WHERE OUR SOURCE COMES FROM
Luke 10:38-42
This is a very well known part of the scripture. I am sure we have all heard the story of Mary and Martha. We see here that Jesus and his disciples were travelling and they came to this village and that Martha invited them in. Maybe Jesus was unexpected on this occasion because Martha would have had meals ready is she had known he was coming.
All of us ladies know, that when we have guests coming whether it is for dinner or to stay, the days before are quite busy getting everything ready. So this time, Jesus was perhaps a self-invited guest. We can assume that Jesus invited himself into the homes of people because, by doing so, he could bring God’s blessings to them or perhaps Jesus had a standing invitation at the home.
Perhaps Jesus came into this home to fulfil his personal needs.
Jesus although he was divine, he was human and needed nourishment. On two of the occasions when he visited, we read of this eating with his hosts.
He may have needed friendship. He had selected the twelve apostles in order that they might be with him.
The two sisters both loved Jesus and were loved by him. They had different personalities and temperaments, yet Jesus loved each of them with an equal love. So they had a place in his heart. Hence the visit.
But I think this time Jesus came to Mary and Martha’s home to teach 2 things.
Firstly, The loving ways of God.
We see Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and she was content to linger there and listen to him speak. She loved to do this and become lost in his unfolding of truth. She was hungering for spiritual knowledge and to know God’s ways. She was eager to learn.
Why did Mary sit at Jesus’ feet and not just beside him? We can read of how David sat before the Lord and listened for His voice (1Chronicles 17.16) also usually the rabbis or teachers sat on a high chair and their scholars on the ground, so they were literally at their masters feet. So this was Mary’s position, at the feet of Jesus.
Mary, more than any other individual in the New Testament, was associated with His feet, showing her humility, reverence and hunger for spiritual knowledge. She knew that Jesus was the source of life. Her spiritual nourishment.
We went up to our caravan on the Atherton Tablelands over the Easter period and while we were there Mike put this light up outside our van, so that at night when we were coming back to the van we could see. Where our van is there isn’t much lighting around. Now I have a big thing with green frogs, I absolutely hate them. Now we have been going to the van for years and I have never seen a green frog near our van. Praise God. But one night I was coming back from the amenities and went to hang my towel up on the line and there, on the front of the van was a green frog. So what did I do? I just stayed at a safe distance until Mike returned and then told him to take the frog way down the back of the paddock. Didn’t matter if it was pitch black down there and Mike couldn’t see where he was going. He had to do it. So that was that. Then blow me down if the next night I went out of the door and there sitting on the pole was another frog. Could have been the same one, but hard to tell with frogs. Well of course, Mike had to repeat the same process over again.
Then I started to wonder why we had frogs here this time and not at other times when we’ve been up there. And it was then that it struck me. The light. The frogs knew that light attracted moths and insects. There was a source of food. All they had to do was sit and wait. The food would come to them.
Mary knew too, that by sitting at Jesus’ feet, he was her source of life. She could get spiritual food from him.
Not that I’m saying that Mary and the frog are similar. But they both knew where their source of nourishment came from.
Secondly, Jesus visit may have been to correct and rearrange their priorities.
Martha was one “given to hospitality” for it says “she received Jesus into her house”.
This is what she loved doing. We must not think for a minute that Mary thought serving beneath her or that Martha had the idea that sitting at Jesus’ feet was beyond her spiritual capacity.
Scripture tells that both sat at Jesus’ feet, but Mary thought that listening was better, housework probably was not her thing, and Martha felt that feeding Jesus was just as necessary as waiting upon his word.
These two sisters had their respective, appropriate talents, and each of them served the Master accordingly.
In
verse 40 it says that Martha was distracted by all the preparations and then
she says to Jesus “Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the
work by myself. Tell her to help me”
We see in the scriptures that Jesus says to 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.” He told her, in effect, that Mary was feeding her spiritual needs. Evidently Martha was preparing many dishes, and Jesus was declaring that only a simple meal was necessary. Our lives would be much more productive if we could draw up a list of things that needed to be done and arrange them in the order of importance. Then start at number one, then when that was finished move onto number 2. Instead of trying to do too many things at once.
Like the frog near the light, he just sat patiently waiting for his food to come along. So what about us, what do we do?
Do we wait patiently in God’s presence? Or do we start off that way but then get a little bit impatient because we have places to go, things to do. If the frog had just kept moving around, he would not have caught as many moths as he did by just sitting there.
We have to be patient, and just wait in God’s presence, feeding off his word. Sometimes this requires not even speaking, just waiting, and letting the Holy Spirit speak to us.
HV Morton says that in Jesus’ reply to Martha’s complaint there can be traced a play of ideas, and that His words can be interpreted –
Martha. Martha, you are busy with many courses when one dish would be quite sufficient. Mary has chosen the best dish, which shall not be taken away from her.
In Jesus’ answer to Martha’s complaint, there was no condemnation of her activity. Jesus appreciated her warm heartedness, her management of the household. He knew she was trying to please him and do the best for him. So Jesus lovingly reminded her that she was permitting her outward activities to hinder her spiritually. Because of her emphasis on work and her daily chores, her inner communion with her Lord was being hindered.
So what are the things that keep us too busy to give God a chance to feed us – Is it our daily routine, or maybe we are so busy doing “Gods work” but doing it in our own strength.
The frog can’t turn the light on to attract the insects – but he sure knows how to take advantage of it when it is on.
We don’t have to try and talk God into guiding us and showing his light for us – it is always on, we need to be like the frog – learn how to sit patiently in God’s presence – in God’s light and let him feed us through his word and the Holy Spirit, so we are equipped to feed others.
To keep our so-called secular service in its right place, being conscious that both serving and learning are duties and in both we should honour God.
Mary had learnt to sit at the feet of Jesus and gain all she could. She knew he was her source of spiritual life.
Martha had at times sat at Jesus’ feet but was letting the daily routine of things distract her.
Let us learn to sit patiently in the presence of our Lord, and let him be our source of spiritual nourishment.
Beth Pilkington
29/04/01 for Magnetic Island Community Church
