Luke 10:38-42 (NIV) 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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
The two sisters, Mary and Martha, were very different. Martha was in charge of the house. She was a planner and a doer, with lists of what needed to be done running through her head all the time. Mary, on the other hand, was more laid back, doing what was needed when she saw it, or when she was asked.
On this day, Jesus came to their house, along with several of His disciples. Martha, always the good hostess, immediately set about the tasks that were necessary to feed all of those additional people that had suddenly showed up. She was moving quickly and efficiently from one task to another, please at her own ability to multi-task to get things done.
But as she looked into the room where Jesus was teaching, as He usually was, she grew increasingly irritated to see her sister, Mary, sitting quietly at Jesus’ feet, listening intently while He spoke. Her irritation increased the closer it got to meal time, when she looked at her sister sitting there, not lifting a finger to help, and in all probability completely oblivious to everything that still needed to be done.
Finally, she could stand it no longer. That was when she confronted Jesus. She had opened up her home to Him and His disciples, she was getting things ready for a wonderful lunch, and she was having to do it all alone. Surely Jesus would tell her sister that she should do the “Christian thing” and help out in the kitchen instead of sitting there and listening to Jesus teach.
But Jesus’ reply took her entirely by surprise. Jesus was not going to tell Mary that making lunch was more important than what He was teaching. It was actually the other way around. Jesus would be more pleased if Martha would put all of her activity and preparations aside, and come and sit quietly, and learn from Jesus herself. There would always be much that could be done, but when Jesus is teaching, that should be the center of everything.
Father, it is humbling to realize that most, if not all of us, have a bit of Martha about us. It is very easy to allow ourselves to get caught up in activities, even activities surrounding church, instead of really allowing ourselves to sit quietly in Your presence and learn from You. It is really easy to get so involved in “doing ministry” that we have no time to sit quietly with Your word so that we can clearly hear Your voice. Help me, Lord, to focus on the “one thing” that is really necessary: spending time with You to listen and to learn. And then help me to put all of the other stuff in its appropriate place behind that. Amen.