Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42
If you’ve been a Christ follower for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard this portion of scripture expounded on and preached on. I’m not here to do that. I find it fascinating that an interaction in a home between two sisters and Jesus has been forever immortalized in scripture.
Mary was at Jesus’ feet hearing “His word”. Luke never mentions what Jesus was talking about but instead records the words of a disgruntled woman accusing Jesus of not caring about her plight. Surprisingly, Martha never interacts with Mary directly, instead she wants Jesus to correct Mary’s behavior. There is no indication if the situation ever comes to any resolution. Did Mary, after hearing the discussion, get up and help? Did Martha put away her things, stop working and listen? I guess we will never know.
Jesus was in a home, doing life with people. If you’re doing House Church you know people have all sorts of theology and beliefs and sometimes those beliefs must be lovingly challenged. What better environment to discuss disagreements or misunderstandings than among a group of spiritual family members.
If scripture was still being written today maybe some of your House Church conversations and disagreements would be immortalized too.
2 replies on “Martha, Martha, Martha”
What Martha was doing was obeying and imitating Jesus – serving others. It was her preoccupation with the serving versus hearing Jesus that was disobedient. Most likely she could hear Jesus as she prepared. She did not consider the option that the serving a meal could wait. Like Martha, we often don’t discern the work that is of greatest importance for the moment.
None of us will ever have Jesus talking to us live. He can talk to us as we serve or as we wait on Jesus to hear his voice any time of the day while we work, eat, or sleep. I’m listening to Jesus now as I respond to this message. As we practice body life with Jesus at the center, we can learn what is most important as Jesus tells us through the hearts of each believer with a variety of Spirit gifts. I’m thankful Jesus did not design his body where God funnels his truth through one hired Bible expert in one way communication.
Thank you Tim