The story of Mary and Martha in Luke
10:38-42 is a very intriguing story. You have two sisters that are out to
please Jesus. According to verse 39, after inviting Jesus into their home, they
both start out at the feet of Jesus’ worshipping Him. But according to the
scripture, Martha became distracted serving. Now, Martha was doing the noble
thing by serving, but it had become a distraction. She began to complain about
the things that Mary was doing, which is what Jesus considered the thing that
was needed (worshipping God).
Often times, we get caught up doing noble
things that are not necessarily needed and lose focus on the one thing that we
should always be doing and that is worshipping God. This same Mary got
caught up worshipping Jesus and anointing His feet with oil and washing them
with her hair.
Now when Lazarus was sick, Martha and Mary’s
brother, the bible says in John 11 that Jesus loved them. When Martha saw Jesus
again, the first thing she did was question Him as to why He delayed coming. To
her credit, Martha did acknowledge that God was still able to raise Lazarus
even after he’d died.
Now, the next time that Mary had an
encounter with Jesus, her response was very different. The bible says in John
11:32, that Mary fell down at Jesus feet, and essentially said the same thing.
But Jesus’ response to Mary (worshipper) was much different from that of His
response to Martha (noble servant). The bible says in verse 33 that Jesus
groaned in His spirit and was troubled. Jesus moved immediately to see Lazarus.
Now, when the Jews had taken Jesus to see Lazarus, the bible says, “Jesus wept”.
This is a clear indication of the love and affection that Jesus had for
Lazarus.
The bible says in verse 38 that Jesus
groaned again as he approached the tomb. By this time, doubt had set into Martha’s
mind because Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus then asked, did I not
say that “if you would believe, you would see the Glory of God" ( Worship
helps us to keep focused and continue believing in spite of circumstance).
Then Jesus, before he even raised Lazarus
from the dead said, “Father, I thank you”. Sometimes, we have to just thank God
in advance for what we need for Him to do in our lives. If we would just thank
Him for the situation, He is more apt to deliver us out of the situation.
The moral of the story is this: do not get so caught up
in the things that need to be done that we forget to do the one thing that is
needed. And that one thing is to WORSHIP God Almighty. I know in my role in
ministry, I would be considered a Martha more than a Mary. Where do you see
yourself? Are you the noble servant or are you the Worshipper?
Melvin Stigler
Associate Pastor
www.nbcornerstone.com
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