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Insight's to the Word with Pastor Teague!
Domestic Confrontation – Did We Miss Something With Martha and Mary?
I was teaching this past week on Esther and the fact that she overcame being an orphan to become a queen. One of the bumps in the road she had to deal with was not having any family in her life but her Uncle Mordecai. He was a rock solid counselor to her and was instrumental in her faith development as a child growing up. I mentioned to the church that she avoided this “distraction” in her life and went on to surpass the absence of family structure to find her destiny in God. Esther was unlike many believers today who allow domestic issues to roadblock their ability to pursue their destiny because of family distractions.
One such occasion that involves “distraction” and family is found in Luke 10.38-42. If you are the least of all Bible scholars or have any recollection of Sunday School stories at all – you know what this is about. Let me paint the picture for you.
It’s funny that we don’t really see how this ends – I guess Jesus took care of everything and Martha returned to finishing her meal. I am under the opinion that this was more domestic than it was anything else. After reading this passage again and again and then looking to the story of the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11 – where the two sisters act independent, Martha is chided by Jesus, Mary is instrumental in Jews coming to Christ and Martha simply disappears)- there is an issue with Martha and Mary we may have overlooked. It is purely domestic. I think there is tension between the two sisters and Jesus – as He does still today – got caught between the two. Jesus instantly went from teacher to domestic conflict counselor. Let me explain.
The issue here is not one of teaching. The issue all surrounds Martha and an attitude with her sister. Martha invites Jesus in and therefore has a responsibility as the host to prepare a meal for Jesus. Mary, by virtue of being Martha’s sister, probably should have assisted with the preparations and there is indication she started out helping Martha. Martha makes the accusation that Mary “left” her which is indicative of the fact Mary probably started with helping but soon disappeared to the feet of Jesus. She simply sat down at the feet of Jesus and was doing something “spiritual” when she should have been doing something practical. Martha was somewhat ticked over this.
I don’t think Martha got this upset over something so trivial so quick. I think – from the story of Lazarus as well – that Martha was the “less spiritual” of the two sisters. Mary is found more often than not in a positive spiritual dynamic then Martha. Martha is ticked – Mary is at the feet of Jesus. Martha is abrasive with Jesus – Mary is calm and quiet. Martha is confrontational with Jesus over Lazarus and Mary is hiding at the house. Martha is somewhat publicly checked by Christ over Lazarus when He says to her (John 11) “Did I not say to you….”. To me there seems to be some difference between the two sisters. I think this issue of fixin’ fried chicken for Jesus was about jealousy, envy and just plain ol’ sibling rivalry.
There are two terms used by Jesus that bears a quick look. First, Jesus says that Martha was distracted. She was distracted by her duty to serve. Martha went from serving with the right attitude to serving out of obligation. This word distraction implies to drag something around. Martha had gone from preparing a meal for Jesus out of excitement to literally dragging around her duty in the dirt of the kitchen. It was about to explode! She took her frustrations out on Mary. She yelled at Jesus but her focus was her sister. This was a domestic issue that manifested in an argument – right in the presence of Jesus. Martha was all about dragging her service to Jesus around in the dirt. It wasn’t a pretty moment in the Martha household.
Second, Jesus said Martha was distracted with her “preparations”. This word comes from the Greek word where we get the word “deacon” from. It literally means service. Martha went into the family room dragging her service behind her in the dirt of their home. She put herself in front of her service. When we do that we usually get into trouble. You know what happens when we lose touch with our calling, our service to the Lord? We start dragging it around. It doesn’t necessarily drag us down – we drag it down. We let the flesh get in the way of our heart. Our brain overloads our spirit man. We become frustrated with the Lord and with others. We become carnal. We start asking why the Lord doesn’t “care” about us. We simply lose focus.
I think Jesus stood up that day and got in the face of Martha and said, “Martha, Martha” – as if to say, “woman get ahold of yourself!” Martha isn’t the spiritually strong one here – Mary is. We engage in communication and service with Jesus – but we get frustrated when it doesn’t go our way. Remember when Simon Peter declared his service to the Lord? Didn’t quite work out the way Simon Peter planned did it?
Sometimes when we invite Jesus into our “household” we expect something along the lines of favorable treatment because its “our” house. After all, we did the inviting. Sometimes we engage in service out of obligation and when it doesn’t go right we “fly off the handle” – have words with Jesus and blame others for their lack of spirituality. It is so easy to do.
Martha had issues with Mary. I don’t think we can deny that fact at all. I haven’t seen this before and maybe my deduction here is off base. It’s not like we don’t see sibling rivalry anywhere else in scripture. When we allow family or friends to interfere with our service to the Lord we deserve Him to grab us by the collar and repeat our name over and over until we get it. He may shake us a little. He is going to tell us there is one thing more important than any other in our life. We can correctly assume that the implication here is hearing the Word of the Lord because after all faith comes by hearing and without faith it is impossible to please Him. Wow! That was a loaded line! But is the real issue sitting and listening or is the issue serving Him out of a pure heart? Rather we frying chicken for Him or being a student – our motive must be pure. The issue is overlooked far too often. Martha was distracted with her service to the Lord and conveniently tried to take it out on Jesus and her sister. Mary and Jesus were victims of Martha’s frustration with life and duty to serve. How many such victims have we lashed out because we have lost focus with our calling? Our pure service to the Master – even if we have to do it solo? Some in the body of Christ have gone from pursuing their calling to dragging it around behind them…only to get it dirty with the cares of this life (Luke 8.14). We need Jesus to get in our face.
I challenge you to check your call to service. You aren’t distracted with it are you? You aren’t upset with the Lord that it isn’t going the way you thought it would – are you? You aren’t finger pointing to others and expecting Jesus to line them up according to your calling – are you? You aren’t accusing Jesus of not caring for you because others don’t agree with you – are you? You haven’t gone from pursuing your calling to dragging it around behind you – are you? I sure hope not. Oh my…your collar does look a little ruffled!
Pastortimteague's Blog 
unfortuneately sibling rivalry is alive and well. sometimes a ‘grab by the scruff of the neck’ is needed to get back on track, to be reminded of whats really important. thats why its so matters what parents teach! where was this behavior learned or exhibited? the old hymn rings in my ear ‘only what you do for Christ will last ‘.
enjoy reading your blog! peace bro.