Bible reading
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.”
Source: Luke 10:38-42 (New American Standard Bible)
Bible Study summary
The problem lies in the being, not the action
First of all, we need to understand where Martha’s problem is. Serving itself is not a bad thing; the problem isn’t the mere act of serving. In verse 41, Jesus was pointing at the characteristics of Martha, ‘you are worried and upset about many things’. He wants to deal with the ‘being’ rather than the action; for who we are determines what we do.
In this passage, Martha’s ‘being’ determines what she gets upset with, whereas Mary’s ‘being’ leads her to find peace. Not everyone who comes to Jesus ends up finding peace, it depends on the attitude we have towards him. Our attitude towards Christ determines the relationship we have with him, which determines whether we find frustration or peace.
Finding the root cause of frustration within ourselves
In verse 40, we can see that ‘Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made’. When we are distracted and have too many things on our mind, we can easily become anxious and frustrated. In Martha’s case, she was so anxious and frustrated that she ended up expressing her frustration towards Jesus (verse 40).
However, Mary and Jesus wasn’t the cause of her frustration. Martha’s frustrated because she has an elaborate plan about how to serve and she expects everyone to revolve around it. When people are not going according to her plan, she gets upset to a point where she complains to Jesus in a demanding way!
Frustration isn’t something that can be constrained within a person, we make those around us feel it too. Therefore, we need to examine ourselves in this way: do we also have a plan and want everyone to revolve around it, including God? When God doesn’t fulfill our expectations, do we become frustrated? Do we really treat Jesus as our Lord or do we put ourselves in the position of God and want everything to revolve around ourselves?
If we are like Martha, we will only experience frustration and bitterness. We won’t have a peaceful spiritual life. Therefore, when things don’t happen our way, we shouldn’t think about blaming others or God but the problem within ourselves. Instead of being frustrated, we need to ask God to help us see and deal with the root cause of our frustration – the problem within ourselves.
When we are distracted, we are being pulled away from God
‘Distracted’ in the Greek, is not a common word in the Bible. In Ecclesiastes (1:13, 3:10 & 5:20), it talks about God giving us something to be preoccupied with. While these are not essentially bad things, sometimes we can become so occupied with them that we end up forgetting about God. When we are distracted, we are being pulled away from Him. Our heart is preoccupied with the things He gives us rather than being with Him.
Martha was so distracted with the preparations of things that her heart was only focused on that, and yet she thought she was doing all these for Jesus. This is very dangerous and potentially harmful to our spiritual life. We must recognize that just because we’re doing something for God, it doesn’t mean we’re doing what God wants us to do. The things we do for God might be good but it doesn’t necessarily mean we are doing the will of God. In order to do the will of God, we must be like Mary, who has set her heart on the one thing that’s necessary (verse 42).
Choosing the one thing that’s good and necessary
Let’s take a look at Mary. She was seated at the feet of Jesus, which is a sign of submission; she was not saying much; she was being still and listening. Listening is very important. If we don’t listen to the will of God, how do we know and do the will of God? In fact, what Mary did was more than listening – She has chosen to be with Jesus. She was able to identify and singled out the one thing that’s necessary and good (verse 42).
Are we able to identify the one thing and choose it among the many things in life? In Psalm 27:4, David has found the one thing in his life – God’s presence. If God’s presence is with us, we will have peace and courage because we know He is with us and in control. Mary was able to see that and that’s why she ended up having such a different experience than Martha.
Forming the right being
Another difference between Martha and Mary lies in their quality of life. Martha is more on the working while Mary is more on the ‘being’. Oftentimes we forget that we are human ’being’ and we work ourselves to be ‘human doing’. Here we can see that Jesus is calling our attention to the being. For if we have the right being, we will have the right doing. That’s what the Bible is helping us with – forming the right being. Martha was able to see that being with Jesus can form the right kind of being. The question for us is: can we see that?
I have to ask myself this: am I seeing the importance of forming the right being? Or am I just focused on the doing and my own plan of achieving that? Am I seeing God as the only necessary thing? Or am I distracted like Martha? I must pray and seek to be like Mary. For our relationship with God isn’t based on mere ‘doings’ but the right kind of being that pleases Him, who is worthy of our undivided dedication.
Bible study by Pastor Stan
Summary by Christie