The story of Mary and Martha has spawned countless sermons on how to not be anxious about the cares of this life but rather to be intent on sitting at Jesus’ feet, receiving truth from the Holy Spirit. But poor Martha. She certainly gets a bad rap. To be honest, it seems Jesus was less than understanding of her predicament. Seeing the situation behind Martha’s eyes, Jesus seemed downright uncaring. But was this the case?
The Jesus I read about in the Gospels is not an insensitive person. Even being physically and emotionally tired, when he had tried to find a deserted place to rest with his disciples, he had compassion on a crowd of thousands that followed him there. Even when he had set his face toward Jerusalem to be crucified, he had compassion on blind Bartamaes and healed him outside of Jericho. Even when James and John plotted to get the choicest positions in Jesus’ new kingdom (they thought he would overthrow the Roman government), Jesus took the time to address servanthood.
Luke records the conversation saying,
“And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary and Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (10:39-41 ESV)
Now, before you label Martha as excessively compulsive over details, let’s take a broader look at the situation. Jesus had sent 72 of his disciples on a missionary journey and they had just come back. A few verses later, Luke records, “Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house” (10:38). So how many people were with Jesus? We can safely assume there were at least 12, but could there have been a lot more? After all, the 72 had been following Jesus before, so I think it is reasonable to consider there were many more. So it doesn’t seem out of order for Martha to be upset that she was alone to care for so many people when Mary could have been helping.
Jesus’ response was certainly not what Martha had hoped. Instead of Jesus understanding, we interpret him as almost scolding her for caring about her guests. The truth is, we don’t have the whole story. Luke only gives us a sliver of what really happened that day. So why did Luke even tell this story?
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem where he knew he’d be killed. He had tried to get his disciples to understand the cost for following him. Then Luke gives us the story of Mary and Martha.
Both women represent different focusses. Mary’s focus is eternal while Martha’s is temporal. Perhaps Luke added the story to make the point that physical necessities are a worldly concern but what is even more important is interacting with God and growing spiritually, especially in light of taking up our cross to follow Jesus. So Mary had chosen what was best and that would not be taken from her.
Can we peek behind the curtain and imagine the rest of the story? What if Jesus hadn’t been insensitive to Martha that day? What if, after telling Martha that Mary could stay, he sent Andrew and a few other disciples to help Martha out? What if the disciples took over the serving and Martha was able to stand at the back of the room to listen in on Jesus’ words while directing them? Doesn’t just this little bit of information change our perspective of Jesus being insensitive?
Jesus reflected to us the heart of the Father. Reading through the Gospels we get a picture of compassion and mercy. We see people changed because they found true love and forgiveness, even when they knew they were wrong. And we come to understand God’s heart is for us because he sent his one and only son into the world, that through him we can be saved. I don’t believe Jesus was being insensitive to Martha, it isn’t in his character. Luke only gives us a slice of the afternoon’s events to make a point about spiritual growth being more important than temporal needs.