Are you Mary or Martha?

In Luke 10:38-42, Luke tells the story of a couple of sisters that hosted Jesus in their home. I want to look at each of these sisters separately. As you read about each sister, think about which one you most identify with and why.

Martha. Martha was a sister to Mary and Lazarus (the Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead). Martha was a woman of great faith and understood that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. In Luke, Martha and Mary are hosting Jesus and the disciples. Martha no doubt wanted to be a good hostess and serve Jesus. Luke 10:40 says that she was “distracted” by all of the preparations and she got upset with Mary for not helping her serve. Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping and implied that Jesus did not care about her because he didn’t tell Mary to help. Martha was so busy trying to do her best at serving Jesus that she didn’t really know what He wanted. Do you identify with Martha? Do you find yourself serving in a particular ministry of the church for Jesus and get frustrated when others are not doing enough to help you? Do you get distracted sometimes by the pressures of serving Jesus and complain?

Mary. Mary lived with her sister Mary and Lazarus. While Martha was running around trying to prepare the dinner to serve Jesus and the disciples, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus along with the disciples listing to His teaching. In John 12, Mary also anoints the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume while Martha is serving again. In Luke 10, Jesus told Martha, “there is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it (Luke 10:42 NLT).” Mary had discovered the importance of getting to know Jesus and listening to Him. There is little doubt that had Jesus asked Mary to do something she would have done it without delay, but she was focused on getting to know Him rather than doing things for Jesus. Do you identify with Mary? Do you take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus by reading His word and taking the time to reflect on it and just get to know Him?

It is evident that Jesus had great love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus so he isn’t criticizing Martha for serving, but He is pointing out that at that time it was better for her to keep the meal simple and take time to fellowship with Jesus and learn from Him. Jesus is perfectly capable of telling us what He wants us to do if we take the time to get to know Him and listen to Him. Sometimes, we get so busy trying to serve Him that we loose focus of Jesus and get frustrated.

Today, I want to encourage you to make spending time with Jesus your priority. Take time to read His Word and fellowship with Him in prayer and reflect on what you have read. Read His Word for what it tells us about Jesus rather than what we are supposed to do or not do as “good” Christians. As we get to know Jesus, He will move us to action when He is ready for us to take action and we will know it is Him because it will be consistent with who He is as revealed in the Bible. We were never meant to live the Christian life, but rather to allow Christ to live it through us. When we are so busy trying to serve Him in our own power, we quench His ability to live through us. As I am discovering this truth, I am finding that Jesus is doing things through me that I could never imagine to do on my own. I am not currently holding a “position” of ministry, but perhaps I am doing more ministry by allowing Jesus to live through me than I have ever accomplished in all of my years as a Christian and in serving Him.

In Christ,

Ben