New Beginnings - Relating With Women of the Bible Part 3Isampula

MARY AND MARTHA—WHO’S THE WORSHIPER?

I tend to multitask as some people do. But there are times when exasperations come. When you have kids tugging at you while preparing dinner while the laundry is running in the background, or when you’re in the office focused on an important deadline, but you have to answer the phone and the knocks on the door, it is easy to be frustrated. It’s even more frustrating when you see someone across the room who keeps it cool and collected. 

Martha was exasperated when she saw Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and attentively listening to Him while she was hustling and bustling in the kitchen to prepare dinner for their Special Guest. Martha wanted to be with Jesus, too, but someone had to do the cooking! This was a time perhaps when she wished she could multitask doing both the cooking and worshiping. From the looks of it, it seemed reasonable for Martha to be enraged. 

Mary has been labeled as the ‘worshipper’ and Martha the ‘doer.’ I have asked myself, “Can’t followers of Jesus be both?” Certainly!

When their brother Lazarus died, Martha was the first to run to Jesus. Her faith surged, and she said, “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” While Mary was mourning inside the house, Martha acted on her faith. But there’s nothing wrong with Mary’s mourning over her brother’s death. Even Jesus wept for Lazarus. When Mary learned of Jesus’ arrival, her faith also shone when she expressed the same statement Martha uttered, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” They both knew who their Lord was. Both were devoted to Jesus. Both acted on their faith at home and Lazarus’ death.

Surely, works fuel our faith. But we all know we can’t multitask all the time. Sometimes we have to do one thing at a time. So, I stopped pounding myself when I am not being a Mary or not being a Martha. What’s important is that I do whatever is a priority at a given moment, knowing that whatever I do is for the Lord Jesus. The truth is, whether, in service or those quiet moments, we are worshiping the Lord. Isn’t it time you stop pounding yourself, too? How will you worship Jesus today?