Physical Worship – Sitting

Physical Worship – Sitting. 

“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? With eyes wide open to His mercies, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: I encourage you, as an act of sensible, intelligent worship, to surrender yourselves to God to be His sacred, living sacrifice. Make a decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all your members and faculties. Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Live in holiness, experiencing all that delights His heart. This offering of the whole of our lives is a worshipful act that is pleasing to God. And this becomes your genuine expression of spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1; a weaving together of The Passion Translation, the Message, Philip’s translation, the Amplified Bible, and the New Jerusalem Bible).

Being Physical with Worship. The spiritual and the physical belong together, and are in fact inseparable. We were created as whole beings with a mysterious fusion of body and spirit and soul and body and everything else that constitutes our personhood. Not only that, the Incarnation reveals how important the body is to Creator God. In a sense, the idea, the reality, of God taking on a physical body was actually a spiritual act. We need to make sure we incarnate our worship. So worship of our Creator needs to include the body if we want to worship with our whole selves. Physical acts of worship become meaningless if it is done thoughtlessly, without its intention of worshipping God. But worship is not limited to the nonphysical, the so-called spiritual either, or one is not truly involved fully in the act of worship. As Rev. Josef Ratzinger once wrote in his excellent article, The Theology of Kneeling, “The bodily gesture itself is the bearer of the spiritual meaning, which is worship. Without the heart of worship, the bodily gesture would be meaningless, while the spiritual act itself must of its very nature express itself in the bodily gestures.” So physical gestures are invaluable in the act of worship. They can point to spiritual truths, they can stimulate worshipful acts, and they can enable a fuller expression of awe, lament, adoration and worship. Using the body helps us to put the Gospel message into motion. The movement of one’s body can be a sign that communicates a message… Do you want to signal to God that you submit to Him, that you want to confess to Him, that you adore Him, that you intend to follow Him in trust? There are gestures and postures and movements that can express what is on your heart without any use of words. Body language is vital to spiritual life and expression. In this blog series entitled “Physical Worship,” I will focus on the worshipful use of the body through such gestures and movements as: prostration before God; sitting at the feet of Jesus; standing in respect and oneness; kneeling in submission; walking in order to follow; running the good race; jumping for joy; lifting up the heart and hands; offering the kiss of peace; and the act of crossing oneself with the sign of the Cross. This is important: Physical postures and actions during worship not only reflect the attitudes of the heart, but they also can help produce the attitudes of the heart.

Sitting. The physical act of sitting down isn’t necessarily the first thing we think of when it comes to a meaningful act. But when Jesus sat at table with the tax collectors, prostitutes, and other outcasts at Matthew’s house, it signified acceptance and solidarity with all those with Him at the table enjoying a meal together. Surely that was significant, at least it was to Jesus, to those rejected ones sitting around the table, and the miffed Pharisees outside the door (Mark 2:15). Sitting down might be just the most logical and practical thing to do too, whether in a crowd of 5,000 in the middle of nowhere getting organized for lunch (Mark 8), or Jesus sitting down in a boat to teach so the listeners could hear Him better (Mark 4:1).

There are examples in the gospels, though, of sitting down as an intentional act of devotion and honor… Sitting at the feet of Jesus. It was certainly commonplace for a student to sit at the feet of his teacher. It’s just what students did back then, and it had been done for thousands of years before Jesus’ time. It was a standard sign of respect for the teacher, honoring the teacher for his experience and knowledge. Sitting at the feet of a teacher was a sign of humility, the student showing the teacher that he wants to take learning seriously, submitting to the teacher’s expertise, listening to what he has to say. A student had to swallow his pride as he literally looked up to the teacher. Sitting at the teacher’s feet also kept the student in close proximity to the teacher so that the student wouldn’t miss a thing, listening closely, hanging on every word. Sitting at the feet of a teacher was the posture of an eager learner.

Sitting at the feet of a rabbi during Jesus’ time was all that and more. Sitting at His feet while Jesus taught was not merely an educational act, it was also an act of honor and adoration, of worship even. The typical disciple of a rabbi sat closely at the rabbi’s feet in order to learn what the rabbi knows, so the disciple could be a learned rabbi just like him. In Jesus’ case, His followers hung on His every word because they knew Jesus speaks the words of life, and that they are being trained to spread the knowledge and life of Jesus like good rabbi’s should.

Mary of Bethany. Take the case of Mary of Bethany, for example (Luke 10). Mary of Bethany was a much-loved friend of Jesus, along with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus. Their home in the little village of Bethany served Jesus well in His travels, as He was a frequent guest. Bethany was only two miles east of Jerusalem and on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, and so one could imagine Jesus dropping by whenever He was in Jerusalem.

Mary proved herself a devoted disciple of Jesus time and again. Her primary gesture of devotion seemed to be worshiping at Jesus’ feet. Whenever we see her in the Gospels, she was at His feet, whether she was listening to Him teach, grieving for her brother, or anointing His feet. In Luke 10 we find her at home, sitting at the feet of Jesus as He teaches. He commended her for doing “the one thing needful,” even after her sister Martha complained that she was stuck with all the work in their hospitality. There was Martha, “distracted with many things,” and there was Mary, totally absorbed and hanging on every word of Christ. Mary demonstrated her piety by being undistracted in the midst of the distractions. Perhaps Jesus was saying that, despite the loving attention to detail in hospitality, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they skipped lunch and instead tended to the “main course,” the Bread of Life. Eugene Peterson said as much in the Message – “Martha, dear Martha, you’ve been fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it – it’s the main course and won’t be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42). For Mary to have the gall to assume the role of disciple was somewhat controversial, since women were generally not allowed to be directly taught by a rabbi. Jesus, though, welcomed her avid interest in His teaching.

N. T. Wright, in his book, Surprised by Scripture, suggests that Martha may have been more miffed at her sister because she was in the male part of the house, a part that is usually reserved for men. Mary was not in the back of the house with the other women, and so Mary “had cut clear across one of the most basic social conventions of that time.” The fact that Jesus wholeheartedly welcomed her into the company of the leaners, an honored position, reveals Mary’s heart, and Jesus’ heart as well. Mary was devoted to Jesus, and she saw no reason to go anywhere else.

The Man of the Tombs. Another even more dramatic example of someone sitting at the feet of Jesus is found in Luke 8, in Christ’s healing of the hopeless demoniac, the infamous “Man of the Tombs.” As soon as the disciples climbed off the boat onto the shore near Gadara, they are met by a naked, insane demoniac. Jesus was unafraid to approach and heal this man, who was unclean in three ways: He was a Gentile; he was demon-possessed; and he was constantly in touch with death while living at the tombs. Jesus never seemed to let the matter of ritual uncleanness get in the way of showing mercy to needy people in their distress. He approached and touched the unclean during His whole ministry. Being utterly pure, He was unconcerned with being unclean.

This unfortunate man was literally filled with demons, he was fully given over to demonic possession. The evil spirits inside him had driven him to insanity, self-destruction, and somehow had given him extraordinary physical strength as well. He lived among the tombs, caves cut out of soft rock, away from society, and was so notorious in that region that no one would ever dare venture into that area. He was naked, and he would shriek, unable to speak. He would cut himself with sharp stones. The people would try to contain him by binding him with shackles and chains, but he was so strong that he just pulled apart those chains. The people were justifiably terrified, because this man  acted like a wild animal, and simply couldn’t be tamed. The demons had driven him away from home and family, into the wilderness surrounding the tombs, where he howled night and day. This deranged man was living a hopeless life, a constant danger to himself and all those in the region. The demons were out to destroy him, to make his life miserable, and they were succeeding.

The demoniac runs to Jesus as soon as He steps off the boat, and he shrieks at Him, falling down at His feet. Jesus immediately commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. But now the demon talks to Jesus, using the man’s voice, to scream at the overpowering Jesus, “Don’t interfere with me! Don’t torment me! I beg of you don’t torture me, Son of the Most High God! Are you here to judge us before our time?” Jesus engages in conversation with the unclean spirit possessing this man, asking what its name is. Jesus didn’t ask the name of the man, but of the spirit. Jesus focuses on the problem at hand, and wasn’t very personal with this man until after the exorcism. But what an interesting question for Jesus to ask. Do demons have names? And why would Jesus need to know the name of this demon? Speaking through this man, the evil spirit said that its name is “Legion… for we are many.” This poor man was possessed by many, many demons, for a Roman legion has 6,000 soldiers. We are not given the history of this man, and how he became so controlled and filled by this demonic horde. We don’t know how this happened to him, or if he himself invited them into his life at some point. Jesus doesn’t go into any of the history with this man, He didn’t pursue any of that background story by adding guilt or shame. This exorcism was done in the spirit of redemption and forgiveness.

Continuing the conversation, the demon pleaded with Jesus not to send all these evil spirts into their eventual destiny, the Abyss, the bottomless pit. This being Gentile territory, where pigs were not considered unclean and were instead a thriving industry, Jesus agreed to the demon’s request and sent them into the nearby herd of 2,000 pigs. The demons immediately came out of this man and entered the pigs. These evil spirits then drove the pigs to self-destruction, and they all plunged over the cliff into the Sea and drowned. That’s around 2,000 pigs destroyed! If that were done today, the loss would be as much as $250,000. Hog-farming was a huge business in that area, so the economic loss to this town was no doubt quite significant.

Jesus simply wanted to heal and restore this man to his right mind. This poor man’s status as a demoniac ran contrary to God’s original plan when He created man. Jesus wanted to see this man return to his senses, to flourish as someone made in God’s image. Jesus was being His merciful self, caring for a hopeless and extremely unfortunate person. Also, Jesus wanted to show who’s boss. He knew He had ultimate power over these demons, that these evil spirits had no choice but to obey Him. It was no contest. Jesus overpowered them. Jesus commanded, and the demons obeyed. ‘And the townspeople went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” (Luke 8:35).

The man of the tombs is now calmly talking with Jesus and His disciples. He is no longer deranged or self-destructive or a menace to society. Naturally, this man who is never named wants to be one of Jesus’ band of disciples, following Him wherever His ministry takes Him. This man is keenly aware of his life before Jesus and after Jesus. He wants to follow Him to the ends of the earth. But Jesus does something unexpected. He tells the healed man to return to his family and his town and tell everybody what has happened. Tell all the people how God had mercy on him. Preach His saving word to all who would listen. Spread the word about God’s mercy and compassion.

The Young Man Jesus at the Temple. Jesus Himself provided quite an example for all of us in Luke 2 when He was in Jerusalem, at the Temple. Without a doubt, Joseph and Mary faithfully raised Jesus according to the Hebrew Bible. The Faith was not just an academic duty or religious exercise, it was a family concern. The Faith was their life, and Scripture was the trademark of the home. So they reenacted biblical events in the home through scripted ceremonies; they celebrated the Jewish feast and fasts throughout the year, whether in Jerusalem or in the home; they celebrated the weekly sabbath meal and blessing around the family table; they placed visual items around the home for biblical reminders; they had roundtable discussions and regular readings of the Bible; they played games and sang songs and enjoyed dances around the house as they worshiped.

The Jews were always the most literate, intellectually astute, and spiritually inspired people around as long as they did what Moses said to do, which is what Joseph and Mary did. As faithful parents, they taught Jesus to read at a young age. They made him memorize large chunks of Scripture. They kept the Faith as the centerpiece of the home, the organizing principle of daily life.

One very important family faith event was their yearly trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast. And now we finally get a glimpse of Jesus during his growing up years. In his first twelve years, we are told that he “grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40). Apparently, Joseph and Mary were effective parents. Jesus was growing in wisdom, and wisdom is the goal in every parent’s mind, is it not? Every believing parent wants their children to grow in wisdom, to live skillfully with discernment, to be able to apply one’s faith practically and with understanding, to make good choices, to live life the way God intended us to.

So we find Jesus at twelve years of age, experiencing normal human development, physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially. But all this time Jesus is also experiencing something at a deeper level within him, what the Orthodox Church calls “the special overshadowing grace of God.” He is a young mystery, even to his parents, a growing boy who is also the Son of God. He is growing through every stage of human life, increasing in grace and wisdom, which are qualities which are somehow already fully his in his divine nature. Jesus is making progress in something that is already true. Being filled with the Holy Spirit since conception, he was graced with a unique spiritual blessing over his life. And yet, he was still a normal boy.

So here we are in Jerusalem at the most important Feast of the year. The streets are crowded with Jewish pilgrims, there are people everywhere. This is an exciting time for a twelve year old boy, watching and taking in all the activity. He is now called a “son of the law” in Jewish eyes, which means he is approaching the adult benchmark of thirteen years. Jewish boys didn’t enjoy an extended adolescence. Boys became men rather quickly.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus celebrate Passover as usual, and nothing seems amiss. Suddenly Joseph and Mary notice the absence of their boy Jesus in their traveling party headed back to Nazareth. They looked at each other… “I thought you had him!” “No, I thought you had him!” Think of their panic once it occurs to them that Jesus is long gone. They are both highly aware of the responsibility God has given to them. They both know Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. They both know about the singing angels in the sky and the visit of the Magi. They both remember the old prophet Simeon at Jesus’ dedication in the Temple, and how he spoke about the child as being a salvation and a light. Surely Joseph and Mary both recalled the prophetess Anna as she prayed and spoke about Jesus and his role in redemption. This is all going through Joseph and Mary’s minds as they frantically search around Jerusalem for their special son Jesus. They can be forgiven for their panic. In their minds, they lost the Messiah!

To their profound relief, they finally found Jesus in the safest place in Jerusalem… the Temple. There he is in one of the covered porches within the inside walls of the Temple. Maybe he was even in Solomon’s Portico, we don’t know. But these porches attracted all the greatest rabbis of the day during Passover. They came from all over the Roman empire during the Feast so they could teach and discuss Torah at the Temple. These porches were famous as places of high learning. And there was Jesus, sitting among the rabbis, in the thick of the action. Our hearts and minds would have been on fire if we were listening in on the discussion. One of the topics was certainly the coming of the Messiah, since so many Jews were expecting him to arrive soon. Messiah was a number one topic among Jewish circles in the first century. So think of it. There was the young Messiah, who was waiting for the right time to begin his ministry, and he was discussing with learned rabbis the coming of the Messiah! An interesting conversation, to say the least. According to observers at the scene, the air was crackling there in the Temple portico. And Jesus was right in the center of the action. “All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” (Luke 2:47).

In the Temple among the rabbis we see Jesus as he reveals how Jewish boys were trained to learn about Scripture. He is showing us what it takes to learn, to grow in wisdom. This is a good glimpse of Jesus growing up and becoming a learner. He sits, listens, asks, and responds.

1. Jesus Sits. This is the traditional posture of a willing student, a sign that reveals respect and honor for the teacher. This is the position of humility, a willingness to accept the leadership, experience and knowledge of the teacher. Sitting at their feet, Jesus was humble enough to know that there was still more to be known.
2. Jesus Listens. Because of his humility, Jesus placed himself in a position to keep an open mind in an attitude of receptivity. He showed an attentive interest in what is being offered by his elders. He wanted to grow in knowledge and wisdom, so Jesus was all ears.
3. Jesus Asks. Learning is inevitable with an active curiosity, a strong desire to probe knowledge and engage the teachers. Earnest questions reveal that a learner cares, is personally interested, and wants to learn more. There is no such thing as passive learning.
4. Jesus Responds. Jesus gathered the courage to voice his thoughts and respond to the knowledge being offered. He wasn’t afraid to think out loud. He risked the critique of the elders. He learned by verbally processing what was being discussed. Jesus was learning to think for himself in the company of others.

Perhaps we don’t literally sit at the feet of Jesus these days, though we will amazingly have all the time in the world to do that in the Kingdom. But for now this physical act of sitting down can become a metaphor. We can sit down at Jesus’ feet in our hearts. Sitting down can be a posture of the mind and heart as we seek to grow and learn from the Spirit of Jesus. May we all sit down at His feet in this way as we hear Scripture being read, as we read it for ourselves, as we listen to a wise and learned teacher of the Word. In this way, we are hallowing His name, we are honoring His presence, we are worshipping Him.

At The Feet Of Jesus – YouTube