“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 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!” “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 ‭10‬:‭38‬-‭42‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How often we read into Jesus’ rebuke a comparison between the two sisters, Martha and Mary.  Martha was wrong…Mary was right! Was this fair? After all, someone had to prepare lunch…Middle Eastern culture demanded hospitality…and for an extra thirteen people that day. This was no small task to accomplish in a few hours. 

What was the real issue? Was it about preparing a meal or was it about something else? 

I am a lay person. I look at this situation from my 21st century western perspective. How do I read Jesus’ words? 

Let’s look at it this way. Martha was the practical sister. She was about doing things. Her way of exercising her spiritual gift, if you like, was to prepare a meal for her guests. However, in this situation, her task was overwhelming. She needed help. Her attitude changed from the joy of serving to resentment towards Mary for not helping her. Her spiritual gift lost its purpose, now no longer a ministry but a burden and the cause for a rift between her and Mary. She was, in effect, demanding that Mary participate in the exercise of her gift. 

Even worse, Martha dragged Jesus into her resentment against  Mary’s “selfishness”. Jesus also didn’t care about her distress! Both Jesus and Mary were inconsiderate and indifferent to her suffering!

Can you see the issue? For Martha, this was about “me…me…me!” Herself – her preoccupation had intruded into her supposedly unselfish serving. Her song had morphed into a whine! 

Jesus recognised, in her attitude, a subtle shift from serving others to preserving herself. Her preoccupation with the burden of the task, becoming stressed and anxious, robbed her of the true purpose of serving. 

With a gentle rebuke, Jesus pulled Martha back to the real issue. Mary, the younger sister, was not Martha’s servant. She was a person in her own right, with a personality and gifts unique to herself. She had chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet, considering His words of greater value than preparing a meal. This was her way of serving, her way of using her “spiritual gift”.  Perhaps a time would come when she would use the wisdom she gained at His feet to lift her own sister or someone else out of a difficult situation or a wrong attitude. 

Jesus was not by any means downgrading Martha’s service. Her gift was as valuable as Mary’s. However, her stress and resentment had taken the shine off her ministry. With the right attitude, Maths’s meal would benefit Mary and Mary’s listening and learning would benefit Martha as they lovingly served one another in the same household. 

There may be other lessons in this incident that we, as followers of Jesus need to learn. For example, we must not think that what Mary had chosen to do, to nourish her soul, was of greater value than Martha’s ministry of feeding her body. Yes, both are of equal value. Without food, the body will die just as without truth, the soul will wither. Spiritual gifts are never meant to be about competition. Each one is of value as it blends with others to form a mosaic. 

I find another important truth in this story. Jesus, in a roundabout way, pointed out that everyone has the right to make his/her own choices. He refused to put pressure on Mary, at Martha’s insistence, to leave her place at His feet to help Martha. Although He was Master, He would not use His own position to influence Mary. If Jesus, the Son of God, respects everyone’s right to choose, how much more should we!

An everyday story, told with simplicity, reveals many lessons that guide us towards maturity as we, God’s spiritual family, learn to do life together. 

To be continued…