2024_08_05 Insight Post- Kim Feld
This week’s reading- Luke 10:38-41, John 11, John 12:1-3
As a doer, I have always struggled with how Martha is often viewed. The first portion of our reading introduces her as the sister of Mary. In John 11, we learn that Lazarus is Martha’s brother. Luke 10 tells us that Martha invites Jesus into her home but then becomes frustrated that she is doing all the work. At the same time, her sister, Mary, sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching. (Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet and being taught is extraordinary as women were not usually allowed to do that during those days, but our focus this week is on Martha.)
Can you relate to Martha’s dilemma? She has a lot of hungry travelers to feed, which requires a lot of food to be prepared! Meanwhile, her sister, the logical one to help her, sits listening to Jesus! Can you feel the tension? Martha would probably have liked to be sitting with Mary, but she felt what she perceived as the demands of being a good hostess. Martha appeals to Jesus’ sense of fairness; she wants Him to tell Mary to come and help. But He doesn’t. Instead, He tells her Mary has made the right choice. And Luke leaves us hanging by not telling us what happened next!
The big picture of this story is that Martha has allowed her worry and concern over preparing the meal and making her guests comfortable to overshadow the fact that Jesus is in her home. He should be the priority. I see that as the big takeaway, but we risk not gleaning all we can from this story if we stop there.
It seems to be human nature that when we are crazy busy, we automatically look around to see what others around us are doing. “Why am I so busy, and he or she gets to (fill in the blank)?” “It’s unfair that I’m working this hard, and everyone else can slack off, take time off, etc.” Does this sound familiar? It sure does to me. It’s easy for bitterness to creep in, and then look out when this happens! We don’t tend to keep that to ourselves. Let’s take a look at Hebrews 12:15 (NLT):
15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Bitterness is described here as a poison that causes problems for you AND those around you. Let’s go back to the “crazy busy scenario” from above. Do you keep these big why questions to yourself? Maybe. But it’s more likely that you share them with someone else because you want to be validated. We want someone to say, “Hey, you’re right! That’s not fair!”
Don’t get me wrong; sometimes situations are unfair, and some work just has to be done, which is why I resonate with Martha about feeling the demand to work. I imagine she felt slighted and abandoned by her sister—I would have likely felt that way. But Jesus isn’t reprimanding her for being a worker. He’s pointing out that she is missing the big picture and losing heart because of her worry over the details.
Does that resonate with you today? Are you so overwhelmed by your to-do list that bitterness is creeping in? Don’t lose sight of the big picture. Ask God to help you determine your priorities while keeping Him first and loving people well. I’m working on this right alongside you!
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach