"Martha, Martha", the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,
but few things are needed--or indeed only one."
Luke 10:41-42
Are you familiar with the story about Martha and Mary, beloved close friends of Jesus, and the dinner they were hosting for Jesus and His disciples? It's likely you are! Even so, may I provide a quick summary and set the scene for our friends that may not be?
In the middle of a busy season of highly active ministry and after extensive travel on foot, Jesus has arrived at your home with many hungry folks in tow. Being a proper Jewish hostess, of course you want to serve everyone well; it's important to you that each one feels prepared for and cared for. It will take lots of work and you're getting after it...except you seem to be the only one. Because your dear sister--whom you feel should be helping, naturally--is not.
Where do you find her? Sitting on her behind listening to a word Jesus is sharing...while you're in the kitchen doing all the work.
And you just can not.
You march right on in there and extend a huffy indictment against your sister! You demand that Jesus make her get to work.
Except...He does not.
"Martha, Martha...you are worried and upset over many things, but few things are needed--indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:41-42)
Anyone else feeling a little partial towards Martha right now? I am feeling this sister's annoyance! Admittedly, I tend to come to her defense a bit. However, I just wanted to offer something for consideration: Jesus' words to Martha in that moment were not a rebuke; rather, they were an invitation.
It was not that Jesus was chiding her for serving; I'm sure the hospitality was wonderful and certainly appreciated! The serving was good...but taking time to be with Him was better.
Out of His love for Martha, He did not want her to miss out on the better because she was overly concerned with the other. The anxiousness Jesus saw in her...He knew that He was the antidote for that. He had living water to offer her; He had peaceful streams to lead her beside that would restore her soul. But first, she had to slow down and come to Him.
Sitting at His feet is where healing happens.
Sitting at His feet is where true wisdom is imparted.
Sitting at His feet is where we are strengthened in our innermost being.
It is where our fears begin to come into the light and are challenged with truth. It is where the shaky foundations from the world upon which we are building our identity gets rebuilt with God’s love and His perspective about who we are. It is where old pains that still linger are tended to and fresh, new dreams are birthed.
At His feet is where we are brought back to our first love and reminded that this is home…right here, with Christ.
The text does not tell us what Martha decides to do in that next moment. But my hope is that she humbly walked back into the kitchen area, placed her dish towel on the table near the vegetables that still needed to be chopped and platters that were waiting to be adorned, gave it all one last glance and in surrender, walked back out to her Lord.
As she quietly took her place alongside her sister and listened intently to what Jesus wanted to share with her, I believe Martha took her first deep breath of the day. And as the air reached deeper down into her lungs than it had in a while, her shoulders began to loosen as her body relaxed. While resting in this place of stillness, the peace and joy found in Christ’s presence began to cover her anxious heart and mind.
Jesus is offering you and I the same invitation today. Will we humbly accept it and not push Him to the fringes of our life until we can find more time?
Now is the time…today is the day. Jesus is calling.