Most of us have heard the story of Mary and Martha many times. We have sat through many sermons, maybe looked at it in a Bible study and may have even read a book about it. Let's sum it up for those who don't remember.
Jesus was visiting the home of his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. While he was teaching, the two ladies took up two very different positions. Martha was the oldest woman in the house so she took up the traditional position of hostess and was occupied in the kitchen with meal preparation for their guests. Mary should have been assisting her big sister but she took up an unfamiliar position.
As a woman at this time it was demanded of Mary that she be in the kitchen with her sister. According to the Pharisees it was illegal to teach a woman the Torah. But here we find Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening, learning and being taught. This is when tradition reared its ugly head and attacked the unfamiliar position and it tried to involve Jesus. Much to Martha's shock Jesus lifted up Mary's position and told tradition that Mary had made the better choice.
Now what do we do with this? Most of us have some of the Martha attitude. We like to be busy doing things. We like work. We were actually made for work and feel much better when we are doing it. So what if we have a Martha spirit and a Mary desire? How do we deal with this tension considering how much value churches put on doers?
When Jesus told Martha that Mary had made the better choice he was not condemning work. Instead he was demonstrating the order of position. We are told through Scripture that our actions matter. We are told to be doers of the Word. We are told love is not love without action. So work is not the problem but the root can be. Look at what Paul wrote to Timothy:
"Consider carefully all that I've taught you, and may our Lord inspire you with wisdom and revelation in everything you say and do. But make Jesus, the Anointed One, your focus in life and ministry." 2 Timothy 2:7-8 TPT
Work is not the problem, our position is. We are meant to always be in a position of relationship, a position of receiving, a position of student, of growth, of maturing. It is a position where we keep Jesus as our focus, our center, our raison d'etre, our First Love. Now we can say that he is all that and more to us but our actual position will reveal if he is.
Most of us have the desire of Mary but we act on the habits and traditions of Martha. We do everything in his name but not necessarily from a First Love relationship. You know what I mean. We get in the habit of doing, responding and working according to the needs of others but he has called us, not to strive, but to rest. It is in this position of rest that he is able to work through us. It is in this position of rest that we hear his voice and know his heart. It is in this rest that we are able to follow his instructions and from the overflow of this relationship the Kingdom advances.
There is a big difference in work that is done from a position of rest and work that is done from a position of work. What we do for the Lord will always fall short of what the Lord wants to do through us. His work through us will never exhaust us and will produce fruit beyond our imagining. It takes a mindset of surrender to remain in this position of rest.
When we can go days or weeks without talking to Jesus or hearing from him then we have slipped from position. When our day's schedule is filled with his work and not his relationship then we have slipped from position. When being industrious becomes our measuring rod instead of being like the King, we have slipped from position. Being a Martha is not the problem. The problem is being a Martha without Mary's position.
If we are finding ourselves in a place of striving, in a place of "stressed out" from doing, a position of exhaustion then we are walking in Martha's footsteps, serving from our own strength instead of the King's. That does not honour him. We are suppose to steward our calling and ministry better than that. Make Jesus your focus in life and ministry. In this way you will honour your King, honour yourself and honour your neighbour. Martha, may the Lord open open your heart to receive this.
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