In my young age, I am sometimes ignorant. I am actually quite ashamed and embarrassed to admit that only recently, via the Pastor at Oak Grove, were my eyes opened to this passage of scripture. Prior to this enlightening event, if you would have asked me if I was a Mary or Martha, I would have replied “well I’m no Martha, that’s for sure – because I am not exceptional with a broom or a frying pan.” Silly me, I was missing the point! All I was thinking was that Martha would make a good housewife. (Eek!) Much to my chagrin, I Knew little of the different ideals between herself and her sister Mary. In fact, I'm not even certain I related this question this the following passage in scripture at all! I was so blind...
“As Jesus and His disciples were on their way (to Jerusalem), 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!” The Lord answered, “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.” LUKE 10:38-42 (NIV)
Mary and Martha represent two different kinds of christians. One is never settled. This person allows life to run them. They often -though not always- serve the Lord, they just don’t listen to His call for rest (Matthew 11:28). The other, has a firm assurance and knows both when to serve (John 12:1-8) and when to sit.
Trying to picture this scenario, we can gather that it was just before Sabbath and a good sized crowd would have collected at the feet of Yeshua inside of Mary and Martha’s large home. This was the village of Bethany, where Yeshua was raised, so many of the people He grew up around would have wanted to see and hear Him again, as He didn’t go home often. Martha was growing anxious about providing food for all of these visitors in her home, and Mary was figuring the people didn’t care about a free meal, they cared about sitting at Yeshua's feet and hearing Him teach. Still caught up in the moment, Martha felt the need to serve these people, when the better choice was not to serve, but to sit and rest in Yeshua's presence.
Still, the most shocking part of this passage is when Martha goes up to Yeshua and says “Lord, don’t you care.....?!?!?” The priority to Martha was serving these people, and she felt so strongly that she built up the nerve to approach Yeshua while He was teaching and state the Mary needed to leave the lesson and help her with meal preparations! Martha didn’t think she was out of line in asking this, she didn’t think it was unacceptable! An underlying lesson here is that we need to get our priorities straight, with important things before urgent things. I wonder though, how often we put our anxieties at the forefront of our talks with Yahweh, our urgent matters, BEFORE our important matters. Let’s go to Yahweh first and foremost in our good times and secondly in our rough times!
Written by: Leslie Gipe
No comments:
Post a Comment