As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”. “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one [thing is needed] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42, NIV
Martha was doing a lot of behind the scenes work to prepare for her visit from Jesus and his disciples. As she is frustrated at her “lazy” sister who is “just sitting there,” she asks Jesus for help. Jesus responds with a very clear message: hearing the word of God is the most important thing you could be doing and having a relationship with Him will last for eternity.
So my question is... Who are you? Are you Martha or Mary?
I do believe that Martha had the best intentions. It’s obvious she loved Jesus- they were friends, she welcomed him into her home, and she spent time and resources getting ready for his visit. I can only assume she was cooking dinner, cleaning her house, and preparing a place for all of them to sleep. I am sure she wanted to make sure everything was just perfect for Jesus’s visit. The bible tells us to serve others and to love God—isn’t that what she was doing?
I can see a lot of “Martha” in myself. I mean, if Jesus was coming to MY house for dinner, I’d wash the floors, bring out the fine china and serve a 7-course meal- wouldn’t you??? Isn’t He worthy of the red-carpet treatment?
As a wife and a mom of 3 young kids, I am busy ALL. DAY. LONG. I devote much of my time and my resources to my family: I vacuum, kiss boo-boos, wash laundry, make dinner, help with homework, fix the broken doll, chauffeur, find the tape measure, grocery shop, etc etc etc. I love being a Wife. I love being a Mom. I love being able to “do all of this stuff” to make this house a home for my family.... but, I’ll be honest: There are times I get frustrated with those whom I love — ‘why does this all land on me? why doesn’t anyone help me? Don’t they see I am doing all of this because I love them?’.... My best intentions turn into resentment because of THINGS: Things need to be fixed, Things need to be purchased, Things need my attention, Things need to get done.
Yep. I’m Martha.
As Jesus speaks to Martha (aka...Me), his message is simple: “Focus on what is important. Focus on what is eternal”.
It’s a punch-in-the-gut realization to all us “busy” people out there. There will always be Things: I washed the dishes this morning, but tomorrow there will be more in the sink. I put a load of laundry in the washer, but by Tuesday the hampers will be full. I just replaced the toilet paper roll in the bathroom, but give it another day before I turn into the Toilet Paper Fairy again. Even though those Things need to be done, they’re all meaningless in the spectrum of “forever”.
With all the distractions in the world, let’s make sure our focus is ON Jesus, not just FOR Jesus. He doesn’t need a 7-course meal and the fine china place settings. He doesn’t need things. He wants to be welcomed into our homes and our hearts. He wants our undivided attention. Jesus Just Wants Us.
Let’s make a continued effort to be more ‘Mary’. If we must do preparations, let’s choose what we are preparing for: Heaven. Praise and glorify him in all we do. Listen, teach, love, pray, be God’s disciples, guide others to Him. Let’s make sure that no matter what events we have throughout our day, we focus on what REALLY matters— our eternal relationship with Jesus.
