Can Someone Else be Martha Now? Blog
For countless years, I remember cringing a little when someone would preach on Mary & Martha. I think in many ways it was because I wanted so much to fit into the Mary category, but the reality was, I always fit into the Martha category. What do I even mean by that? I mean that throughout my life even since I was very young, I've always worked, cleaned, served, volunteered and taken care of others sometimes even to my own hurt. I can't really say where it came from. I'm not going to try blaming parents. It just happened but it also followed me into my Christian Walk. I didn't even get saved until I was 31 years old, so I'd had plenty of years to learn to always be busy and to barely even rest let alone have time to spend with the Lord. Everyone else's needs were more important than my own but deep down inside I found that I was doing all the things I thought I was supposed to do but I was actually hurting inside as well. The enemy found his way in to my thought life trying to get me to give up, throw in the towel and turn helping, serving or even blessing others into feelings of being taken for granted and not really appreciated. In the past I've even been called a Martha by a few Christians around me but thankfully that is changing which enables me to actually share about this and although I still have to work on it every single day some are finally seeing Mary (her sister) in me, instead of Martha and I am now too and I praise the Lord for that.
Let's look at the story in Luke...
Luke 10:38-42
38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.”
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
He might as well of been saying, 'Sheryl, Sheryl, you are worried and troubled about many things' because that is what I heard and felt for many years every time I heard or read this story. These are the words of Jesus. Jesus was talking to me. Many women fall into the trap of becoming a 'human doing' rather than a 'human being'. What I finally noticed in this story is that Jesus did not condemn Martha. In fact, He didn't stop her while she was going around serving and say, 'why won't you sit down'. No, she came to Him asking why He didn't seem to care or hadn't noticed that she was doing everything while her sister just sat there. He simply shared something profound with her. What He saw was that she was worried and troubled as she went about serving and what He would rather she be doing was sitting at His feet as well. He never asked her to serve anyone. Martha immediately took it on because it was her gifting. It was a part of who she was but sometimes it becomes a burden if the enemy is able to get a foothold. The truth is not one person asked her to do all that she was doing. She too could have sat at Jesus feet that day. There is no text that says that even one of the disciples or her own siblings told her to do this. This was just Martha, it was in her, it was part of her personality and probably a great part which she and others loved most of the time but for many it can be very difficult to continue to serve when they don't feel it is even being noticed and who wouldn't want Jesus to notice? Martha knew who Jesus was and I believe their story proves this because in verse 35 we find a very famous portion of scripture known as the shortest scripture in the Bible...
John 11:35-36
35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
As we move forward in the story Lazarus becomes very ill, but we see through verse 36 that those around them that day could see that Jesus really loved Lazarus. Lazarus relationship with Jesus was personal. He'd healed many people up to this point, but never do we find that he is seen weeping. No, it is obvious from this story of Lazarus, Martha and Mary that Jesus was very close to this family. In fact, in John 11:5 we read...
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
It's important for us all to remember that when Paul was writing to the Church in Corinth, he admonished them to understand the gifts given to them. I encourage you to take the time today and read all of 1 Corinthians 12 because for space reasons I won't be sharing it all here, but we clearly see in verses 27 through 31 Paul shares something quite powerful.
1 Corinthians 12:27-31
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
Most of us when we hear of or think of spiritual gifts we think of Apostles, Prophets, gifts of healing, the ability to prophecy etc... but there is something here that I think many miss. In verse 28 we find that 'helps' is considered a spiritual gift. It's almost hidden and tucked away not because God hid it but because the eyes of the reader are looking at all the awesome words like MIRACLES. Wow miracles aren't just something that happen, they are actually something that God gifts some of His body with to work them in the lives of those around them. Or they see TONGUES. Yes, tongues are a gift that God will freely give you if you ask Him. There are churches and denominations that stay away from 1 Corinthians and even other New Testament books because they don't believe this is still for today or they simply don't understand so therefore won't teach it but if God is the same yesterday, today and forever as Hebrews 13:8 says then He expected His teachers and preachers to share the truth. How can we say that some of scripture is for today and some isn't? It specifically teaches us that it is still for today and forever. You cannot simply cut Hebrews 13:8 out of your Bible and shouldn't ignore it either. ADMINISTRATIONS are a gift? Yes, I would say many don't realize this, but this is a gift from God and definitely not one that everyone has. Beloved, just look around and you can clearly see that not everyone is gifted with the ministry of HELPS but it is something that God Himself cared so much about that He gave it to you, and you and I should rejoice and be grateful for it.
I decided to look up the word 'helps' in the Strong's Concordance. It can be found in the Greek under 484 and is the word antilepsis. Like any other word it denotes several things but the thing that jumped right off the page at me about the word 'helps' is that it means to devote oneself to minister to the saints. Isn't that what Martha was doing when she saw Jesus and that crowd coming into her home that day? I'm sure at first it was very exciting. Jesus was visiting and He'd thought so much of them as a family that He even brought many friends with Him but then when Martha found out how much work it would be to serve them all and Mary didn't get up to help her she felt let down, less then, unimportant and almost ignored to the point where she literally walks up to Jesus and asks Him why He doesn't care. She expects Him to help her. She expects Him to correct her sister but instead Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” This led me back into the Strong's Concordance to look up the word 'needed' which in the Strong's is actually 'needful'. This can also be found in the Greek under 5532 and the word is chresia which actually means requirement and/or necessity. Maybe needful wasn't the best word to use by those who translated it in the first place. It doesn't really pack the power that Jesus was trying to get across to Martha. He was saying, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is required which to me is much different than needed. Or even the word necessary, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Needed comes across at least to me as a word that can be almost brushed off but both required and necessary I believe are much stronger words and speak volumes about what He was really saying to her.
I can only imagine that day as she was probably giving Mary 'the sister stair down' and if eye contact was made her eyes were saying, 'when are you going to help me serve all these people?' I know that her heart was actually hurting because I've lived it countless times and what she actually wanted was to be able to sit at Jesus feet just like her sister was doing but the pressure of having that many people in her house even though she had the gift of 'helps' and was a servant to her Master made her want to cry out in frustration, 'Can someone else be me (Martha) right now?'
What I love about Martha is that she actually went to Jesus. She didn't go sit in the kitchen and cry all alone. She didn't jump all over Mary right in front of everyone or bring strife into the meeting. She didn't even pull Mary aside into the kitchen and get into an argument over it all. She simply walked right up to Jesus and asked why He didn't feel the same way she was feeling? Can't you see that I am being left to do everything (as if Jesus was blind... lol)? It reminds me of Romans 8:7 which says the carnal mind is at enmity with God. It is truly difficult at times to understand why God does things the way that He does. Hence the years that we all spend learning His ways. I'm not going to use the word needed or needful here. I'm going to say however that this is a reminder to us all that when we feel troubled, worried, hurt, offended, or frustrated Jesus not only wants us to come sit at His feet but He wants us to know that it is required or a necessity.
I love John 12 (shared below) because this is yet another time that Jesus comes to Bethany and this time not really under the best of circumstances as Martha and Mary lost their brother Lazarus to a sickness and they had sent Jesus a message that he was sick before He died. Surely, they'd heard of all the people He'd healed, and they thought He would be there to save His friend and their brother but that isn't actually what happened. Jesus purposely stays away a few days. This has been in question by many. Was He just being callous? Did He not really care about Lazarus? Would He heal others but not His own friends? But the truth is Jesus tells us exactly why He waited.
John 11:14-15
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.
I think it's important to realize here that Jesus could not go to Bethany without the direction from His Father. John 5:19 tells us...
John 5:19
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Even with the tugging of his heart for His friend Lazarus and knowing Martha and Mary would be heartbroken because He hadn't come, He did not and could not just go off on His own doing whatever He wanted or felt to do. Jesus was not led by His flesh or His mind as many of us are. Jesus waited because God did not send Him and He was ready to perform a miracle for all to see and He was fully submitted to His Father and being led by the Holy Spirit. It was time for eyes to see the foreshadowing of a resurrection that was soon to come even for Jesus. He had already raised the dead but up to this point it had been hidden and kept quiet. But now it was time and not only would Martha, Mary and their friends witness this great miracle but the Jews who hated Him would witness it as well and of course they plotted to kill Him because of it. Their hearts were evil against Him because they could see that people believed and were turning away from them. We know the story. Jesus calls Lazarus forth and when Lazarus walks out of the tomb still in his grave clothes after being buried for 4 days Jesus asks that his grave clothes be removed (that is another blog entirely but sadly the body of Christ is dead, buried and needs their grave clothes to be removed). This was not a show, a performance or an illusion as many in those days practiced witchcraft and some tried to say that Jesus did these things by Satan and not by God at all. No, this was right in their face. This had never happened before. Lazarus was alive.
The gifts do not change. If you are called to be an Apostle God wants you to walk in it. If you are called to be a Prophet God wants you to obey Him and speak for Him. If you are called to Administration, then Administrate but if you are called to the ministry of 'helps' it is just as important as being a prophet or having the gift of miracles. God does not look at us as more than or less than. We do that. We compare ourselves to others which the Bible says is unwise (2 Corinthians 10:12). God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). I am reminded of Jesus teaching about the talents in Matthew 25. God gives us gifts and He purposely gives us diverse gifts, but He expects us to use them and be grateful for them rather than burying the gifts that He has given to us that are for His body.
In my final thoughts I'd just like to say that now that I have become more of a Mary, I see Martha differently. I don't cringe at this story anymore. In fact, this story has probably impacted me throughout my walk with the Lord more than others. I'm proud of Martha (in a good way) because she pulls up her big girl panties and continues on. She didn't fall apart at the rebuke she must have felt that day in her home. Jesus did say all of that right in front of not only her sister Mary but also those that He brought with Him. She didn't give up and shrink off into a corner somewhere saying she'd never serve again and fall off into depression. No, Martha went right back to using the gift of 'helps' that God had given her. She continued in her calling and still devoted herself to ministering to the saints. How do we know this? Because in John 12 we find Martha serving yet again.
John 12:1-2
12 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.
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