Luke 10:38-42

Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But 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? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

As Jesus and His disciples traveled from place to place, they depended on the hospitality of people who would host them and meet their physical needs.  The home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus was one of those places.  They considered it an honor to host Jesus and the disciples.  However, each of the two sisters had a different way of showing their love for Jesus.  Martha showed her love by “doing” things for Jesus.  Mary showed her love by “being” with Jesus.  Both are valid means of loving, but the problem is with Martha’s attitude in serving.  Those of us who tend to be more task oriented can be susceptible to two dangers that will negate the value of our service. 

THE DANGER OF DISTRACTION: Martha was distracted by all the preparations for hosting Jesus.  It was an honor to have Jesus in her home, but she was so busy trying to provide for Jesus that she forgot to simply spend time with Jesus.  Her sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His teaching and enjoyed fellowship with Him.  In many ways, Martha is like the priest and the Levite we looked at last week.  They made serving God a priority over loving God by loving others.  Martha is too busy serving Jesus to take time to really love Him.  Certainly, her service was motivated out of love for Jesus, but it became a distraction from listening to Him, learning from Him and rejoicing with Him.  Satan loves to use distraction as a means of keeping us from all that God wants us to enjoy.  There may be dozens of good things that distract us from the best that God has for us.  There are countless projects and programs that clamor for our attention and they are always good things, but we can easily fill our agendas with them to the point that we don’t have time to pray and study God’s Word.  We must be careful to evaluate our agendas and our hearts to make sure we are not allowing distraction to dominate our lives and rob us of the joy of loving Jesus.

THE DANGER OF DISTRESS: Martha was distressed by Mary’s lack of sensitivity to all the work that needed to be done.  Martha became jealous of Mary just sitting with Jesus while she was left slaving away in the kitchen.  Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and complained to Jesus about having to do all the work alone.  Instead of criticizing Mary, Jesus confronts Martha for being worried and bothered by too many things.  This tendency to be critical of others and take on a “victim” mentality is typical of task oriented people.  They compare all their work to the lack of diligence they see from others and either take offense or become proud.   It is bad enough to be distracted from the priority of worship, but this distress reveals deeper problems like pride.  In reality, Martha is too busy worshiping her work to be able to worship Jesus.  There is no problem with serving, but it should be done with a glad spirit and as an act of worship.  When we serve in this way, we don’t compare our service to that of others and we don’t take offense by the way others chose to worship the Lord.  Stress and worry about our service is usually an indicator that our priorities are in the wrong place or we need an attitude adjustment.  God wants us to enjoy our relationship with Him and others; not get so worked up about all that “needs” to be done.  The root of our problem is a desire to earn God’s favor by the things we do instead of by loving Him.  Jesus confronts Martha’s worry and defends Mary’s dedication to worship.  God wants us to simplify our lifestyle, so we can enjoy our relationship with Him.


APPLICATION: Don’t allow the activities of life distract us from the priority of intimacy with God.  Be very careful about the tendency to become prideful when we compare our activities with what others are doing.  Focus more on loving God than serving God.  Always remember that we relate with God by grace not by our own merits. 

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