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It Can Be Easy To Forget
In Luke Chapter 10, verses 38-42, Jesus and His followers traveled to the town of Bethany where Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, lived. Martha invited Jesus to stay with them while He was in town, and right away she got busy trying to be a good hostess. There was evidently a lot that she felt she needed to do. Perhaps there was cleaning, making up a bed, and certainly cooking that was on her “To Do” list.”
As Martha was all caught up in her work, she began to get angry with her sister Mary. She was just sitting there at Jesus’ feet taking in everything that He was saying. Martha didn’t think this was fair. Mary got to sit and relax, while she did everything. So she went and told Jesus that it wasn’t right that Mary sat doing nothing while she sweated doing all the work. Actually, Martha sort of reprimanded Jesus by saying, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work?” She was pretty much implying that He didn’t care. Then she told Jesus what He should do. “Tell her to help me!” Imagine, Martha telling God what He should do. But, then again, I guess we do that sometimes too.
Even though Martha didn’t think there was time to sit and listen to Jesus with so much to do, Jesus took the opportunity to teach her an important lesson. Basically He told her that there was no need for her to be worried and upset about so many things. He pointed out that there was really only one important thing that we don’t want to neglect in order to keep all the other things in their proper perspective. According to Jesus, Mary had chosen to do that one thing, and it could not be taken from her. It was something that we can so easily forget to do and how important doing it is to our lives. Mary had chosen to take time with Jesus, receiving from Him.
According to Pastor and author, Max Lucado, Martha wasn’t all worried about something that was bad, but rather something that was good. She was trying to make things nice, like prepare a dinner for Jesus. Her original goal was to please Jesus, and there was nothing wrong with that. However, she made a common and somewhat hazardous, destructive mistake. It was a mistake that we all make and that has been made by Christians and the Christian Church throughout the centuries. What Martha did, as she got into her work, was allow her work for Jesus to become more important to her than Jesus Himself. So what started out as good intentions to serve Jesus, subtly became a way to serve herself. It became all about Martha and not all about Jesus.
Martha had forgotten that the meal she was preparing and everything else she was doing was to please Jesus, not herself. In our personal lives and in the church, we can, like Martha, get so wrapped up in the doing that we forget the One for whom we are doing it. It becomes all about us getting it right and not all about getting right and staying right with Jesus. In serving Jesus, it is so easy to forget who is the servant (us) and who is the One to be served (Jesus). Taking the time, like Mary, to be with and listen to Jesus helps us to remember why we are doing what we are doing and for whom we are doing it. It’s all about Him, not all about us.
In Him,
Pastor Rich
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