Luke 10:38-42 gives us insights concerning service and worshhip.
38. Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42. But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
You’ll recognize this as the famous story of Mary and Martha. Many sermons have been devoted to it, no doubt scolding Martha for being the bad girl.
But did Jesus say she was?
Martha was preoccupied with serving. She knew she had a very special guest, and she likely wanted to make sure things were done right and well. Who can fault her for that?
After all, she was serving the Lord, wasn’t she? Thus, she complained and asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her with service as she understood it.
Mary was at Jesus’ feet hearing His word. Jesus told Martha that “one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
So what do we take from this? Is Jesus saying Mary is superior because she was hearing the word of God? Was Martha inferior because she wasn’t listening in?
Let’s look at this from another direction.
Suppose you have guests coming over for supper at 6:30. They’re expecting you to prepare a meal. But what if you conduct a Bible study instead with no meal to accompany it?
Wouldn’t your guests be surprised? They might be disappointed and upset. They might not ever come back.
Obviously, teaching the Bible is not a bad thing. It’s just that your guests would be expecting service in the form of the anticipated meal. Worship wasn’t what they came for.
How does this relate to Mary and Martha?
Jesus was only on the earth for a short time. It was a rare and special treat to hear the word spoken directly from Him. Mary was doing a good thing.
We need to see what’s not said. Jesus didn’t say Martha’s desire to serve was bad.
In fact, Jesus shows us He knew exactly what was on Martha’s heart when He made His reply to her. Isn’t that encouraging and comforting?
Serving the Lord is good. More of us ought to do so. The needs are great.
But when we get bogged down with what we think is the right thing to do for the Lord, He knows what’s on our hearts, just as He knew Martha’s heart.
Being busy and preoccupied without taking time for God’s word isn’t good for us. And sometimes we think we’re serving the Lord, but maybe what we’re doing isn’t how He wants to be served. We should check with Him first.
Jesus didn’t say Martha shouldn’t have been focused on service. It’s just that Mary was taking in His word, which was the better thing to do right then because of His short time among mankind.
Jesus’ message to Martha–and us–is that worship must come before service. Dinner can wait.