Just to sit at His feet…

~Tracy Frederick

He was just sitting there, on top of a mountain, and the crowds found him. They always seemed to find Him didn’t they? They needed Him. But, the magnificence of the scene is hard to imagine: “and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others and they laid them at His feet; and He healed them”(Matt. 16:329-30). But, it what follows that is equally amazing to me: “And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat…’” (v. 32) Three days…they sat for three days with nothing to eat…not a thing. What does that really mean? It was a mountain right? So, it must have been rocky, I assume. It sounds miserable, really. I mean, seriously miserable, doesn’t it?… Except for the most important part, right? They sat at the feet of the Master for THREE DAYS!

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about those three days- the incredible hunger, the rocks, the bugs, again--the hunger…..but what gets me is no one complained. Do you see that? Nowhere in the text does one person complain about being hungry or uncomfortable. There are even children in the crowd, and no one complained about a tummy grumbling. In fact, you will see that it is Jesus who mentions that He was concerned about sending them away “for fear that they might faint on the way. “ No one seemed to be leaving…after sitting for three days. Didn’t they have jobs? Didn’t they have family trips waiting on them? Didn’t they have crops or animals to tend to? Didn’t they have responsibilities?...their kids in some kind of activity? Didn’t someone leave something in the oven????

I’ve been wondering: what would we give up to sit at the Master’s feet for three days? Three days listening to our Savior. I think we would quickly exclaim that we would give up ANYthing…our jobs, our homes, our personal relaxation plans, our family obligations just to sit at the feet of Jesus’ for three whole days.

The sad part is….we don’t. I mean, really, we don’t, do we? We have every opportunity to sit at our Master’s feet anytime, right? We weren’t like them, we don’t have to trek up to a mountain top and sit on hard rocks, endure bugs and hunger to listen to His teaching, do we? Nope…no need to go hungry, right? We can sit in the comfort of our favorite chair, snacking on our favorite snack and sipping a cool beverage while “sitting at His feet.” Yeah…we can…hummm…. So, the question for me is: would we have been in that crowd on the mountain? Would we have endured three days of hunger and rocks and bugs just to sit at the Master’s feet? .but, the problem is that I am afraid that we don’t…I mean there are so many opportunities to “sit at His feet” aren’t there? Yeah…. But do we? I mean, I wonder if we are just maybe a little too comfortable?... Maybe we need a mountain? Maybe we need bugs?……Maybe we need rocks?…..or maybe we just need to be hungry.

“Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6.