In preparation for Easter this Sunday, over the next six days we will be looking at Jesus’ life and celebrating his transformative impact in the lives of people across the generations. We will be highlighting key interactions which Jesus had with people during his earthly ministry – culminating in His glorious passion and resurrection. Today, we begin by looking at the story of Jesus encountering Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42.
A Tale of Two Sisters
While traveling with his disciples, Jesus stops by the home of Martha and Mary, a family which is incredibly dear to him. Martha welcomes him and begins to wait on him hand and foot. Mary, however, does not lift a finger – instead she reclines by Jesus’ feet, listening intently to every word. Martha sees her sister sitting by Jesus and becomes indignant with both of them. In her understandable frustration and frantic busyness, she cries out to Jesus: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40).
The phrase: ‘Lord, don’t you care?’ can lurk in the back of our minds in the midst of difficulties. When hardship comes, we expect God to intervene and change our situation. Frustration grows when we fail to receive reprieve – or moreover, when we do not see God’s hand in our lives. Yet, as Jesus both promises and demonstrates, the Lord will always be near and as such, His grace and empowerment are always on offer to us.
The better Portion
One would naturally expect Jesus to reassure Martha and to admonish Mary to assist her sister. However, as we will explore over the course of the next few days, Jesus has a habit of throwing conventional expectations out of the window. Instead of rebuking Mary, he points to her as an example:
‘Martha, Martha […], 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.
Jesus shows us that the best and in fact, the most important thing we can do is to spend time with him and receive from him. He states that Martha is “worried and upset about many things”, resulting in her losing focus on Jesus. In so doing, she placed doing above being with him. In the midst of busyness and stress, it is easy to lose focus on Jesus and thereby fail to see what he is offering us. The “good portion” on offer for us is himself – as he is full of grace, truth and compassion.
Jesus not only embodies peace but through relationship with Him, He pours His peace into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. As Mary sat at her rabbi’s feet in a posture of reverence and dependence on his words, so too are we called to direct our focus to Jesus. We are able to receive from Him through His word and His Holy Spirit. As the Spirit of truth, He assures us of the trustworthiness of Jesus’ promises and words by pouring out His love and peace into our hearts. All of this is because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, which enables us to enter into relationship with Him when we place our trust in Him.
Embracing this season
Jesus’ diagnosis of Martha’s issues was getting preoccupied with doing and worrying about things – whether good or bad – instead of embracing and prioritising relationship with Him. As we are currently in lockdown, and are thereby forced to take things at a much slower pace, let us make the most of this time by embracing Jesus – turning our eyes upon Him, His finished work on the cross and His promises for a Kingdom to Come.
We understand that for many, this can also be a stressful time at home – whether it be the forced ‘confinement’ with family members or possibly the strain of not being able to work. In the midst of the storm, Jesus remains the Prince of Peace who is near. Draw near to him, and His peace will abound to you.