In my Christian faith journey, I was taught from Sunday school thru seminary on how to do things for the Lord, i.e., how to serve God and others, how to minister, how to pastor, and how to be a good chaplain. But what I needed most was encouragement to eagerly foster a passionate love relationship with Jesus Christ.
Henry T. Blackaby writes, “God is far more interested in a love relationship with you then He is in what you can do for Him.” (Experiencing God).
One of the hazards of maturing in the Christian faith is that we tend to lose some of the wonder and awe that attracted us to Jesus Christ. We begin to believe that we have arrived and that we have figured it all out. The mystery and awesomeness of our redemption gradually slips away and soon the passionate love for Christ is gone.
Wesley Duewel writes, “It is not enough to be evangelical in faith and heart; we must be utterly possessed by Christ, utterly impassioned by his love and grace….” (Ablaze For God).
The story of Mary and Martha, recorded in Luke 10, calls us back to that childlike wonder and passionate love for Jesus Christ as our Savior, Redeemer, and Sovereign Lord.
Shortly after Jesus and his disciples arrived at the home of Martha and Mary, Jesus is engaged in conversation with his disciples. And as the story unfolds, Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet intently listening, while Martha is distracted by all the food preparation needed to ensure her guests would be comfortable and fed.
As she is scurrying about to get food on the table, Martha becomes upset that her sister, Mary, is not helping her with the meal preparations. Being obviously upset, Martha marches into the room where Jesus was and asks, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Many of us can identify with Martha and feel sympathetically toward Martha. We argue that someone had to prepare the meal. And so, Martha’s irritation and her spontaneous outburst is understandable to us. And Martha believed her complaint was entirely in order and she fully expected Jesus to support her.
However, Jesus did not. On the contrary, he used Martha’s complaint as an opportunity to help her better understand herself. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”
Paul Tillich states that “…the words Jesus speaks to Martha belong to the most famous of all the words in the Bible.”
Jesus turned the occasion into a teaching opportunity for Martha and for us, how to rightly love and serve God while living in a world of multiple distractions like ours. In our efforts to serve God rightly, we will get pulled in many different directions by the good distractions within and around us. Martha was distracted in giving priority to the concerns of hospitality rather than relationship.
Martha chose to do things for Jesus. Martha was so busy being gracious and polite and a good host that she had no time to be in a listening relationship with the Lord.
How often are we guilty of allowing the same misguided priorities cause us to worry and be upset? Yes, we may say that all our time, life, money is the Lord’s, but then become distracted by busying ourselves with doing good works. We too easily forget that God’s first and greater desire is for our full attention toward fostering a love relationship.
This is the priority Mary chose when she decided to sit at the feet of her Savior, Lord, and beloved Friend and listen to him speak. Jesus said this was the one thing needed and that Mary had made the better choice and it would not be taken away from her.
Mary chose devotion over distractions. She chose intimacy with Jesus over the expectations of her culture and her family. Mary had a passion for the Lord and that made all the difference in her life. And it will do the same for you and me even in today’s world.
Pedro Arrupe, SJ, a Spanish Basque Jesuit priest, wrote, “ Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 10, 2021
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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