This morning I woke up thinking of Martha. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by my list, but can you imagine the list she had as she prepared for the Messiah and his disciples to visit her home?
The older I get, the more I see myself in Martha…and I give her a lot of grace. Because no matter how many hundreds of years ago that story was recorded, I have those same attitudes hidden away in my heart, unrecorded on ancient pages to be read by millions to come after me.
She was the elder sister of the household and probably carried all the responsibilities, and held all the informational things. She loved people and drawing community into the comfort of her home, but it is a lot of work to prepare for. She was probably the organizer and delegator of the home.
She got things done. And done efficiently. She was most likely praised for it.
I can imagine Jesus arriving with at least 12 men and all the planning goes into execution mode.
She is focused, but maybe also a little frenetic because there is so much to do to care for and feed 13 men plus any followers of Jesus we are not told about in his disciple group.
She’s probably already a little tired and her brain is starting to feel foggy. Her feet are sore and her back is starting to ache from all the hours of standing. Servants keep interrupting her train of thought to ask questions and it suddenly dawns on her – Where is Mary?
A quick walk through the house reveals Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening intently to His teaching. As an administrative woman, I don’t even have to wonder what Martha felt in that moment. Call it any special adjective we like to use nowadays…frustrated, annoyed…but I think her outburst reveals a heart of unfairness spilled into anger. Does she interrupt the Lord or wait for Him to pause before vocalizing her complaint?
“Don’t you care that I’m the only one serving you? Tell Mary to do what I’m doing!”
The room goes quiet.
Let’s pause and find ourselves in this narrative. If we’re honest, it’s easy to see ourselves here in Martha’s “Get it Done” mindset because we are a society of Doers. We are praised for the things we do, the schedule we keep, the ways we decorate our homes, the ways we cook and present meals in the name of hospitality, how we dress our families to coordinate together, what we do and do not allow our children to eat/watch/wear…it becomes a badge of identity we hold quite proudly because “Look at her! She is doing it all and excelling at it!”
But if I’m crying once a day from the overwhelm of keeping up and responding angrily to my children’s childishness, and stressed out so much that I cannot even communicate kindly with my husband at the end of a day – am I really excelling? In whose book?
The best part of this story is Jesus’ response to Martha’s outburst.
He’s not upset because He’s been interrupted. He does not match anger to her anger. He doesn’t shame or show disgust at her feelings. He doesn’t point out that she should be more like her sister, Mary. He speaks in gentle compassion. He saw her anxious heart wake her up early days before He arrived. He knew the amount of tasks that met her each day to prepare food and home in order to make things special for Him.
But He also sees her disordered worship and loves her enough to gently open her eyes to it.
“Martha, Martha” was His culturally loving way to bring her alongside His heart. He points out her error, “You are anxious and troubled about many things,” and then points her to the Way, “but one thing is necessary.” Essentially, Martha was distracted from the one thing needed most in a day. She loves her King, but she’s been so immersed in the tasks that she has elevated the To Do List over the relational growing in knowing her Lord.
We get so consumed with the DOING that we overlook the BEING.
We get so caught up in preparing our spaces for momentous events of remembrance that we run right past preparing Him room in our hearts and minds. We sit down with our cup of coffee in the morning and open our To Do list and launch into anxiety and overwhelm, and do not even consider opening the Word to sit at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to order our days.
Are there still things to accomplish in a day? Yes.
Do we ever load up the day like we are not time-bound and leave no room for a quiet moment of gratitude, no room for discipling conversations, and no room for the people God sends us to love in His name that day? Also Yes.
Which “room” are you putting the most energy into preparing in this season?
Jesus says He is the good portion that will not be taken away…even if our plans go sideways, the tree is not Pinterest worthy, the snow village doesn’t get unpacked, and the turkey takes two hours longer to cook and the people have eaten all the sides in the meantime.
Our hope and joy are not tied to these things when we are abiding in the Joy that came to fulfill the desire of every weary soul.
We don’t get to see what happens next in Martha’s story. But I know that when I am corrected by my good and gentle Shepherd, my heart surrenders willingly and I see His love for me even more fully. My soul seems to have no other place to run but to adoration of my kind King. I think that’s where Martha’s heart fled as well, adoration that overflowed into loving service.
So let’s prepare our hearts to abide in our greatest Gift this season, and let the overflow of His love direct us in our everyday preparations of family and home and schedule.
Come, let us adore Him.
What does abiding in Jesus look like in your everyday?
