Martha and Mary
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."
In this time, we have to be especially careful of distractions. Don’t think that only bad things can take you away from the plan of God for your life. Martha is not evil, she is distracted because she wants to serve! What’s wrong with that? Why does Jesus rebuke her?
Martha is concentrating on what she wants to do for Jesus, not on what Jesus wants to do for her!
In verse 40, Martha is “distracted”, but the word really means over-occupied, obsessed, or, as Jesus tells her, WORRIED!
Look how the Living Bible translates it:
40 But Martha was the jittery type and was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing.
Once she starts letting the unimportant details worry her, look what she does next – she attacks Jesus!
Jesus simply calms her down, and tells her to concentrate on the one thing that’s important: the Word of God.
Questions:
Martha missed out on the good things by being distracted by serving.