Continuing from last time, Vicki shares her thought for the week; Martha wasn’t wrong.
In my last Thought for the Week, I talked about how in the chaos, if we are still as Mary Magdalene was, that’s when we give Jesus space to come to us, guide us, help us, and steady us. I gave some other examples in the Bible about other times when people have been still and I realised that I didn’t mention Mary and Martha and how Mary had been the one who was still and really just spent time with Jesus. It’s been weighing on my mind why didn’t I mention Mary because surely she’s the perfect example of somebody who just seeks Jesus?
I looked at the passage again and something struck me, it said that when Martha had been busy preparing and doing lots of things awaiting for Jesus to arrive, she complains to Jesus and said that Mary is not helping at all. Jesus says to her:
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:41-42
It struck me that Jesus doesn’t actually tell Martha that what she’s doing is wrong, he doesn’t rebuke her for being busy, he doesn’t rebuke her for wanting to show her acknowledgement of Jesus’s value and his worth and his importance, he does mention that when he’s there we should take note of him and be still with him. but he doesn’t rebuke her for being busy for him.
I started to think about other times in the Bible actually where actually it mentions being busy and in actual fact, one of the ones that I was drawn to is at the end of Matthew when Jesus ultimately gives the big command to be busy, he says:
Matthew 28:19
He doesn’t say “therefore sit still and they’ll come to you,” he says “go, be on the move, go and find them, go and tell them, be busy for me”! And then again in Matthew, perhaps as a forewarning, before he’s given the great commission, Jesus had said to his disciples when they were going through the towns and the villages:
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field
Matthew 9:36-38
So if we come back to Mary and Martha I think perhaps it was right that Mary and Martha weren’t mentioned in my last Thought For The Week because that was about being still and whilst Mary did the right thing it’s important that Martha was doing the right thing as well! It’s just that perhaps she didn’t know when to stop moving and being busy and when to be still and really it seems that Jesus is suggesting that we do need to find that right balance. There is a time to be still and to listen to Jesus but that’s not all we’re asked to do, the Bible makes it clear that there is work for us to be doing, we are to be used by God and yes we do have to be listening to heed that direction and to to be guided as to how to be busy when to be busy and what to be busy with. But the Bible does tell us that we are to be busy, “the harvest is plenty but the workers are few”. So yes, we can be Mary and we can have times when we sit and we listen to Jesus, but it’s important that we don’t become fearful of being Martha, that we don’t become unwilling to put that work in and be unwilling to do the work that is asked of us.
So a challenge for you for this week is to think about what takes up your time, what are the things that you are busy with? Is there a time when perhaps you were busy sitting with Jesus and you missed that prompting, you missed that little nudge to say right now go? Try to find that balance; are we spending that time with Jesus – yes that’s important, but what are we busy for and are we busy at the right times for the right things?
Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.