Don’t forget to be like Martha

There is a beautiful story in the book of Luke. In Luke 10:38-42, we have a scene set in Bethany. Jesus and the boys have stopped by to visit a good friend, Lazarus, and his sisters Martha and Mary. As Martha gets supper ready, Mary sits and listens to Jesus with the rest of the guests.

Martha becomes a bit irate and asks Jesus to send Mary in to help. Really, it’s a big job to get a nice meal together for 13 extra people on short notice. Jesus tells Martha, in essence, to not worry about getting all of this done. There are only a few things needed, indeed only one, and Mary is getting what she needs.

Now, I feel like Martha gets the bad rap here. She is busy getting things together, she is busy trying to make the guests comfortable — and she is busy cooking. She is not sitting with the others to hear Jesus, or to just have some community. She is at work for the Lord. As I re-read this passage, I realized that Jesus did not invite Martha to stop and listen, instead He told her that Mary needed to hear what he had to say. This was no reflection on Martha — this was helping her put things in perspective.

There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work when a church does worship, or meets, or Bible study or youth. During worship, there is a lot of activity from the worship team and the children’s ministry. The folks that run this seem to never pay attention, but keep in mind, often they are called to another aspect of ministry.

In John, when Lazarus dies, we see the faith that Martha had. Her faith is a complete surrender to the will of the Christ. She recognized Christ as the Messiah and the Son of God. She knew whom she was entertaining on that day not so long ago. Thus, in that knowledge she was able to serve.

We need to make sure we have a balanced Mary and Martha spirit. We all need to sit at Jesus’ feet at times, but we don’t need to stay there. We all need to work for the kingdom, but we don’t need to limit it to just the work. God calls each of us to a different task at a different time. Your time of sitting at the Master’s feet, will not always be my time of sitting. God lets us know and we must be ready to sit or to prepare.

Mary was able to receive the better because Martha picked up the slack. Jesus only reminded Martha of Mary’s needs, not of Martha’s lack of faith. Martha would later pronounce her deep faith, and then put on another dinner party bigger than this one.

It’s okay to be Mary, but don’t forget to be Martha. We need them both.

Just a thought.

Shalom my friends. See you in church.

Rev. Kent Wilfong is the pastor at the United Methodist Church, Doniphan/Neelyville.