Ninth: Martha, Oh Martha, isn’t the Briyani ready yet?

One thing is needful

Luke 10

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. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

(Credit: The HTML Bible)

This is somewhat disturbing.

Here is Martha hustling and bustling, doing this, that and the other – all in the service of her beloved Master and His disciples – and what does she get in return?

Forget words of commendation; the Lord actually seems to be ticking her off, reprimanding her. On the other hand, the seemingly indolent and inconsiderate Mary comes away smelling of roses! Look at her smug face!

Oh, the injustices of life!

This was certainly not the response Martha expected when she brought the matter to Jesus’s attention. She was doing the right thing, wasn’t she? There was a problem in her perception and she promptly apprised the Master of it and sought a solution – an approach quite biblical.

Yes, Jesus’s response seems rude. But could Jesus have been really so callous and indifferent to Martha’s exertions? I don’t think such was His attitude at all. True, there is nothing in this passage to suggest that Jesus “patted Martha on the back, praised her housekeeping skills and looked forward to savouring her culinary delights” as it were, but I imagine He was doing just that when He ever so tenderly addressed her by name twice and went on to acknowledge her legitimate concerns and labour of love (v 41).

Having done that, He makes use of the occasion to teach a higher order truth, as was His wont. Time and again in the Bible, we see Him elevating us into a higher plane, taking off from the mundane incidents of everyday life. Check out John 4, the story of the Samaritan woman for another such instance.

The point that Jesus is driving home, I think, is that it is vitally important to be close to Him. More than anything you might do for Him. Now such a closeness points to several things. For instance:

Realization and recognition of being in the presence of a divine being.

Love and adoration of someone worthy of all praise and honour

Submission: Surrender of self and its carefully drawn up agenda.

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It was Martha who first received Jesus into her Bethany home which she shared with her sister Mary and brother Lazarus (Luke 10:38) but it is not clear if she realized early on that Jesus was Son of God.

If you know that you are in the very presence of God the maker of heaven and earth, the only reasonable position you can take is to fall down and worship Him. Listen to the call in Psalm 95:6 “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker”. John Ch.4, cited earlier, contains a similar truth:”If only you knew who your interlocutor is….” (V 10) as does the episode of the Burning Bush in the story of Moses in Exodus Ch.3.

Quite often, this is our problem too. We fail to recognize Jesus for who He is – King of glory, Lord of lords and God of gods. And consequently miss out on worship. David talks about this aspect in an earlier instance too. In Psalm 2 we read: “serve Him with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son…”. As one can expect, Paul definitely has something to say on this subject (as on many others!): “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col 2:9)

Martha certainly set much store by Jesus’s praise, but what did she take Him to be?

Inadequate knowledge, incomplete understanding: that was Martha’s problem. She regarded Jesus, respected Him, and even served Him, but somewhere along the way, she missed the point of it all. Worship didn’t seem to occur to her.

In a multi-faith society such as ours, there are many who accord Jesus a high position but don’t see Him as the one true God.

Mary did.

It is not the best time to be mopping the floor or lighting the stove, when God is holding court in the drawing room. You’d better be there, with Him.

Mary was.

Everything needs to be put aside, for a place by His side.

Mary got it right.

While both the sisters loved Jesus, it was Mary who was the more demonstrative. It was she who anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped them with her hair (John 12:3). Though varying in some details, other gospel accounts of this incident (Luke 7:37, Mark 14:3, Matthew 26:7) – specifically Luke’s – describe her as a sinner. Luke also goes on to record Jesus as saying that “her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Is there is something here of a sinner-saviour relationship that Martha didn’t enjoy?

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Then again, this is a classic incident that brings the work / worship contrast to the fore.

Martha laboring. Mary lounging.

If you are lounging at Jesus’s feet, make sure it is out of love that springs from experiencing forgiveness.

Not laziness.

Not from a mischievous desire to shirk work while others work their butts off.

Not from an “unholy” desire to appear “holier than thou” while leaving it to others to attend to practical matters!

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Do you hear an overtone of gentle chiding in Jesus’s words. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things”.

Martha had set an agenda for herself. Even though, it was a good agenda, it was her agenda. And it gave her a sense of self importance. Her complaint to Jesus smacks of self glorification. I am doing so much….

Far from giving up her agenda she seeks to impose it. She is even finding fault with Jesus Himself: “don’t you care?” Ahem. And orders Him: “tell her to help me”. A double ahem.

Is friendly familiarity making a thoughtless foray into divine domain? (Watch your words, old girl – you don’t know whom you are addressing !!)

Martha was so full of herself. I am doing this for Christ. The self comes to the fore.

Where you are in your relationship with God is more important than what you are doing for Him. There is at times a tendency to cover up the lack of a vibrant relationship by activities, as though the latter makes up for what is missing.

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Then again, unless you are close, you can’t listen. His words are life giving, transforming. Can we really afford to miss out on the opportunity of sitting at Jesus’s feet and drinking in His words?

We are surrounded more by Marthas than by Marys. We just need to look around to find examples. People doing things for Christ. Involved in a variety of ministries that engage them physically. But no time to tarry at His feet. No time to listen to Him quietly. No time to gaze on His face. Sometimes we are so task oriented, that we feel uncomfortable in the presence of Jesus.

We fidget. Keeping quiet is so very difficult for some!

When the word of God is spoken, they remove themselves physically. They go out.

We’ve all attended prayer meetings where certain people make it a habit to go about arranging the fellowship meal that follows just when the message begins. You always thought it will do them a world of good, if only they would listen to the Word. No, but they have things to mind. If it is not the food, it could be the transport for the speaker. If it is not that, it is that pressing business call.

All very important

All very necessary

But none of it can compare with the Word.

None of it of eternal value.

Yes, God’s word has the power to create, power to transform, power to grow, power to bear fruit – if it is received on good soil.

“Received” is the operative word.

But first one must listen.

I have seen it happen even in churches.

If people don’t actually take a smoke, coffee or a bio break when the sermon begins, they shut themselves out by turning off mentally and settle down to catch forty winks (self not excepted !!). Or, they occupy themselves otherwise. And here the mobile phone is a boon; it presents multiple possibilities. The more modern the gadget, the greater the options. And texting frees you from the tyranny of sound. You can thumb your way through a lot of work. Saves time, what?

It is important to remember that the word of God says: the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. (Hab.2:20).

And that includes your phone. “Switch off” is the better option but that may not apply to emergency folk. I am conscious of the fact that the mobile phones these days come loaded with the Bible, but still….As a gadget it is annoyingly distracting during a church service.

Granted, there may be mitigating circumstances if you know the preacher to be a well known……whatever !! .  But, no excuses. It is the House of God. You ought to respect the preacher as he is the messenger of God.

But damn it, here in this story, we are talking about Jesus Himself! And Martha, where is she? Conspicuous by her distance from the scene.

As long as we are away, we are in a zone of comfort. When we get close, we become vulnerable. Exposed. Open to the operation of His word. When you sit close to Jesus, your defences are liable to breakdown. You subject yourself to scrutiny. Remember the word that says: “Lest they  hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:27)

Let us not deny ourselves the chance to change, the chance for a life of higher order.

Let’s get close to Jesus.

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Shall we take another look at the text before us and consider if there are other points we can pick up?

Some corollaries, then.

1. If Martha had realized that Jesus was God, she wouldn’t have been “distracted”, as this narrative records.

Here, Martha was distracted by self assumed responsibilities. Even good things can distract. Note Jesus’s use of the comparative “better” for Mary, tacitly acknowledging that what Martha was doing was undoubtedly “good”. But clearly, it wasn’t the best.

What is distracting you from paying attention to Jesus?

2. Okay, there was indeed a problem. But was Martha’s approach right? It is obvious that she didn’t consult her sister. She was taking her for granted, and when Mary didn’t quite fall in line, she (Martha) was getting upset.

You could say, she could have prayed about this matter. But she did precisely  that in addressing Jesus, but as we saw before, it was more of a  demand that her will be done; no space was left for the will of God. She  stated the problem and the solution!

Is our prayer like that? Well meaning and all that, but are we  merely looking for Jesus’s  endorsement.

He might see the issue differently you know. He is God.

3. And why do we think that spending time with Jesus is not so satisfying than say, occupying ourselves with work or perhaps spending time in front of the television or the computer? Something is the matter if we don’t find the experience of being alone with Jesus (even in a crowd), enjoyable. For the word is clear: “you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Ps.16:11).

When that is going to be the business in heaven, why not start here?

Will you be delighted to accept the invitation for supping with Him or are you busy burnishing up excuses when the call comes?

Are your priorities so mixed up that something else seems more attractive? Some other scenes more enticing? Some other voices more compelling?

When a choice presents itself, can you answer like Simon Peter “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68)

What indeed can be more important that eternal life?

Consider the ending of Psalm 84. “Better is one day in your courts  than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God …”

While Martha was wearying herself with work, she was also paying a heavy opportunity cost. There was so much she could have learnt at Jesus’s feet.

4. She didn’t realize it, but Martha was trying to get her sister to move away from Jesus. Now that’s never a good idea. Anything, yes anything that keeps us away from Jesus is no good.

5. Martha, a bit of a control freak? It appears as though she was. Not only was she taking Mary for granted, what is more, she was trying to make her conform to her idea of service.

Don’t take people for granted. Especially your close relatives. They may not quite follow your methods. But like Mary, they may have got hold of Jesus (or the other way around). That’s the important thing.

Leave Mary alone. She will learn at her Master’s feet.

6. Note Jesus’s words: “Mary has chosen what is better”

It is up to us. Jesus is available. He is close. But we can choose not to be with Him. Martha wasn’t asked to come and sit by His side though the case for it couldn’t have been presented more compellingly.

Still, it was  a matter  of choice.

7. Jesus to Martha:”You are worried and upset”.

Obviously she didn’t know the hymn “What a friend we have in Jesus”!! With Jesus in such close proximity, there was no reason for her to be “cumbered with a load of care”. There is no place for worry where Jesus is present. They simply don’t mix.

8. The King James Version puts V42 of Luke 10 like this:” But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” And there are others verses that corroborate this truth. Matthew 13:45,46 “ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it”. To be sure, Paul isn’t far behind on the subject: “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8)

Yes, when we have Jesus, we have everything.

9. Time to touch on the title.

There is hardly any church Harvest Festival in South India, where the quality of Briyani gets discussed ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Well, these festivals may be more in the nature of a fête, but quite often the feast at the end dominates our thinking even in our fasting prayer meetings (speaking from experience, of course !). It is good to remember at these times that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”(Matthew 4:4)

Many a time, instead of our eating food, food is eating us…its preparation and distribution become all consuming.

Sure, Jesus enjoyed a good meal and washed it down with wine (Luke 7:34). And He does care about people going hungry (Mark 6:36,37). But it is reasonable to suppose that Briyani wasn’t on His mind in this instance. If need be, He could produce both bread and wine in abundance from nothing or very little that we offer.  On the other hand, it is also possible that you go 40 days and 40 nights without food and drink in His presence. Ask Moses. So either way, Martha needn’t have fretted.

Pray, what are we focused on?

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