By Miss Dee
The story of Mary and Martha comes from Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke. Mary and Martha, who are sisters, open their home to Jesus as he travels with his disciples. As Martha hurries to ensure the preparations, Mary simply sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to the wisdom of Christ. Mary and Martha are two sisters with incredibly different focuses. While Mary soaks in the moments with Jesus, Martha can't think past the cooking and cleaning. Martha quickly becomes frustrated with all the work she is doing alone and complains to Jesus! Martha then says to Jesus, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Jesus replies, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." You see when I studied this scripture before, I used to think, Martha was in the wrong. That the running around she was doing was not what Jesus wanted from her.
Let me highlight, the part where Jesus says ‘’Mary has chosen better’’ Not Mary has chosen the right way, but she has chosen better. This meant Martha had also chosen a good way of doing things, just not a better way. If you think about it, if Jesus was sitting in your living room today, would you not abandon everything and go and sit in HIS presence? Mary prized the time with Jesus and gave her entire focus to his presence. When Martha complains to Jesus, he gently reminds her of what her focus should be on - building a relationship with HIM. Yes, Martha showed wonderful hospitality welcoming Jesus and his disciples in, but she got lost in the distractions. What is stealing our attention today? And I am not talking about things that are un-Godly. I referring to things that are the normal day-to-day things that you are doing, acts of service that fill your day but are also stealing that one-on-one with Jesus. Mary and Martha appear multiple times in the Gospels. Their brother Lazarus gets risen from the dead, and according to the Gospel of John, it was Mary who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume.
However, the most famous story of Mary and Martha comes in Luke 10, when Jesus and his disciples are traveling to Jerusalem and come to the sisters’ home. While a meal is being prepared, Jesus starts teaching and Mary sits at his feet, listening (Luke 10:39). Martha is also listening but distracted by the meal preparation and gets irritated that Mary isn’t pitching in. Martha goes to Jesus and says, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me” (Luke 10:40). Jesus’ response was unexpected. Rather than tell Mary to help, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
Now we can say, Martha was acting up, why did she take it upon herself to run around and do the preparations then turn around and complain about it? But we need to understand that in those times it was almost tradition for the womenfolk to prepare when you had visitors. Prepare something to eat, wash their hands and feet, prepare where they might rest for the night, and so on. The issue here was that Martha had allowed the activity of hospitality to become a distraction. She couldn’t see the forest for the trees. She lost her focus and got mad that her sister would not join her in her activities, in the busyness.
One of the greatest sins of the modern world, I believe, is busyness. We live in the most distracted, frenetic society of all time. Especially now after what we are calling post-lockdown, we seem to be trying to fit in the last couple of years of sedentary into our everyday lives. It’s FOMO to the extreme. In all of this, let’s try and continue making time for our quiet moments, moments of reflection, our one-on-ones with God. Let’s not be like Martha and get frustrated with the checklist of actions we need to do and then complain to God about being burnt out or weary. Delegate some of the work you are doing or leave it for another day. I know that sounds like laziness or slothfulness. I am saying taking the time out, to do just that, take a time out.
Take that time out, sit at the feet of Jesus, or whatever that looks like for you, and listen to His impartations.
A TESTIMONY
Off the back of the Martha and Mary article, I would like to give a testimony, at least the short version of what Jesus' love and grace have done for me in my life. I gave my life to Christ when I was 12 or 13, thereabout. So, I grew up thinking that to be a ‘good Christian’ you need to be good and do good all the time. Leaving no room for errors. But as you may know, to err is to be human. No human is perfect and to think we are, or you are will constantly disappoint you. I have lived my life like Martha, always running around and trying to help the people God brings into my life.
I would pour out myself trying to help others and when I couldn’t, I thought to myself, there was no way I could ever be "good enough" for God to be proud of me. I would struggle throughout my entire life in this pattern of trying hard to be a better person, because that’s the cornerstone of being a great Christian right? Then came the resentment. The resentment of Martha towards her sister Mary. I would ask God why I always felt so weary, so depleted. Why was I the one running around doing the preparations, while others sat at the feet of Jesus? Why was I falling behind in my life goals, while others continually achieved them?And my answer came at the beginning of 2019 and took hold during the pandemic. I was having lunch with a friend whose husband is a senior Pastor at a church. And I was telling her about a cousin of mine who needed a place to stay for a few months, and that I had just wanted to be by myself for a little while since I had had someone visiting for a few weeks who just left. And she asked me, why I couldn’t just say no. I looked at her in disbelief, saying that God would punish me because I was turning away a child of His. To which she replied, if the God we pray to and serve will punish you for wanting to have time to yourself and wanting to replenish your cup, then we are in the wrong faith. I kind of laughed it off. Then came another request from someone else, needing something else, then another request, then another…and before I knew it, I would start getting migraines and anxiety attacks. This could not be what God wanted from me and for me. I consulted a counselor at my church, and we delved into what my core issue was. You see I thought I could ‘good act’ my way into heaven. Because if God required me to be this perfect Christian, I was surely going to fail that test. If I carried out as many good acts as I could, perhaps it would offset the other not-so-great acts that I do. You know what I’m talking about pride, unforgiveness, etc… But then I came to realize that I would never be "good enough" in my eyes or in the eyes of others, but in God's eyes, I am His perfect child.
Through Jesus, I am made perfect. That Jesus died and instead, of Him getting the credit, the credit was passed onto me.
So when God looks at me, He sees Jesus’s credit. He sees me as perfect. Jesus asks us for our heart, for us to accept his gift of grace and salvation just as we are. Right, where we are, and without prejudice, he loves us unconditionally if we accept his gift.
This road is not an easy one, I will stumble and fall and get it wrong. But that does not mean I am unworthy of Gods love or His Grace. I'm here to tell you that I don't deserve this gift, but I accept it every day, strive to be the best I can be, and continually work to be more like Christ. To be more loving, more caring, and more forgiving. The more I strive for this life goal, the more blessings the Lord sends my way.