Jump Start # 611

Luke 10:41 “But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Dear ole’ Martha, I just love her to death. I’ve known a few in life whose name was Martha. I can’t say their name without saying it the way Jesus did, “Martha, Martha.” Martha gets a lot of thumping from us, and maybe she should, but I like her. We all need to be more like Mary, but many of us find ourselves standing in line behind Martha.

Mary and Martha were sisters. They lived in Bethany with their brother, Lazarus. That’s the same Lazarus who died and Jesus resurrected. Jesus seemed to have a close connection to this family. His ascension to Heaven took place near Bethany.

Our passage finds a time when Jesus was welcomed by Martha into her home. Jesus wasn’t traveling alone. He rarely did that. The apostles were with him. That’s twelve other men. With Jesus, that’s 13 men. That’s a crowd for any home for dinner. As Martha is preparing food, the apostles and Mary are listening to Jesus teach. Verse 40 says, “Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, ’Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Tell her to help me.”

Remember, this is long before the days of microwaves, instant anything, refrigerators or Dominos Pizza. Making a meal was hard, long and busy. Martha’s around the stove getting things ready. She could sure use some help. No one is helping. As her stew cooks, so does her attitude. I expect she gave Mary a few stares. Nothing. She may have banged a pan extra loud. Still nothing. Cleared her throat a time or two. Nothing. Sighed. Nothing. By now, she’s burning on the inside. How could Mary leave her alone. The men have to eat. They were invited in, how rude not to serve them. Martha gets so worked up that she actually interrupted Jesus. Remember also, homes back then were not very large. I get the impression that she spoke to Jesus in front of others. Interrupting Jesus while He is teaching. That’s bold. That’s brave. That’s embarrassing. She makes a scene by doing this.

Martha says two things to Jesus.

• Lord, do you not care. Folks always seem to ask that. When the disciples were in the boat and they were crossing the sea of Galilee, a strong storm caught them. They thought they were doomed. Jesus was asleep in the boat. They woke Jesus and said, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” Do you not care? That very question makes it seem that Jesus is insensitive. We have a hymn that goes, “Does Jesus care…” I expect Jesus didn’t care that much about what He ate. Martha was making a bigger fuss than what she should have.

• Martha then says, “Tell my sister to help me.” Martha couldn’t get Mary to do anything, so she thought, she’ll listen to Jesus. If Jesus tells her, she’ll do it. But do you notice that Martha is telling Jesus what to do. We don’t do that. We don’t tell Jesus what to do. He tells us what to do. Jesus doesn’t work for us, we work for Him.

Martha’s plan backfired on her. Instead of rebuking Mary, Jesus rebuke Martha.

Our passage today illustrates a common issue that so many of us struggle with. Like Martha, we are bothered and worried about so many things. It’s bad enough to be worried and bothered about one thing, but with most, we are bothered by so MANY things. Work bothers and worries us. The kids bother and worry us. The church bothers and worries us. The economy. Our health. Retirement. Bills and debt. The house. The car. The dog. The weather. The election. Where to go for vacation this year. Can we even have a vacation this year. College for the kids. Braces. Daughters dating. Daughter getting married. The cost of a wedding. (That’s coming for me, so I just had to throw that in).

Does any of this sound familiar to you? It does to me. Worry and bother has a way of messing with our minds, filling our hearts and tripping us spiritually. The more we worry, the less our faith is. The greater the faith, the less we worry. These things have a way of weighing us down. As Jesus said in His great invitation, ’Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden…” Burdened with burdens. Carrying the load of problems, guilt, failure. It’s hard to be joyful when we are worried and bothered. It’s hard to show the goodness of Christ when we are that way. It looks like our faith isn’t working much when we are all stressed out, worried to a frazzle and distracted.

A couple of thoughts. First, Martha was bummed out about cooking alone. It wasn’t so much the cooking that steamed her, but rather, that she was doing it alone while her sister did nothing. Martha was bothered about someone else. That’s huge! That gets us. We are bothered by the way some look, the way some dress, the way some park their cars, the way some cut their yards, the way some arrive to work, the way some go about their work, the way some eat their food…we let others bother us. Stop. Maybe we are looking too much at others and not enough at self. Get about your business and do it the way you see fit, especially being governed by God, and don’t let others bother you. Boundaries, by Dr. Henry Cloud, would be an incredible book to read if we are describing you here. Martha wasn’t bothered about cooking. Later on in the gospels we find her doing it again. She was bothered because her sister wouldn’t help. Don’t let others ruin your worship. That can happen when we expect some to be there and they don’t show up. We can sit and fume and fuss and steam like ole’ Martha, and our worship becomes ruined because we were bothered by others. Don’t let that happen.

Secondly, we often make a bigger deal about things than is necessary. I’m going to get our female readers mad at me here, but I see this often as a preacher. I go to people’s home when I’m out preaching. The women will make a huge meal, which I don’t need to eat and they want the house to be perfect. We sit to eat and they look tired, run out and bothered. Often they are not in a good mood. They are bothered. It makes conversations short and uneasy. Now we do the same in our house when we have company. We want things nice. But sometimes we make a bigger deal out of things that really do not matter. I expect five years after the Mary and Martha event, most in that house could not remember what they ate that night. They would remember the words of the Savior. Five years past that event He was back in Heaven. Teaching, not food was what was important. So let’s not get stressed about trying to impress each other or making things perfect, especially when in short time, most will have been forgotten.

Prayer helps with the things that bother you. Faith takes care of most worry. Trust God. He’s still on the throne. Always has been. Always will be.

I sure like ole’ Martha. When I read that passage, I hear, “Roger, Roger, you’re worried about your yard, the bills, this and that.” Most of those things will be of no concern when we get to Heaven. I wonder why they concern us so much now? Interesting.

I need to be more like Mary. I’m thankful the Lord is patient with me when I’m having my Martha moments.  Hopefully she got it. Prayerfully, maybe I’ll get it, too.

Roger