18th August 2026

Mary of Bethany stands out as an extraordinary woman of the Bible, not because she held a position of influence or performed spectacular miracles, but because she recognised who Jesus truly is, and her life was centred on him as she responded to him with wholehearted devotion.

The first time we meet Mary she is sitting at Jesus’s feet, listening to his teaching while her sister Martha busies herself with serving (Luke 10:39). In Jewish culture, sitting at a rabbi’s feet was the posture of a disciple, and Jesus not only accepted Mary’s desire to learn but commended it, declaring that she had ‘chosen what is better’.

This passage is not a criticism of faithful service but a reminder that our relationship with Jesus always comes before our work for him. Christian discipleship begins with receiving before serving, listening before speaking, and abiding before acting. Mary understood that life with Jesus was not about earning God’s approval through activity; she simply received the gift of being in his presence. This beautifully reflects the gospel itself: before we are called to do anything for God, we are welcomed into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. We are first recipients of grace before becoming participants in God’s mission.

Matthew 26:6-13 records that it is Mary who anoints Jesus with expensive perfume and wipes his feet with her hair. Some criticised her, calling the act wasteful, but Jesus called it beautiful. Mary recognised, perhaps more clearly than anyone else present, that Jesus was moving towards the cross. Her extravagant act of worship flowed from gratitude, love, and faith. She gave freely because she had first received so much. All true worship is a response to God’s prior grace. We do not initiate a relationship with God: we respond to the relationship he has already established with humanity through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Mary’s life encourages us to sit at Jesus’s feet and receive his word, and to offer our lives in joyful, sacrificial worship in response to his grace. In a culture that often values busyness over communion, achievement over intimacy, and productivity over presence, Mary reminds us that the greatest privilege of the Christian life is simply to know Jesus. Mary of Bethany was extraordinary because she recognised that Jesus himself was her greatest treasure. That remains the calling of every disciple today.

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church