At the Feet of Jesus: A Guide to Encountering Christ in the Gospels

Based on what authors Bruce Hindmarsh and Carolyn Hindmarsh learned and experienced as they led various prayer and discernment retreats through the years, this short book is suitable for large group retreats, small group study, or as a personal devotional study.

Focusing primarily on the three Scripture passages that relate Mary of Bethany’s encounters with Jesus, the authors hope to help readers open their homes to Jesus, just as Martha did, and to “consider what it might mean to invite him into this most intimate space. What does it mean to be befriended by Jesus Christ and beloved by him in such an interior way? We are certainly called to follow him in the world as disciples and to share in his public mission. But we are also called to receive him and allow him to enter in and make his home with us.”

The authors encourage readers to employ their imagination and senses as they enter into each scene with Mary of Bethany, and they offer prayer suggestions for initiating and concluding each section of the study.

Readers will discover that Mary sat at Jesus’ feet in faith when she listened to his teachings even though her sister Martha was upset that she was left with the food preparation; in hope, when she fell at Jesus’ feet even though her brother Lazarus had been in the tomb for more than three days; and in love, when she fell at Jesus’ feet to anoint his feet with pure nard and dry them with her hair, unwittingly preparing him for his burial. In each scene, Mary assumed a posture of humility and fixed her eyes on Jesus.

In conclusion to this enlightening prayer retreat resource, the authors write, “With Mary of Bethany, we begin at the feet of Jesus, and there we learn of faith, hope, and love. Faith in Jesus Christ. Hope in Jesus Christ. Love for Jesus Christ. But like the bent and crippled woman whom Jesus encounters in Luke 13, we are healed in his presence and made to stand upright in his company, restored to dignity.”

(IVP)