MARY AND MARTHA

Image by jimforest via Flickr

Good Evening to All!

And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42 NKJV

Of course we all recognize this verse from the story of when Jesus went to visit the two sisters Mary and Martha. Martha was busy puttering around getting everything ready for Him--cleaning house, cooking and obviously trying to make a good impression on Jesus. As we humans tend to do for an "important guest". Mary on the other hand was only interested in visiting with Him. She was only interested in becoming more closely acquainted with Him and wanting to learn as much as she could from and about Him.

Martha got upset, because she felt like Mary should get up and help her with all the work. She even had the nerve to do something I'm sure she regretted a few minutes later. She whined and complained about it to Jesus and wanted Him to make Mary get up and start helping her!

Now I don't know what y'all would have done, but I might have felt somewhat the same way Martha felt at first, but I sure wouldn't have said anything about it to Mary, at that time, let alone Jesus! I probably would have waited until after Jesus had left, and then said something. Of course for one thing it depends on if they had advanced warning of Jesus' visit. If they did, they should have had all the work done before He arrived. If not, then they both should have spent more time visiting with Jesus, and less time worrying about the house and such because Jesus had already seen what shape it was in.

As it was, Jesus' response was to sort of reprimand Martha. Reading that verse, I can almost see Jesus' face in my mind, shaking His head and making that clicking sound with His lips pursed like "you ought to be ashamed of yourself for thinking that way."Of course I really don't know if Jesus would actually do that or not, but I can imagine the disappointment He felt. It sounds like Jesus felt like Martha was more intent on making an impression by her "works" than with her desire for a relationship with Christ. She definitely had her priorities messed up.

Mary knew that this time needed to be spent with Jesus, because she didn't know if or when she would get this opportunity again, so she used her time the best way she could. After all, she could clean any time.

This kind of reminds me of me. I'll be the first to admit, while I enjoy cleaning house for others, and while I do a pretty good job at it. My own house is lacking the same "professional attitude" that I have for my clients. My house is not dirty, but it is small, unorganized and cluttered, so I don't do as good a job cleaning it as I should. My favorite saying is, if people come to see my house instead of me, they came to the wrong house. Don't get me wrong, as I said my house isn't dirty, but I'm also not like some others in my family who constantly clean. Anyway, I would rather spend time being with my hubby and friends then worry about cleaning. I always make sure the rest room and kitchen are clean, but my bed room and the extra bedroom are definitely catch-alls, so I will try and straighten them up before company arrives. Once company gets here all bets are off. I stop cleaning and all attention goes to them. Which is what Martha should have done.

I think we are all like Martha to a certain extent when it comes to spending time with Jesus. If we are busy doing something, or in the middle of a project, it's hard to stop and pray, read our Bible, or even go to church for some. My hubby used that excuse until he got out of the habit of going to church and never got back in the habit again. He used to tell me, "I need to get my garden planted before it get in the heat of the day". "I need to get the yard mowed before it gets too hot." I'll be too tired to do so and so this afternoon. After a while, he quit making excuses and just didn't go. I think we need to keep a check on ourselves and make sure which attitude we have, a Mary attitude, or a Martha attitude. While cleanliness is important, we must make sure we manage our time well and choose the right time for each.

We need to keep our priorities straight. God first, family second and then everything else will fall into place.

We must all keep in mind that the blessings of God's presence far outweigh anything else we could be doing.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!