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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
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. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be
taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Some people seem to run wide open every
day. Every waking minute is filled with some task or activity. There is
seemingly no interest in time to rest and even if they tried to find respite
for their bodies, these types of people would find it nearly impossible to shut
their minds down, constantly processing what is still’s yet to be done and how
it could get accomplished.
Does this describe you?
If so, then I would label you a Martha.
Stay with me and you’ll see what I mean.
You’ll also see how Jesus warns against living your life in this fashion.
But before we go there, we need to talk
about the anti-compulsively driven person, a person who is able to keep their priorities
straight, despite life’s demands. A person who can put things on hold when
necessary to turn toward something far more important than worldly concerns.
If this is you, then I label you a Mary,
living a kind of life that Jesus advocates for.
Let’s now look at our scripture passage
from the Gospel of Luke, the tenth chapter, and bring this all into focus:
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. Mary has chosen what
is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
The scene as this passage opens is
strikingly different than the one we saw in yesterday’s devotion. In that
message, you’ll recall that the Samaritans baled at rolling out the red carpet
as Jesus and His disciples traveled through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem.
Allowing the years and years of hatred and conflict to rise to the forefront,
the Samaritans failed to accommodate Jesus and His followers. And so He moved
on.
Here in our verses from Luke, Chapter 10,
we find that two sisters, Martha and Mary, willingly opened their home to
invite Jesus and His disciples in. Of interest, Martha and Mary were the sisters
of Lazarus who you’ll remember died before being resurrected by Jesus (John
11). John’s account of this miraculous act by Jesus prefaced it by saying that
He loves all three siblings. We also learn that it was Mary who anointed Jesus
feet with expensive perfume and wiped His feet with her hair (John 12:1-8).
Back to the welcoming of Jesus into Martha
and Mary’s home where we find Martha busily preparing to serve her guests,
distracted by all she felt she needed to do. At the same time, Mary was sitting
at Jesus’ feet, listening intently to everything He was saying. It couldn’t be
more of a stark contrast in behaviors and attitudes between the two sisters.
Well, we see Martha, hurrying around trying
to get everything done that she felt was important, miffed at her sister just
sitting around when she could use help. But rather than yell at her sister,
Martha takes the matter to Jesus, interrupting His conversation with those who
were hearing Him out while trying to get Him to side with her. Here’s what she
had the nerve to say to the Messiah, the very Son of God:
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by
myself? Tell her to help me!”
On the outside looking
in, this looks like a completely ludicrous request, one that made no sense.
Martha wished to pull her sister away from important one-on-one time from the
man who would be her Savior, the Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the
world. It looks and sounds crazy but friends, this is how our enemy works
within the framework of the world where he roams like a lion waiting to devour
those who lose their focus on the Lord (1 Peter 5:8). Martha was so wrapped up
in household matters that she was dragged away from where she should have been,
sitting with her sister at Jesus’ feet and sharing fellowship with Him. Or as
Jesus put it:
“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.”
The point was that there
may be many things that Martha could have been worried and concerned about but
there was only one thing that truly mattered and that was sharing time with
Him, the “better way” chosen by Mary.
Today, the world wants
to pull us in every direction possible, so much so that too often people lose
sight of the One who is more important than anything else: Jesus. Indeed, how
many people do not go to church on Sundays because they are running their kids
to soccer or baseball or football or basketball games? They see their children
benefitting more from running after, kicking, catching, batting, or shooting a
ball instead of in a Sunday School classroom or church pew, learning about
Jesus. They are just one species of Martha out there. Certainly, there are
plenty of others but they all share the same common traits. They are more
concerned with the things of the world and achieving whatever it pulls them to
then they are making quiet time to sit with their Savior and listen to Him,
through the power of the Holy Spirit or the reading of the Bible.
If you make church a priority
as well as time to study the Bible, pray for your needs and the needs of
others, and share the good news of the Gospel with those in need of salvation
then you are in Mary’s corner and in the favor of Jesus because you have chosen
what is better.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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