Mary: sat at his feet
I love the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus has come to spend time with his friends and is staying with Lazarus and his two sisters. Martha is busily running around being the hostess with the mostest as was normal at that time. Mary had sat herself at the feet of Jesus. So far, so familiar. Except to do anything at this point but hold your hands up in wonder at just how counter culture this was would fall short of the attention it deserves. First century Israel was a time of segregated patriarchy. Men spent leisure, work and religious time with men. Women likewise with women. Learning and teaching was at that time within the exclusive remit of men. And yet here we have Mary, brazenly sat at the feet of Jesus. To sit at the feet of someone at these times was to demonstrate your discipleship. It was a posture of willingness to learn and a desire to be like the person of your focus. This was not the normal posture of women at this time because the structure of society determined the w...