, some of us maybe at a Peter level, some of us might even be at a John level. But how many of us are willing to put in the work and the surrender to be at a Mary level?
There are people who have lived it. Some of the ones I’ve read about are called mystics because they had a mysterious level of faith, and they pursued the mystery of truly knowing God.
No matter where you are in your faith, you can grow. Find a mentor to disciple you. Identify them by their walk with God, and their surrender to God. Find the tree by its fruit.
And if you are willing to disciple others then start by being a disciple of Jesus, and let that relationship be evident in everything you do and by the fruit you bear. Sit at the Lord’s feet, go to wherever He calls you, and worship Him with all you got - to the very end.