38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
There are many good things we can throw our energies into in this life. Feeding the hungry, promoting social justice (without committing further injustice in the process), helping the homeless, caring for orphans and many other projects on behalf of the less fortunate. These are commands from our Lord himself. (Matthew 29:35-41). We can’t be spiritually genuine about our faith in God without being concerned and active to bring healing and health to a broken world. I would even go so far as to say that there are seasons in our lives where a Martha intensity may be needed, but not indefinitely.
No doubt, what needed doing in the kitchen in the case of Mary and Martha was important and needed to get done. Some of us think Martha was getting a bad deal. Those of us who love “to do” lists, organization and administrative efficiency make the point that without Martha things may have come apart at the seams. But would they? Certainly, endeavors kept in good order honor God. He is a God of order, logic, and justice as well as love and grace. Read Genesis! He brought order to chaos and his design was flawless. Ours, however, are not and they never will be. So, quit expecting that. But that’s a subject for another time.
What Martha was doing wasn’t horribly wrong. Even her impatience with her sister is perfectly understandable. The problem was the priority of those things in comparison to Mary’s choice.
Here is the crux of this I believe. Do the things you do define your relationship with Jesus or does Jesus, the person himself, inform how you live? In other words, what is it that carries ultimate importance? What is foundational for life and faith? There is a difference between good things and ultimate things. And I think the difference has to do with that which is eternal and that which is temporary.
We find, particularly in the Gospel of John, where Jesus would teach, his message would be misunderstood, and then he would explain, and some still didn’t get it. It boils down to our focus.
Like Martha, the people following Jesus in John 6 who wanted to crown him king by force were thinking in temporary terms not spiritual or eternal. He filled their temporary stomachs with temporary bread (John 6:1-15). However, later in the chapter, Jesus was talking about spiritual food and eternal life. (John 6:25-35). “I am the bread of life” Jesus said (v35).
The problem for Martha was that she was focused on temporary things that had gotten in the way of ultimate, spiritual, and eternal matters. Remember that everything visible was created by the invisible God who is ultimate reality, even though you can’t see him. Colossians 1:15-28 spells out that Jesus himself is the essence and center of spiritual truth and eternal life. But often we end up in idolatry by placing temporary matters before Jesus. Here are just a few possible examples:
· Do you work tirelessly for the poor and oppressed and virtually ignore God’s word?
· Do you protest march on behalf of the environment or some other worthy cause but spend a fraction of the time in prayer for the same?
· Have your favorite things you participate in at church become THE reason you go to church or do you go to worship the only true God with brothers and sisters who acknowledge him to be that as well?
· I’m ashamed to admit that there have been countless times when I have been in worship at my church and totally distracted by other matters going on in my life, good important matters, but usually not ultimate ones.
· What might be one of yours?
Matters in our country and world that need fixing (of which there are many) cannot be looked upon with only temporary-minded focus. Jesus called his followers to see the eternal consequences inherent and underlying all of life. Remember, our battle is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6).
You’ve heard the expression “don’t get the cart before the horse.” It applies here. Bear with me but, Jesus is the horse. If he is not pulling the cart, (the good things we seek to do) we are trying to push it on our own strength and the result will eventually be exhaustion and frustration because things didn’t turn out the way we expected.(1) Jesus is ultimate! Prayer, Bible study, loving each other…ultimate!
One more Scripture to help us understand this. Jesus was asked which of the commandments was the greatest, the most ultimate. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5-7. Love the Lord your God with all your have and all you are. (Mark Walth paraphrase). He doesn’t quote verse 6, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart,” but it is implied. Then as in Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:30-31, and Luke 10:27, “love your neighbor as yourself.” So, why is the “love God” part quoted first? Because it is from God that we know our true identity as fallen image-bearers, but in Christ, beloved Children of God and it is from that identity that we are capable of loving ourselves and our neighbors. Ultimate matters have their base and origin in ultimate reality…GOD! It is from him that we can make sense out of social justice, race relations, economic difficulties, and moral imperatives not from putting our hope and trust in an idea or a candidate. They are just as lost as we are.
This is hard to hear but, Martha wanted to do the best she could for Jesus, (bless her – commendable) but ended up creating an idol that got in the way of the ultimate, Jesus, her Lord and Savior. I pray the words of Jesus will be “on my heart” with ever-more weight and life-giving potency so that I may first and foremost honor him and have my life be a signpost that points to him…ultimately!
Jonathan Leeman, 13 Principles for Pastoring Through Political Turmoil
09.29.2020 https://www.9marks.org/article/13-principles-for-pastoring-through-political-turmoil/
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