Today's title verse is Jesus in a home at the invitation of a woman named Martha. Interestingly we are not told whether or not Martha knew Jesus was coming and so she had made preparations, or did she listen to Jesus when He was in her village and and spontaneous asked Him to dine at her home. From the events that happened I am inclined to believe the latter to be true.
Martha had a sister who was also in the home and her name was Mary. We read about Mary in Luke 10:39 NLT; "Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what He taught." Clearly Mary's focus was not what could she do for Christ, but rather she desired to drink deeply of Jesus' teachings, she was hanging on to every word that fell from His lips. Mary was seizing the moment, Jesus was in her home and she would not be distracted from Him! I can just picture Mary, on the floor, legs tucked beside her, eyes focused like lasers on this amazing Teacher. She would not be denied time with Him.
On the other hand what was Martha doing? Luke 10:40 NLT; "But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." In fairness to Martha, she lived in a culture where when you invited someone in who was traveling you were to feed them, give them something to drink and offer accommodations if they were not traveling on that day. But Martha was distracted by all of the preparations, of the meal she herself had planned. And not only distracted she was angry that her sister was sitting at Jesus feet, so angry was Martha that she interrupted Jesus teaching and asked Him to tell Mary to go help her!
I've heard the teachings on this story and they always excuse Martha's actions saying that she obviously had the spiritual gift of service. Sounds good but Jesus had not yet been crucified, or resurrected and the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent and He gives the spiritual gifts. So we can say Martha wanted to do something for her guest, so of course she chose to feed Him! What she didn't realize was the Man talking in her home was The Bread of Life. He was feeding Mary and she was savoring every morsel, sweeter than honey were His words! Martha was so intent on dinner preparations that she missed what she could have had. She too could listen to Jesus and still feed Him afterwards. She can always cook, she might never again have Jesus Christ in her own home.
How did Jesus react to Martha's request, was He on her side? Did He order Mary to go help Martha? Here is what He said in Luke 10:41-42 NLT; "But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." Wow!
Okay, life application? Jesus is not passing through our village any time soon but we can certainly see how it applies to us in 2012. What distractions in my life are keeping me from sitting at the feet of Jesus and hanging on His every word? Distractions could be good things, such as preparing dinner for a guest. But how can food for the body ever compete against food for the soul? The answer is obvious. On one occasion Jesus' disciples asked Him in John 4:31-32 NASB; "Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But He said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about." Jesus was not referring to food for the body, He was doing kingdom work with the woman at the well, His soul was fed in that. We must not allow the temporal things of earth no matter how appealing, to distract us from eternal kingdom work. That includes spending so much time on serving God, that there is no time left for spending time with God!
Jesus rebuked Martha for being worried and upset over things that don't even matter. Now there is a life application if I ever heard one, Jesus said there is only one thing worth being concerned about, and Mary found it, she was sitting at His feet. That was the lesson of Matthew 6:25-33; Jesus said quit worrying about what are you going to eat, or wear, your heavenly Father knows you need those things, He will take care of those things. We are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness!
Do we ever get distracted, and worry and get upset over things that don't even matter? Then we can resolve this day to keep the first thing first, Jesus and His word and He will take care off all those "things" in our lives that rob our time with Him.
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