Marthaness and Maryness

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

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were friends of Jesus. I think that is pretty amazing in and of itself. How wonderful that must have been to be known as Jesus’ friends.

I am not sure, but I think this is the first time we hear about this friendship. When Jesus and the disciples came to town and passed by Mary and Martha’s house Martha invited them in. I have always liked Martha. I like that she answered the door, was hospitable enough to invite them in, and set about preparing the tea while her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him teach.

I also have always understood Martha. Here she was bustling about doing all the work while Mary just sat there. I can almost sense the frustration building as she clattered the dishes and slammed the drinking vessels trying to get Mary’s attention. Finally she had enough – ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister is making me do all the work? Tell her to help me!’ In fact, I can almost feel the emotion behind it. I can be very Martha like – I like to get things done. I hate to see tasks undone. I can get bothered by those who won’t help when there are jobs to do. The Marys of this world can really irritate me (uh, not my Mary of course).

So Martha, like I would have done, said something. I can see that.

Jesus’ reply was to the point. You can sense His compassion when He says ‘Oh Martha, Martha, you are concerned about so many things. But one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that.’

Jesus was not condemning Martha, there are things that have to be done. The tea needed to be prepared, we have jobs that need sorted. But Mary knew something. She knew that the most important thing was to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. All those jobs that I think are so important are going pass away, but what we learn from Jesus will never pass away.

Lord, don’t take the Marthaness from me – but give me a dose of Maryness to go with it.