This world puts so many demands on our time. We’ve got to mow our yards and keep them up. We like to have flowers to help break up the monotonous greenery around the house. We need gas for the mower, oil filters, air filters. The same for the cars.
We have health needs – eye glasses, hearing-aids, dental work, medication, doctors visits and hospital stays from time to time. So, we need money. Lots and lots of money. So we have to work. 40 hours a week. Maybe 50. Maybe 60. We have to work. But work takes a lot out of us.
Work demands time and energy, brain power and focus. Five days a week. Sometimes six days a week, maybe seven. Do you want to exercise? Where will you find time for it? Do you want to read your Bible? When will you find time for it? Do you want to pray? When will you do that?
How can you be a strong, faithful Christian in this ungodly, sinful world? We’re meditating on the examples of Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42…
WHAT IS A “MARTHA WORLD”? – vs 40
Perhaps Martha was oldest, since she is mentioned first. It’s also referred to as “her home.” She was not apathetic to spiritual concerns. She was just extra concerned about the house and especially, feeding the preacher! We like to go into homes that are all decorated and spotless and everything is in its place.
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Martha lived in what some of us call the “real world”! There was dusting to be done and sweeping that needed to be done. Plus, there’s a visitor in the house: the Son of God of all people! Martha knew that you had to entertain visitors. She knew the story of Abraham and his guests. She knew hospitality was expected of her. The Greek word for “hospitality” literally means “lover of strangers.” Jesus wasn’t a stranger but He was a guest and He needed to be served.
The key word in this verse is “distracted.” Martha was “distracted.” This word means “pulled or dragged away.” That suggests that Martha wanted to be where Mary was. A “Martha” doesn’t always neglect to learn either. It was Martha who had the exchange with Jesus in John 11 relative to the resurrection of Lazarus. She said she believed whatever Jesus asked of the Father, it would be done (John 11:22). She said she believed in the resurrection of the last day (11:24). She said she believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world (11:27).
But on this occasion, Martha’s heart, Martha’s world made demands on her time and energy and she was pulled away from listening to Christ. Then she was upset that Mary wasn’t helping her. Is there a difference between ministering to guests and neglecting to associate with them? Could Martha have simply sat and listened to Jesus and then at a break in the learning, have said, “Hey, Listen. Jesus, if you’ll peel some potatoes, I’ll fry the chicken.” But Martha didn’t do that. She wanted Mary to quit listening and start helping. She was sulky toward Mary and toward Jesus for not making Mary help. There is an interesting contrast between Martha – who tells Jesus what He ought to say and Mary who listens to what Jesus wants to say.
Listen to the mild rebuke in Martha’s question to Jesus: “Lord, do you not care?” “Martha’s diagnosis of the problem is too much work and too few hands, but Jesus disagrees. Troubled by worries aroused by a preoccupation with the practical affairs of life (even if these concern hospitality to the messenger of the kingdom of God), Martha has been seduced away from the kind of trustful preoccupation with the kingdom of God that should be the orientation of the faithful disciple” (Nolland, II:602).
But Jesus, as usual, doesn’t have the same perspective that we have. How can you have a “Mary” heart in a “Martha” world? Listen to Jesus… Tomorrow we’ll examine His response.
–Paul Holland
