Question
With which sister, Martha or Mary, do you generally relate to?
Busyness versus Devotion
This is one Eastern text that certainly resonates with contemporary Western life ... which is hurried, busy and often complicated. Think of your own life at times! This is also the cultural reality into which the Jesus-following church has to promote God-honouring spirituality ... and not just as an aside, but as the centre of people’s being. A bit of a task really! And in seeking to share the positive benefits of a foundational relationship with God, it will be more how we live than what we say that will make any impact. If, on the other hand, we find it difficult to model out the Jesus-following life, then we can’t complain too much about societal decline.
This provides some of the background to how Jesus responds to Martha’s frenetic activity. Whereas Martha’s heart is in the right place in trying to the best of her means to provide hospitality to Jesus and his disciples, she is missing a superb opportunity to just simply grow her relationship with Jesus. Worse, Martha tries to interrupt Mary in her efforts to do just that. Also, Martha, in drawing Jesus’ attention to the fact that she was doing all the work, shows a very rigid performance orientation to life ... that Martha probably had to grow beyond. Perhaps Martha’s labour had become too far detached from the reason for doing it.
The context of this incident helps us with understanding the meaning behind it as well. It is placed after the discipleship texts that we have looked at the last three weeks ... the need to leave everything else behind to follow Jesus on his journey of sacrificial mission, which also involves being neighbours to people outside our comfort zones. However are we going to achieve this? The answer is supplied now – by sitting (at every opportunity) at the Lord Jesus’ feet and listening to what he wants to say to us ... exactly what Mary was doing. And it is further noteworthy that passages with teaching on prayer follow on from here.
We can’t be too critical of Martha really, for, in a way, she was only doing what her culture would have demanded of her. It’s just that Mary showed a greater understanding of the need of the moment. Despite all the tasks assembled before us, in the sense of our human responsibilities, but even more so in the sense of our discipleship responsibilities, we should grab any opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn. In this way, as we stand out against the prevailing frenetically paced culture, we can offer others a vision of peace. Rather than being stressed into going into overdrive in the face of surmounting tasks, we should pause to hear from our Saviour and leader.
And anyway, Jesus is not so much critical or dismissive of Martha’s real desire to serve, but rather simply desirous that Martha would just take the time out to receive all of what God has for her. The repeated “Martha, Martha” of chapter 10 verse 41 seems to have a very compassionate tone to it. The ‘worry and distraction’ that Martha was suffering was certainly disrupting her personal relationship with Jesus ... she couldn’t even stop for a second to hear what he might want to say. Sometimes the sound volume of such ‘distractions’ is way too high to hear the ‘gentle whisperings’ of God. Any disciple of Jesus will have to embrace prayer if their service is to remain properly focussed!!! We shouldn’t let the difficulty of any challenge get in the way of hearing from the source of all light and good guidance (lest we drift right off track).
A Second Question
This passage concludes with the words of Jesus referring to Mary’s devotion – “Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her”. What do you think Jesus meant by that??? What Mary had done was of eternal worth, and the benefit she gained could never be taken away from her (and thus hold Mary in very good stead). Mary would have likely got busy later serving the pavlova for dessert, but in the present she chose well. I reckon Martha herself may have learnt her lesson and delayed doing the dishes until after a good time had been spent at Jesus’ feet (that of course represents the great place of learning).
The Community at Prayer
So it is appropriate that Luke now includes the model prayer that Jesus taught. This is a briefer version than the one included in Matthew 6, but includes all the same major points. If we pray like this, and in turn, live according to this prayer, then we will undoubtedly grow our relationship with God. I say “we”, because all the pronouns in this prayer are plural (and thus collective) ... “us”, “our”, “us”, “our”, “we”, “us”, “us”; and even “When you pray” is “you” plural ... meaning “When you all pray ...”!
This model prayer is no doubt helpful in private prayer, but it certainly forms the basis for the church’s collective praying. If we tease out some of its meaning, and know precisely what we are saying, it can also be prayed as is, as a profound statement of our relationship to both God and the world around us. Our goals become truly shared goals as together we submit to praying in accordance with this great prayer. God is readily available and wants to hear us say:
“Father, hallowed be your name” – we want God to be honoured in every way. What we know of God from the Bible and the life of Jesus, all of God’s character that goes to making up his “name” – we want that to be respected and responded positively to. In this, we will need to be part of the answer to our prayer (in the way in which we conduct ourselves as God’s representatives). God deserves to be honoured for all of his creativity, generosity and love. Where people doubt God’s fairness, they need to look more at humanity’s misuse of God’s plentiful resources. There is also a sense of intimacy with our “Abba” (God) here, as we draw close and pray the words that follow.
“Your kingdom come” – we want a full measure of God’s grace to take effect around us, and for God’s priorities to increasingly become our priorities and the priorities of others. This is so the lost can be found, and the poor in spirit can be enriched; so the blind can see, and the oppressed can find freedom. As DL Bock puts it, “the disciple desires that the creation be restored to its fullness and that sin, injustice and chaos be banished”. We would certainly want this for our region. And again we will certainly be part of a positive response to this prayer, as we reach out in service and mission. God’s kingdom comes in part each time people align themselves with God’s ways.
“Give us each day our daily bread” – we want to express our trust in God’s availability to provide for all our real needs precisely when we need them to be met. This may not always align with what we humanly think is needed, but it will always align with God’s best intentions for us. This is a constant prayer, that day in and day out, our basic necessities (represented by that most basic of needs ... bread) will be met by God’s ongoing presence and provision. This is a statement that confirms our natural dependence upon God for survival. We should not look to gain tomorrow’s resources and beyond before they are needed, thereby getting ahead of ourselves and becoming forgetful about God; but rather stay in the mindset of constant trust.
“And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves [have forgiven] everyone indebted to us” – we would not be arrogant enough to expect God to forgive us when we are unforgiving toward others; rather, having followed the pattern of Jesus from the cross in forgiving all those who put him there, we have been willing to forgive those who have offended us. In this way we have confirmed God’s grace working in us and thereby receive the ongoing gift of forgiveness (from God). In this way we are also humbly acknowledging our weakness and the need to change our own ways (“repent”), so that forgiveness reaps (transformative) results. The one who is unforgiving and/or unrepentant breaks, or at least diminishes, their relationship with God.
“And do not bring us to the time of trial” – we know that life is full of complexity, challenges, difficulties and temptations, and we know that we can learn lots through enduring many setbacks, and exhibit our developing faith, but this is a prayer seeking God’s ultimate protection over our lives ... that when we fall down we will be able to get up. This confirms in our mind that God will not let us be tested beyond what we can handle ... God will be absolutely faithful to us (even though we often fall short). We will discover this to be true over and over again as we sit at Jesus’ feet.
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