Every so often as I read the bible I come across certain stories that just make me go "Huh? This writer must have misunderstood what the Holy Spirit told him to write!" I know you know what I am talking about. It's like I just don't get where God was going with some of His plans. Like the whole Abraham and Isaac thing? It totally escapes me. Usually I just skip those chapters and tell myself "God is incomprehensible. Who am I to question His ways?" and most of the times it works. This last week, however, I couldn't get away with that. I had to teach some children the bible lesson and if I was going to do a good job, I had to really understand the lesson myself. The story is that of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). It's odd how those 5 verses can cause me such serious inner turmoil. I'm not kidding. I have struggled with this lesson since the first time I read it.
At the Home of Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
So, here's poor Martha. She's decided to host the Son of God in her house and of course He rarely walks alone, so let's say that at a minimum there's 13 people in her house that she has to cater to. She's slaving away in the kitchen while her sister just chills with the guests. Martha, girl, I FEEL YOU! Anyway, Martha decides to ask Jesus to side with her and He instead commends Mary????? If I were Martha, they'd have had to get a doctor to come reattach my dropped jaw. Whaat? I'd have been like, Say whaaaaaaat?
I recently came to the conclusion that people are either Marys or Marthas. Marys are social butterflies and Marthas are the doers. We are the ones working in the background making sure everything runs smoothly. We get things done and run ourselves rugged trying to cater to other people's needs. We are efficient and practical. Most importantly, we do not get Marys. We feel that Marys are flitty little things who get away with not doing any of the work. Now, I know I'm completely making inferrences on the two ladies' characters based on 5 verses, but this has been my experience. Marthas hate having to work with Marys because Marys are way too busy laughing with the guests to refill the tea urn or collect dirty dishes. All the Marthas put there, I know you get me! How now, can it be that Jesus sided with Mary? If you are like me, you have been raised to be a good dutiful african daughter. That means when you check into a party, you greet people and then head straight to the kitchen to help the hostess with her work. It means that you do not sit with the guests if there is still work to be done. So to me, it's like Jesus was rebuking my culture too.
Well, the other day I found myself in the Mary and Martha situation. We were at aconference and, long story short, I was part of the hospitality team. As a consequence of many things going wrong, our team was short staffed and had to do everything including washing 600 dishes (yeah... ). Well, I found myself in the kitchen, in my lovely dress, elbow deep in dish washing water. It was a huge task, but I'm a Martha and so were some of my friends, so of course we got it all done. We were exhausted in the end but we had done it! The next day the situation was no better and half way through the day I remember looking around me and wondering where my three workmates were. Looking back I realised that in the past day and that day, they were only present during the serving times and then they would disappear into the conference. What nerve! Who did they think they were leaving us to slave away in the kitchen? My inner Martha was disgusted and felt used. Did they think they were too good to deal with clearing up and washing up? My thoughts went on and on along those lines. It was at that time that I remembered the lesson that I was meant to teach the children; they are Marys. It hit me really hard.
I was confronted with the reality of the situation at the end of the conference because I had not heard a single full lecture and had missed out on some great speeches. I had literally been to distracted to listen to Jesus. I had missed out on some spiritual nourishment and maybe failed to learn an important lesson. What a pity. I finally understood what is so wrong about being a Martha. I finally understood that Jesus calls us to listen to Him. Can you imagine that the King of Kings was here on earth and Martha missed out on interacting with him because she was in the kitchen! He was in her house and she was too busy to listen to the Son of God. What a serious pity. I don't know how to be a Mary and I realise that that's how I burnt out a few years ago. I was too distracted by all the service needs to sit down and get my spiritual nourishment.
Dear Marthas, I am new to this whole 'sit down and listen' thing, so I don't know how to do it, but we really do need to stop running around. It's not about being a good dutiful African daughter; you can go on helping the hostess at parties. However, when it comes to listening to God's word, BE STILL and enjoy His presence. We need to learn to ignore the dirty dishes; they can wait. The world will still revolve when you stop fixing all the problems. We are great as Marthas, but we do need to learn to be more like Mary. We Marthas are gifted with selflessness and service to others, but we forget to meet with the one who gave us those gifts. We neglect Him in our rush to save the world.
I'm glad I finally understood that lesson and I am not sure where to start when it comes to practicing it, but I am going to try to do so. For the sake of my relationship with God, I will put other distractions behind me. After all, He is the one who gives me strength to keep doing what I'm good at doing.
At the Home of Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
So, here's poor Martha. She's decided to host the Son of God in her house and of course He rarely walks alone, so let's say that at a minimum there's 13 people in her house that she has to cater to. She's slaving away in the kitchen while her sister just chills with the guests. Martha, girl, I FEEL YOU! Anyway, Martha decides to ask Jesus to side with her and He instead commends Mary????? If I were Martha, they'd have had to get a doctor to come reattach my dropped jaw. Whaat? I'd have been like, Say whaaaaaaat?
I recently came to the conclusion that people are either Marys or Marthas. Marys are social butterflies and Marthas are the doers. We are the ones working in the background making sure everything runs smoothly. We get things done and run ourselves rugged trying to cater to other people's needs. We are efficient and practical. Most importantly, we do not get Marys. We feel that Marys are flitty little things who get away with not doing any of the work. Now, I know I'm completely making inferrences on the two ladies' characters based on 5 verses, but this has been my experience. Marthas hate having to work with Marys because Marys are way too busy laughing with the guests to refill the tea urn or collect dirty dishes. All the Marthas put there, I know you get me! How now, can it be that Jesus sided with Mary? If you are like me, you have been raised to be a good dutiful african daughter. That means when you check into a party, you greet people and then head straight to the kitchen to help the hostess with her work. It means that you do not sit with the guests if there is still work to be done. So to me, it's like Jesus was rebuking my culture too.
I was confronted with the reality of the situation at the end of the conference because I had not heard a single full lecture and had missed out on some great speeches. I had literally been to distracted to listen to Jesus. I had missed out on some spiritual nourishment and maybe failed to learn an important lesson. What a pity. I finally understood what is so wrong about being a Martha. I finally understood that Jesus calls us to listen to Him. Can you imagine that the King of Kings was here on earth and Martha missed out on interacting with him because she was in the kitchen! He was in her house and she was too busy to listen to the Son of God. What a serious pity. I don't know how to be a Mary and I realise that that's how I burnt out a few years ago. I was too distracted by all the service needs to sit down and get my spiritual nourishment.
Dear Marthas, I am new to this whole 'sit down and listen' thing, so I don't know how to do it, but we really do need to stop running around. It's not about being a good dutiful African daughter; you can go on helping the hostess at parties. However, when it comes to listening to God's word, BE STILL and enjoy His presence. We need to learn to ignore the dirty dishes; they can wait. The world will still revolve when you stop fixing all the problems. We are great as Marthas, but we do need to learn to be more like Mary. We Marthas are gifted with selflessness and service to others, but we forget to meet with the one who gave us those gifts. We neglect Him in our rush to save the world.
I'm glad I finally understood that lesson and I am not sure where to start when it comes to practicing it, but I am going to try to do so. For the sake of my relationship with God, I will put other distractions behind me. After all, He is the one who gives me strength to keep doing what I'm good at doing.
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