Luke 10:41,42
"And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and
troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath
chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
There is no right or wrong in this. God did not make everyone alike. One person may pray. Another may sit with folded hands to think and pray. Both are serving God. God needs his Marys and his Martha's, too. Martha and Mary show us the clash of temperaments. However, in God's Church's today, we don't allow enough for the place of temperament in religion. Other words, we seek to display who was right and who was wrong.
Some people naturally seek activity; others are naturally quiet. It is hard for the active person to understand the person who sits and contemplates. And the person who is devoted to quiet times and meditation is more likely to look down on the person who would rather be active.
Was Martha showing us the wrong type of kindness? Yes, but not by intent! Think where Jesus was going when this happened. He was on his way to Jerusalem to die. His whole being was taken up with the intensity of the inner battle to bend his will to the will of God. When Jesus came to that home in Bethany it was a great day; and Martha was eager to celebrate it by laying on the best the house could give. So she rushed and fussed and cooked; and that was precisely what Jesus did not want. All he wanted was quiet. With the cross before him and with the inner tension in his heart, he had turned aside to Bethany to find an oasis of calm away from the demanding crowds if only for an hour or two; and that is what Mary gave him and what Martha, in her kindness, did her best to destroy. "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (v-42). Maybe it meant He did not want a big meal, a one course meal for example. It was simply that Mary understood and that Martha did not.
Here is one of the great difficulties in life. So often we want to be kind to people, but we want to be kind to them in our way; and should it happen that our way is not the necessary way, we sometimes take offence and think that we are not appreciated. Christians we don't do things to be appreciated, we do them out of Godly Love! If we are trying to be kind the first necessity is to try to see into the heart of the person we desire to help, and then forget all our own plans and to think only of what he or she needs.
Jesus loved Martha and Martha loved him, but when Martha set out to be kind, it had to be her way of being kind which was really being unkind to him whose heart cried out for quiet. Jesus loved Mary and Mary loved him, and Mary understood.
Amen!
Reading: (Luke 10:38-42)
Ref: (HG SB)
Some people naturally seek activity; others are naturally quiet. It is hard for the active person to understand the person who sits and contemplates. And the person who is devoted to quiet times and meditation is more likely to look down on the person who would rather be active.
Was Martha showing us the wrong type of kindness? Yes, but not by intent! Think where Jesus was going when this happened. He was on his way to Jerusalem to die. His whole being was taken up with the intensity of the inner battle to bend his will to the will of God. When Jesus came to that home in Bethany it was a great day; and Martha was eager to celebrate it by laying on the best the house could give. So she rushed and fussed and cooked; and that was precisely what Jesus did not want. All he wanted was quiet. With the cross before him and with the inner tension in his heart, he had turned aside to Bethany to find an oasis of calm away from the demanding crowds if only for an hour or two; and that is what Mary gave him and what Martha, in her kindness, did her best to destroy. "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (v-42). Maybe it meant He did not want a big meal, a one course meal for example. It was simply that Mary understood and that Martha did not.
Here is one of the great difficulties in life. So often we want to be kind to people, but we want to be kind to them in our way; and should it happen that our way is not the necessary way, we sometimes take offence and think that we are not appreciated. Christians we don't do things to be appreciated, we do them out of Godly Love! If we are trying to be kind the first necessity is to try to see into the heart of the person we desire to help, and then forget all our own plans and to think only of what he or she needs.
Jesus loved Martha and Martha loved him, but when Martha set out to be kind, it had to be her way of being kind which was really being unkind to him whose heart cried out for quiet. Jesus loved Mary and Mary loved him, and Mary understood.
Amen!
Reading: (Luke 10:38-42)
Ref: (HG SB)
May God Bless You
And Your Family
Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.
The Cross Life Ministry
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