Mary, Martha, Me, and You
Serving the Messiah, building His Kingdom, ministering to the needs of others in His Name. The work is never finished. In fact, it seems to increase the more we move forward.
But reading His Word, meeting Him in Prayer, being still and knowing that He is God… Somehow there never seems to be enough time to do those things too. They get pushed aside “until later” all too often…
Our intentions are good but there is so much to get done. And so little time to do it in. We tend to decide to get the pressing things done today because we feel pressure to act now. But we must stop ourselves!
Let’s catch our breath and remember Mary and Martha:
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:38-42)
The need was NOW for Martha. Martha had received the Messiah into her house. She was the hostess and it was her responsibility to make sure the hospitality was in order.
The amount of work pressing on her caused her to feel burdened, hindered, and “cluttered-up” (that’s what “cumbered” means) from all the running around to serve the guests.
And there was Mary sitting down. True, it was at the Master’s feet to listen to His teaching. But harried Martha had her hands full. With Mary’s help, Martha might be able to sit down and learn that much sooner. Yeshua seemed slow to recognize this so exasperated Martha “nudged” Him a bit.
Yeshua’s words, a picture of grace and mercy in tone, likely caused Martha to sit down right then and there. Let’s listen again and try, once more, to really hear them this time:
Martha, thou art careful (ie. full of care) and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part…
How tempting it is to be “care-full” and troubled about many things as we serve our Messiah, trying to do all that is urgently needed. Ironically, if we take the bait, we end up not doing what was actually needed.
What isn’t needful is to be caught up in the many things we might easily be troubled and filled with care about as we minister to others. Yet all too often that is exactly what we occupy ourselves with. But we must learn to be different.
What is needful is that we be “caught up” in keeping a front-row seat with our Messiah. For me that means Bible reading, reflection, and prayer. These are the “living” things which are so easily put off until later so that we may undertake all the “dead” things that need to be laid to rest now. Poor choice. Messiah Yeshua told us the good choice: Him.
So now picture all of us, along with Mary and Martha, sitting at the Master’s feet listening. Who will be getting up to do a quick tidy-up? By YHWH’s grace, next time it won’t be me! How about you?
Abba, Father, thank you for your patience with us. Forgive us for those times when we are full of care and troubled about many things. Help us to focus on those things that are needful: to keep in close communion with you through daily prayer, Bible reading, and Spirit-led doing of your Word. Grant us the grace to be able to distinguish between the urgent and the important and help us to do those things that are most needful. We ask these things in the name of our Messiah, Yeshua. Amen.
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Copyright 2010 Jim Zboran. All rights reserved.
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