2024-12-05A
SCRIPTURE
LUKE 10:38-42
38 And as they went, it happened that He entered into a certain village. And a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving.
And she came to Him and said, Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
A. A SOMEWHAT UNUSUAL HOME.
A small pericope with a big message. The main characters in the story are Martha and Mary (except of course Jesus himself). They also had another brother by the name of Lazarus. He was the one who died and was raised again by the Lord Jesus. We do not read much more in the Word of Lazarus, except in Jn. 12:2, where it is stated that he was at the table with a number of people who ate with Jesus. There is also no indication anywhere in the Word that any of these three were married. Possibly they were loners. However, they were attached to each other and found it useful to live as a family under one roof for the benefit of all. As often happens in all families, they sometimes got irritated with each other as we also see in this incident. They lived in a small town called Bethany, near Jerusalem.
B. A HOME WHERE JESUS WAS PARTICULARLY WELCOME.
What is special about this family is that the Lord Jesus had a very close relationship with them, closer than with any other family mentioned in the Gospels, closer even than with his own family. It is told of two occasions at which He ate with them and also how He answered their distress call when Lazarus died and He had to travel a long, long distance to raise him from the dead.
C. TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THIS FAMILY.
It is mentioned in the following portions of Scripture:
- Luk. 10:38-42, describing the current incident where Jesus corrected Martha.
- John 11:1-44, dealing with the death and resurrection of Lazarus.
- Matt. 26: 6-13, Mark. 14:3-9 and Jn. 12:1-11: describing the incident where Mary anointed the Lord Jesus with oil.
D. MARTHA AS A PERSON.
From these passages the following picture of Martha emerges:
She was a born leader.
She led this group of three in that she was the owner of the house in which they lived and not Lazarus, her brother and the only male in the home. This was an unusual setup during the times they lived in when a woman was normally subordinate to the men around her.
Independent and used to take care of herself.
The fact that she had her own home is commendable, indicating an independent, responsible type of person. So many expect everything to be done for them. They believe the world owes them something and sit back expecting their needs to be met by others. She not only took care of herself, but also provided housing for two of her family members. Well done!
Identifying needs and finding solutions.
Whenever there was a need for someone to do something, she spontaneously stepped forward, put on her apron and got to work. She was a reliable person and could be trusted to get things done properly and on time. On this particular day the Lord Jesus probably was accompanied by quite a number of His disciples and members of the public who were curious to see him or hear what He would say. Martha quickly summed up the situation, immediately took responsibility for her guests and set to work to provide food for them.
A talented, knowledgeable person.
She must have been a very skilled cook, because in John 12 we read of a special meal prepared for Jesus and a number of guests in someone else’s home, where she was apparently responsible for the catering. She knew how to organize and one could entrust a large gathering to her. She would not have let you down. Nowadays every pastor would be happy to have such a capable, thrifty member in his church.
Strong of spirit.
She did not easily crack under calamity. When others were sitting in sack and ashes, she would be the one drying their tears, finding a way to cope with the situation. When Lazarus died and Jesus arrived there, four days late, she was the first one to meet up with Him. She probably had someone posted outside to let her know He had come, so she could go and discuss the situation with Him before the mourners descended on Him. She showed a singular presence of mind. Mary, on the contrary, was so overwhelmed with grief that she sat helplessly in the house, crying, leaving it to Martha to take charge. Martha was a strong and practical woman and people trusted her leadership.
Martha’s weakness.
But Martha’s strengths were also her weaknesses. Her special ability to take control of the everyday things of life, meant that she focused on the material side of life more than on the spiritual. Her hands were more important to her than her heart. With her faith there was nothing amiss. She was firmly grounded in Jesus and even clearly confessed: “Yes Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who would come into the world.” Her problem simply was that she put the flesh above the spirit.
E. GETTING CARRIED AWAY BY PASSION FOR WORK AND ORGANISATION.
The result of her inner imbalance was that, in daily life, she put her joy in organizing and getting things done above her fellowshipping with Jesus. Thus it became an idol in her life. Therefore, she could also become very upset when this idol was offended as happened in the current situation.
Regarding her preparation of the meal that day: Maybe she had to pound corn for 10 to 20 people, cook rice, slaughter and cook 2 or 3 chickens because usually there were only three people at the table and now her house was full of guests. She panicked. She thought: “They have walked a long distance. They are hungry. I will not be able to have the meal ready for them in time. All eyes are on me. I will have to hurry. Why can’t other people realize their responsibility? Why is there no one here to help me? Where is that useless sister of mine?”
F. A RED-FACE REBUFF!
With the blood and feathers of the chickens on her hands she stormed into the dining room where Jesus and the others were gathered and, what more do you want: there sits her sister Mary right at the feet of the Lord Jesus, as cool as a cucumber, drinking in every word of her Teacher.
At once Martha’s temper flares up, not only towards Mary, but even towards Jesus. He sits there calmly talking about this and that, why…” The next moment she is next to him, pouring out the angry thoughts from her boiling heart. She hears herself explode: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister let me serve alone? Tell her to help me!” The words were out and I think there was a shocked silence as Mary hurriedly stumbled to her feet.
G. THOSE HE LOVES, HE PRUNES SO THEY CAN BEAR MORE FRUIT.
So, what did Jesus do? Apologise? No, He loved this dear friend and disciple too much to let her flounder in her misery. Possibly He had missed her in the circle that gathered around Him. What she now needed was to be corrected so that she would not again stumble because of this weak point in her life. So He answered: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
How painful! She had been so certain that she was right and they were wrong. Now she had to hear that shé was wrong and théy were right! Shé was rebuked by the Lord Jesus and her lazy sister was praised; how terrible! Everyone had been blissfully happy as they sat listening to Jesus while she was sweating back in the kitchen and now, on top of it all, shé was the one to be reprimanded! How unfair.
H. LORD, WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS ALL THAT WELL.
One almost wants to put one’s arm around Martha’s shoulders and look slightly accusingly in Jesus’ and Mary’s direction, but, before we do that, let’s take a deeper look into this matter. Does this mean that one should just leave one’s work and be busy with the things of the Lord all day long? Who will pilot the planes, unlock the shops and man the cash registers, till the fields, wash the children, dress, feed and take them to school?
I. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR OPPORTUNITIES.
Fair enough, but equally true that there also was a very practical reason why it was important to sit at Jesus’ feet during that specific hour or half-an-hour. Today we have the recorded words of the Lord Jesus in the Bible and can sit down at any time reading it all at leasure. During his limited time of ministry however, He was traversing the country from north to south and from east to west to give divine teaching, and one had to seize every opportunity to hear His words when He passed by your town and even more so, when He came to your house. Everything He said was direct from the Father in heaven and you could not afford to miss it, because you would probably never have the privilege of hearing it again.
J. ASK GOD FOR A HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE.
Secondly, Martha relied on her own discretion to do what she saw as necessary at the time, namely to prepare food. She should have been more sensitive to Jesus’ perspective, regarding what He considered to be the more fruitful use of that little time they had to be together.
The Lord knows about all the practical things that require our attention, but His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. Our perspective on our circumstances is earthy, His, heavenly. We focus on the temporal things; to manage them to our best advantage, but He wants to manage our actions in such a way that they will bring us the greatest eternal benefit. His perspective is different from ours. Ours is horizontal, His vertical. With this in mind, let’s look at the event again.
K. A MISSED OPPORTUNITY – UNNECESSARY.
Martha’s zeal to provide for the people’s physical needs, robbed her of the opportunity to enter into deep communion with the Lord. If she had joined the group and had fellowshipped with Jesus, He would probably, after He had conveyed to them what He received from the Father, have said: “Well people, that’s all for now. How about you ladies preparing something for us to eat. Some of the men’s stomachs are already rumbling from hunger.” Martha would then have had many hands to help her, and they would have been able to prepare the food in friendly company while talking about what Jesus had just taught them.
L. SPIRITUAL SENSITIVITY.
It teaches us to live our lives in dependence on, and under the guidance of, the Holy Spirit. He may sometimes, when we deem it necessary to do some practical thing, lead us to instead lift our hearts to Him for a few minutes so that He can put His thoughts into them. We will not lose time by this; no we will find that we will be able to get our tasks done faster and more efficiently.
M. SANCTIFIED MARTHAS.
He does not want to change the diligent Marthas into Marys, but to teach the Marthas to serve under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we are led by the Spirit, we will never be so heavenly-minded that we will not be of any earthly use, nor will we be so earthly-minded that we will not be of heavenly use.
N. CHOOSING THE BEST IS BEST, NOT SO?
As for Mary: the Lord says that she chose the best part, better than that of Martha because while Martha chose to do many things, Mary chose to do the one thing that was necessary, that which would not be taken away from her. Earthly things pass away but the things of God remain with us forever. Things like purity, faith, love, forgiveness, peace, wisdom, eternal life; these things become part of our being, and remain part of our spirit when our life continues beyond the grave, but this body, as well as what my hands can do, will remain behind.
Let us therefore follow Mary’s example to prioritize sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus.
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