Just Call Me Martha....

I don't always like it when God sends me a wake-up call. It usually becomes a time of introspection that ends with me saying, "Oh Father, I've messed up again! Please forgive me and help me get back to the center of Your will."

Well, that call came in last week. Actually, it had been ringing for several weeks, but I kept sending back a busy single. You see, I finished a ladies' Bible study in mid-July on various remarkable women of the Bible. That last week, we studied Mary and Martha, sisters of Jesus' close friend Lazarus. I prepared and facilitated that lesson a month ago, but it has been on my mind ever since. I kept thinking I would write a post about it, but I never "got around" to it. Then that call came last week.

I was very busy last week - busy doing several "good" things. As part of our Women's Ministry Team, I was the lead planner for a leadership training event scheduled for the end of that week. Our fall kick-off is also coming up, and I'm trying to finish lining up all of our fall Bible studies and get materials ordered and rooms booked.We are also in the early stages of preparing to host a giant women's conference in the winter. I've also been keeping one of my grandsons a couple of days a week.

All of those are good things to be doing. All of those are things that needed to be done. But when I answered that call, I had to admit my likeness to Martha.

In fact, I actually wrote the first part of this post several days ago! And then got "busy" again...with those "good" things. He continued to ring my number!

Here's what I know. Martha and her sister Mary were close friends with Jesus. We know that He stopped by their home in Bethany several times during His ministry. We also know that Jesus was very close to their brother Lazarus. So Jesus knew this family intimately. We also know that the sisters were complete opposites - Mary being quiet and contemplative, and Martha a stero-typical Type A personality always tending to the details of a situation.

Let's review an account in the Scripture that gives us insight into their personalities and their relationships with Jesus.

In Luke 10:38-42, we see the account of Jesus stopping by their home on one of His travels through the countryside. Martha welcomed Him into their home and began preparations for a nice meal. She was busy in the kitchen, wanting everything to be just perfect, while Mary sat down in the living room right at Jesus' feet, listening to all He had to say.

Now, put yourself in Martha's shoes. That'll be easy for all of you Type A folks. If you are not a Type A, try to think like one for a few moments! Jesus, whom she loved and respected and in whom she was looking for the long awaited Messiah, was visiting in HER home! She wanted Him to feel comfortable and be well-taken care of according to their societal customs. That meant, among other things, preparing a wonderful meal for Him and those who traveled with Him. And she found herself in the kitchen without any help - especially from her sister, Mary!

Verse 40 says, "But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.' "

 Oh my goodness!!! At first reading, I want to say, "Oh, Martha, just hush up!" Then  I read on...

But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." vv. 21-42

As I read it over and over, I realized that there is a great lesson there, and Jesus took that teachable moment to instruct all of us.

Let's look at what distracted Martha...It was serving the Lord! Serving the Lord is a GOOD thing! Desiring to honor Him with our very best is what is asked of us. Because of Martha's personality and her love for Jesus, we know she wanted that supper to be the very best - from the food served to the tiniest of details.

I, like many others, are so like Martha! I remember when Garry's parents were coming to our home for dinner for the first time after we married. I wanted everything to be just right! I cleaned, vaccumed, and dusted the entire house. The bathroom was spotless. And I toiled over preparing the food because I wanted it to be perfect! These were my new inlaws...I didn't want them thinking their son had made a huge mistake!

So I can emphathize with Martha. I feel her stress at wanting things to be a certain way. I can also understand her thinking Mary ought to be in the kitchen helping her out! She was a bit ticked with her sister.

But I don't know that I would have walked up to Jesus and tattled on her! I've always looked at Martha's action as being a bit arrogant, but perhaps it wasn't arrogance but a level of comfort.

Usually, I will only be very frank with someone I feel extremely comfortable with, and I am usually the most comfortable around people with whom I have a good relationship. Thus, I believe Martha was so comfortable with Jesus and knew Him so well, that she felt she could pour out her feelings to Him - even if those feelings were those of frustration. Wow!

Am I that comfortable with Jesus?

From this brief glimpse into the living room of this family, we learn two important truths.

1. We can get so busy doing good things, including serving the Lord through ministry, that we get distracted from listening to Him. That's what Jesus meant when He said Mary had chosen the "good part." Mary had stopped her "doing" in order to listen to Him. "Marthas" can do and do and do all night long, but they will eventually run out of spiritual energy. There are people all around us who do so much without refilling themselves that they "burn out" or end up frustrated or angry. Fertile ground for Satan to plant seeds of discontent. We need to take time to sit at the feet of Jesus and be fed.
2. We need to be so comfortable with Jesus, that we can share our heart feelings with Him. That's how I see Martha's relationship with Jesus. That relationship was played out again in John 11:21 when she ran out to meet Jesus and told Him that if He had come when she called, Lazarus would not have died! She knew Him so well that she could share her heart. But she also loved Him so much that she always listened to His answer. They had that kind of interpersonal communication.

I guess you have surmised by now that I am "preaching to the choir!" It has taken me almost a month and a half to write this one post because I've been so busy "doing" and not spending enough time "sitting." All those things have been good things, but they would have better honored Him if I had spent more time sitting at His feet before I got so busy.

I want to be a Martha in the sense that I have a close, intimate relationship with the Lord, and I want to be a Mary in the sense that I take time to sit at His feet and listen to what He wants to say to me. All of that to conclude that I need to have a "Mary" heart in a "Martha" world. I need to "sit" before I "do."