Favorites XI

The story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) is one of the most told and most treasured stories in the New Testament.  The friendship these two women and their brother, Lazarus, had with Jesus was something far beyond extraordinary.  Their home was the kind of place to which Jesus could go without invitation.  It was a place where He always knew He would be welcomed.  When Lazarus was near death., there was no debate among the sisters.  They sent for Jesus.  They knew He would want to know and they knew He would come.   

The tenth chapter of Luke is about another moment in their shared history.  With Jesus as their house guest, the two sisters responded in two entirely different ways.  Martha, the sequential host, went to the kitchen and began making meal preparations.  On the other hand, Mary simply sat at the feet of Jesus soaking up His every word as she lavished all her attention upon Him.  In a moment of anger and resentment at her sister, Martha complains to Jesus telling Him to tell Mary to get up and help her.   It is a story of the one who could not be still and the other who could do nothing else.  One sister modeled the life of doing and the other modeled the life of being.   

Jesus' response to Martha remains an important word for those of us who have such a high regard for doing that we cannot rest in the presence of the Christ.  "Martha, Martha, you are busy and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing."  (Luke 10:42)  The Psalmist points us toward that one thing as he wrote, "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."  (Psalm 51:17)  May it be for each one of us.