Tell Her
Luke 10:38-42 NKJ
38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Ever try to tell the Lord what to do? If we are honest, most all of us have given this a try. Lord, tell so and so. Or Lord, make so and so do, and you can fill in the blank. The only thing is, whenever I have tried that with the Lord, He always speaks to me about something I need to do. Martha tried to tell the Lord what to do, and it did not turn out the way she envisioned.
Martha had invited Jesus into her house. She was the sister of Lazarus, who Jesus would one day raise from the dead. Jesus was fond of Martha and Lazarus, and their sister Mary. When Jesus came to the house, He must have sat down to teach. We can ascertain this from the fact that Mary sat down at His feet and listened to Him.
Martha, on the other hand, was busy making something for everyone to eat. After all, why have someone to your house if you were not going to take care of them? Jesus was speaking. The Son of God, the most amazing person to ever show up in Israel, was sitting on her couch, sharing words that had to be full of the wisdom of God. Well, maybe not sitting on the couch, but sitting in her home and speaking. This is the man who spoke to thousands on the hillsides of Judea, and He is now in your living room sharing life-changing words. What a great opportunity for Martha and her siblings. What a valuable personal moment to hear from the Messiah, the chosen one of God. Martha had to feel valued and honored to have a personal time with the greatest teacher ever. But Martha did not feel valuable; she felt distracted.
Martha was caught up in serving, while Mary was not helping at all. Mary realized the importance of the situation and sat down at the feet of Jesus to hear His words. Sure, the norm for the day would be that Mary would be helping her sister while the men listened to Jesus teach. But Mary chose to go against the societal norms and soak in the words of the Master. Martha must have become frustrated with Mary’s obvious missing the importance of putting a good meal on the table. To the point that Martha finally spoke up and told the Lord to tell her sister to get with the program. But Martha also threw in the idea that Jesus did not care that she was having to serve alone. If the Lord cared, He would certainly make Mary get up and get busy.
Martha, Martha. I heard a friend say that when the Lord calls your name twice, you can bet some correction is coming your way. Jesus got to the root of the problem by declaring that Martha was worried and troubled about many things. Jesus didn’t elaborate, but Martha was evidently someone who could get wrapped around the axle over a vast number of situations, big and small. And Jesus did not offer help. Only that He recognized that Mary had understood what was most important, hearing His word, and made the right choice. And that choice was not going to be taken away from her.
Application
Jesus is not suggesting that serving is not important. But we get no indication that Jesus ever asked Martha to prepare a meal. And we can see that Jesus is not going to make someone do something. There is always the choice to obey. The choice to receive His words is always a good one. When it’s time to serve, we get busy. The Kingdom operates on people using their gifts to advance God’s will and plan. But there is also a time to put an emphasis on hearing God’s Word. This is how we grow and develop spiritually. Oh, and regardless of what we are doing, don’t ever assume that the Lord does not care about us. And don’t ever tell Him what to do.