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            “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 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.’ And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38-42 NKJ)

“Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” That line was originally used in the 70's hit TV show, The Brady Bunch. The character, Jan, was complaining that Marcia, her older sister, was getting all the attention at a party and got so upset that she whined, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"

Well, the Martha in our story is just a little steamed. Actually, she’s really ticked. And who could blame here? Sure, she’d been the one who’d invited the company over, but it wasn’t just her house. I mean, her sister could do a little something to help out, don’t you think? Instead, when Jesus arrived, she just sat there staring up at the guest as if it were the first time she’d ever seen the man. Truth is they’d practically grown up together.

And so Martha walked a little louder. Actually, it was pretty much close to stomping; she banged the pots a little more than necessary. Actually, a lot more than necessary; and she sighed a lot, and not little sighs either. These were full-blown asthmatic sighs that were not to be missed! For all of Martha’s drama, however, it was all seemingly overlooked as the guest continued to teach and Martha’s sister, Mary, sat mesmerized, hanging on his every word.

Mary and Martha were the sisters of Jesus’ good friend, Lazarus. And it appears from different gospel accounts that Jesus spent a fair amount of time at their home. On this particular occasion, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and Martha had invited him to come and stay with her family. When Jesus arrived, he apparently sat down and began to speak. Now, we don’t know if he was teaching, or if he was telling them about his trip, or just shootin’ the breeze. But whatever it was, Mary was soon mesmerized by his words, and sat at his feet savoring every one.

But it’d been Martha who’d invited Jesus into her home, and she was bound and determined that everything was going to be perfect. And so she began to fuss around, cleaning up and getting dinner ready. At first, it wasn’t too bad, but the longer she worked the more she began to resent the fact that her sister was just sitting there, doing nothing.

Finally, Martha couldn’t stand it any longer and blurted out something along the lines of, “Excuse me, but doesn’t anybody think that this might be just a tiny bit unfair: me playing Cinderella, while her highness here sits on her duff and does nothing?” Jesus responded by saying, essentially, “Martha, quit sweating the small stuff – and it’s all small stuff. Right now, Mary’s discovered what’s really important, and I’m not going to curb her enthusiasm.”

I wonder what Martha’s response was to that? It’s not recorded, but somehow I don’t think she said, “Oh, I’m soooo sorry Lord, my bad.” It was probably The Death Glare directed right at Mary: a calm, murderous look often coupled with a menacing posture, and always served with a deathly silence. The Death Glare is hard to pull off, but when it’s done right it can convey a depth of anger and potential violence that’s kinda scary.

So there we have it. Martha: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Now, the good is what made Martha, well ... Martha! “As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home.” As believers, the Spirit has blessed us with certain spiritual gifts: gifts that are given to each believer for the building up of the Kingdom. Gifts like prophecy, teaching and leadership, to name a few. But right smack-dab in the middle of the listing of all these spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6-8) is the gift of hospitality, or entertaining. A very valid and important gift.

Martha was aware of her gift, and she was willing to put it to use. She was one of those people whose home’s always open. But as believers, one of the most frustrating things in life is trying to do things for which we are not gifted – kind of like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. And for the church to function at its optimum, each believer has to be exercising his or her spiritual gifts. Paul uses the analogy of the body, time and time again, to describe the church. And for a body to operate the way it was designed, each element has to do the work it was designed to do. You know, the nose smells; the eyes see; the ears hear; the gallbladder … ugh, etc.

That’s the way it’s supposed to work. However, if it doesn’t, then another has to pick up the slack. For instance, the blind may have a heightened sense of hearing or smell to help offset their inability to see. Here, Martha knew her spiritual gift and was willing to put it to work. But like everything in life, balance can sometimes be hard to achieve, and it’s while Martha is exercising her spiritual gift that she goes from “The Good” Martha to “The Bad” Martha.

“Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing.” Martha had at least an elementary grasp of who Jesus was because she called him “Lord,” and identified him as being a teacher, or a Rabbi. And we don’t have to look too far through the gospels to discover that Martha and her siblings were friends of Jesus.

But sometimes I wonder why she invited him to their house in the first place. Was it just to eat, or had she invited him to come over so she could enjoy his company and hear what he had to say? I’d guess it was the latter. I mean, if she just wanted to provide Jesus with a meal, she could’ve simply given him some money and sent him to the local McDonalds drive-through on his way to Jerusalem. But as so often happens, in an attempt to be the best hostess she can be, to provide the cleanest possible house, and to make the best meal she could, Martha neglected the very reason why she was doing it.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever invited company over and by the time the evening’s gone, the dishes are done and the kitchen’s cleaned up, you realize that you didn’t get to spend any time with your guests? Martha was so caught up in serving Jesus that she didn’t take the time to know Jesus. And this isn’t a kitchen phenomenon. We can take course after course, read book after book, go to seminar after seminar, or attend church service after church service and never take the time to actually sit at Jesus’ feet and build a relationship. Truthfully, Jesus would probably have been just as happy with a PB&J and Martha’s company than the fancy meal she was so busy prepping.

What is it that distracts you from getting to know Jesus better? What’s keeping you from having the relationship with Jesus that you would really like to have? What would it take for you to slow down and sit at His feet and listen to what He has to say?

But the “bad” wasn’t bad enough.

It doesn’t take long before Martha, the “hostess with the mostess,” notices that she’s doing all the work – which is what Martha likely wanted, but on her own terms. You know, there’s a big difference between doing everything after someone has offered to help and you’ve turned them down, versus doing everything when nobody even bothered to offer. So, it appears that Mary hadn’t even offered, preferring to plop down at Jesus’ feet and listen to what he had to say. Martha, for her part, of course, was not the least bit impressed.

But maybe that’s not altogether true. Look at Luke 10:39, again. “And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.” Did you catch that? “Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet.” In other words, in addition to sitting at Jesus’ feet, Mary had done, or was doing, something else. Like what? Like maybe helping Martha in the kitchen before Jesus got there! In other words, maybe Mary had been helping earlier and, now that the guest had arrived, she took the time to be with Jesus in addition to her other responsibilities. Martha, on the other hand, tended to her responsibilities and didn’t make time for Jesus because the meal was just so much more important!

Regardless, this is where things get “Ugly.” “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.” Now, if you’ll just close your eyes, you can almost picture her standing there, a towel over one shoulder, a smudge of flour on her nose, her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. Fast. She’s not a happy camper.

But a couple of warnings here. First, Martha was insisting that Mary share her spiritual gift. I mean after all, if she (Martha) had the gift of hospitality, then everyone should have the gift of hospitality. But that isn’t the way it works. How often do we get caught up thinking that way. Especially with gifts like mercy, or prayer. We say, “If I can pray for four hours then everyone ought to be able to pray for four hours.” Or, “There’s nothing I love more than making hospital calls, and everyone should feel that way.”

Second, Martha allowed herself to be consumed by bitterness. You will never, ever be held responsible for another believer’s behavior, but you will always be responsible for your own. You see, Martha wasn’t responsible for what Mary was or wasn’t doing. But when Martha allowed envy to rear its head, she became responsible for her envious nature. I don’t think it was so much that Martha wished that Mary would do what she was doing. I think it was more like Martha was envious of what Mary was doing. However, instead of asking herself, “Why am I not doing that?” she found it easier to attack Mary, not for what she was doing (I mean, how can you condemn a person for listening to Jesus?) but, instead, for what she wasn’t doing.

But even that wasn’t the real issue. And Jesus recognized it. Listen to what he says: “But the Lord said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

What was the one thing that Mary had discovered that Martha hadn’t? I don’t know, it doesn’t tell us. But I have the sneaking suspicion that it may have had something to do with Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

So, are you busy about Jesus, or just busy?

Grace,

Randy