Christian Author Laura Davis

Read Luke 10:38-42

If Jesus came to your house for dinner and began talking about the Kingdom of God, would you:

a) leave the room and worry about getting dinner ready, or

b) sit down and drink in everything he had to say?

I don't know about you, but I would probably order pizza then sit and listen! I'm kind of a Martha and Mary mixture. I'd want to make sure the guest of honor was fed, but I wouldn't want to miss a word He said either, so I'd nix the meal preparation and order out!

Unfortunately, this was not an option for poor Martha. She was too worried about meal preparations and she had good reason to be, an esteemed Rabbi (Jesus) was in her home with his disciples, waiting for dinner, but her sister Mary who usually helped her, had only one thing on her mind - listening to Jesus. She could care less about meal preparation - she wanted to hear words of life. So she plopped herself down at Jesus' feet and ignored her sister's pleas for help. So what did Martha do? She went to Jesus and basically demanded that he scold her sister. Can you imagine the look on Martha's face, when instead he scolded her? He wasn't mean about it, you can even hear the tenderness in his voice when he repeats her name, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." I can almost see Jesus grabbing her hand and pulling her down to sit beside Him. Can't you?

Imagine for a moment what mealtimes were like back then. People sat on mats on the floor and platters or bowls of food were placed in the middle. In New Testament times, Jesus and his disciples would have reclined on pillows that would have been strewn about for people to sit on. There would be no silverware, instead people would have torn a piece of bread from a common loaf and dipped it into the stew that sat in the middle of the floor. The cooking was usually done outside.

So here we have poor Martha, running back and forth from the oven outside to the gathering of people inside. Did she want to listen to Jesus? I'm sure she did, but she was so worried about making a good impression that she couldn't stop to enjoy her visit with the Son of God.

We are kind of like that sometimes aren't we? We get caught up in work, family, or other things that we forget to slow down and take the time to sit and listen to our Saviour.

Have you made time for the Saviour today? Daily Bible Study and prayer are an important part of the Christian walk. Are you a Mary or a Martha?