At the Feet of Jesus

How amazing it must have been to sit at the feet of Jesus. Have you thought much about that? What would it have been like to be around the Master? It was obviously life altering for His disciples, the majority of which (by historical accounts) would go on to violent deaths. Christians would go on to be persecuted throughout the centuries. Why? Jesus is worth the shame (Acts 5:41). Jesus is worth it all, because “there is no other name, under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). It is for this very reason we think about how amazing it would have been to personally sit at the feet of Jesus.

To Talk to Him Must Have Been Tender

        Talking to Jesus must have been so tender. We know that He would tell people what they needed to hear, and sometimes that was rather forthright (see Matt. 23), but he was loving and compassionate to those who wanted to learn from Him. Remember when parents were bringing their children to Jesus so that He could lay His hands on them? The disciples rebuked the parents, but it is then that Jesus shows his tenderness with these little ones and says, “let the little children come to me” (Matt. 19:13-14). How wonderful that day must have been for those children and their parents. Not only that, but what an amazing lesson for the disciples of our Lord. Our Lord’s teaching was immensely important, but He also valued people. This reminds me of the phrase “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Our Lord shows this thought process on many occasions.

To Listen to Him Must Have Been Enlightening

        What would it have been like to listen to the Lord teach and preach? It is abundantly clear through scripture that Jesus had many followers. His teaching was enlightening to those who heard. On the other hand we know that there were detractors who were seemingly more interested in making sure that the status quo continued as it had been (Scribes and Pharisees come to mind). What do you think it would be like (for those of us who believe) to sit at the feet of Jesus? To be one of those that followed Him?

        We know it was enlightening as we have some of His teachings, but we do not have them all (John 20:30-31). We evidently have what we need as this is what has been given by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13), but we do not have every word that was spoken by our Lord. The words that we do have are so impactful I imagine having one-on-one time with Jesus would have been truly eye-opening. We do not have to imagine much as we know people were often changed by the words that Jesus spoke.

        A good example of this is Peter. We do not know much about Peter prior to him joining Jesus, other than he is a fisherman and is married. Although limited we do get glimpses of his personality throughout the gospel accounts. We tend to see Peter as someone who is somewhat impetuous. We see this happen a few times throughout the life of Christ, but Jesus continues to teach Peter to reframe his thoughts to the point that he eventually preaches that great sermon on Pentecost (Acts 2). If you look at the life of Peter up to that point, you probably would not consider him to be capable of being so composed. It was the influence of Jesus that helped enlighten a man to become someone great in the kingdom. This can be encouraging to us as we can see ourselves to be somewhat like Peter, but he goes on to do great things.

To See His Miracles Must Have Been Awe-inspiring

        There is little doubt that when we think about what could have been the most influential thing to bring people to the Lord that the average person probably immediately thinks “miracles”. Miracles did provide the listeners of Jesus’ teachings a reason to believe that this message was from God (Acts 2:22). Often we have heard statements from people of all kinds of religious points of view state that their faith would be stronger if they had seen miracles in person. It is usually inconsidered that there were so many that did not obey even after seeing these miracles. Some people saw the miracles and hated Jesus even more (John 5:1-15).

        It is perplexing that people could have seen miracles first hand and still not listen to Jesus, but for those of us that love the Lord (and those in the first century) it must have been an awe-inspiring experience. To watch a man walk for the first time since childhood, or to watch a person have their eye-sight restored. These miracles would have been amazing to witness. Not to mention the times that Jesus cast out demons or performed other various miracles outside of healings. If you knew who He was, then watching these miracles would have confirmed the fact that Jesus was and is the Son of God.

To Sit at His Feet Encourages Men to Believe

        Sitting at the feet of Jesus encouraged people to believe. We know this in particular because of one man who believed. It happened in Acts 9 on the road to Damascus. An ardent enemy of the church was traveling to make more havoc of the brethren. Saul had already been involved in the persecution of Stephen (Acts 8:1) and was on his was to get permission to arrest those who professed their faith in Christ. During this trip Jesus spoke to Saul as he was blinded by a bright light. Saul truly was an enemy of the cross, but it was at this moment that Jesus presenting Himself to Saul surely encouraged Saul to believe.

        We know that Saul believed as he would spend the rest of his life teaching the words of Christ. He was one that would spend his time writing to encourage and correct the brethren. He spent many days traveling to preach the gospel of Christ to spread the Word of God. Saul’s life was forever changed the day he sat at the feet of Jesus. The same could happen to anyone if they would just focus on the Lord.

To Sit at the Foot of the Cross Encourages Men to Be Saved

         To sit at the feet of Jesus was far better than anything I could describe. If I could do anything for anyone who might read this, it would be to help you imagine yourself at the foot of the cross. To see that man hanging in pain and realize that He is suffering for you. He is bleeding for you. He is dying for you. The least we could do for Him, is to follow His will. To be obedient to the gospel plan of salvation. To believe Jesus Christ is the son of God (John 3:16). To repent of our sins (Luke 13:3). To confess Christ before men (Matt. 10:32-33; Rom 10:10). To be baptized (Acts 2:38, 1 Pet. 3:21). To live faithfully (Rev. 2:10; 1 John 1:7). Sitting at the foot of the cross certainly encourages men to be saved and follow Him.

Do yourself a favor and think seriously about what it means to sit at the feet of Jesus.

His Servant and Yours, 

Matt McBrayer