Mary and Martha

We can learn a lot from Mary and Martha and how they respond to Jesus. Martha has a serving heart and willing sacrifices her time and energy to serve Jesus and his disciples, but she is so busy serving she misses the opportunity to rest at Jesus’ feet. So often we can be busy going about our normal lives, busy serving God and ‘doing’ things that we miss the opportunity just to sit at his feet and rest in his presence.

Mary doesn’t let the everyday cares of life distract her from being with Jesus. She is willing to leave the mundane tasks and just sit at his feet. When Martha raises her frustrations with Mary to Jesus, he responds that Mary has chosen what is better. Mary has a worshipping heart and God loves it when we just come to him without an agenda. We need to ‘choose what is better’ and sit at his feet in worship.

Later on in their lives, we see a different side of Martha, when Lazarus has died and she hears that Jesus is approaching, it is Martha who runs to him. She says ‘I know that even now God will give you anything you ask for’ (John 11v22), despite the fact that her brother is dead she still believes that Jesus can act. Her expectant heart and her faith in Jesus show us that Martha has learnt to rest in Jesus. She is confident in who he is and that he has the power to overcome anything, even death.

So whilst it is important to have a servant heart (as Jesus himself demonstrated when he served his disciples at the last supper), let’s not become too busy to spend time just resting at his feet. Let’s worship like Mary and just come into his presence and let’s expect him to do the miraculous and know that he has the power to overcome all things.