The story is a famous one from the gospel of Luke where Jesus drops by the house of Mary and Martha. According to some scholars, he may have dropped by with up to 70 other people. While Jesus sat in the Living Room teaching, Mary sat at his feet. As her sister, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, Martha was scurrying about to make preparations for the meal. She gets a little testy and goes to Jesus and complains about her sister's lack of care in this situation.
Now, many people that I talk to are in the SAME boat as me...they wonder just HOW the work would get done if the hostesses BOTH sat down. They did, however, have to eat, right?
I just finished chapter four and think that Weaver agrees with this. It's not that the service was wrong, it was that Martha was worried and couldn't stop and sit still for a moment at the feet of Jesus.
Weaver notes that in that day it was certainly expected that women would make all the preparations. It certainly wasn't that Martha didn't LOVE Jesus, she DID invite him into her home. But Jesus sensed her worry when he said, "Martha, you're worried about many things, but only one thing is needed." His note would have surprised the men in the room, because he was inviting her to take a seat with her sister at his feet. He was inviting her to rest and to know him.
This chapter ended with a BIG ah-hah for me. We ARE surrounded by legitimate needs and legitimate areas of service. When you have a Martha personality, it's your nature to jump up when no one else will and say, "I'll do it." We might even do it well...but it's not what God wants us to do.
Weaver says...
while there are manythings that need to be done, things I'm capable of and want to do, I am not always the one to do them. Even if I have a burden for a certain need or project, my interest or concern is not a surefire sign that I need to be in charge. God may only be calling me to pray that the right person will rise up to accomplish it. What's more, I may be stealing someone else's blessing when I assume I must do it all.
Interesting, isn't it? Weaver quotes Charles Spurgeon who wrote:
"Her fault was not that she served. The condition of a servant well becomes every Christian. Her fault was that she grew 'cumbered with much serving' so that she forgot him and only remembered the service."
May we all choose "one thing" that is needed today and not bite off more than we can (or we SHOULD) chew!
3 comments:
I am a Martha too and as I am getting older I am TRYING to learn that I need more of a Mary personality to come up to the surface!! But that old Martha comes creeping back in. I miss out on things when I go running off to get things done. You have a good post today!! Thanks for sharing it with we MARTHA women....
I used to have no problem being Mary, before I became a wife and mother (especially a mother). I don't even think I'm that busy, but I think I spend my time with alot of fluff, and then I'm exhausted.
Thanks for the reminder to sit, be still and know...
:)
Can't wait to get into this book.
Great wisdom here....I should have read this before I signed up to wash band uniforms;-) If you have time, go over to Framework of the Heart.....she has a great post about taking time to stop and breathe and take in God's beauty....which she has captured, as usual, quite well;-)
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