Luke 10:38-42 "Mary and Martha Abide"
Kim and I are very different when it comes to parties. If left to our own natural way of doing things, she would start cleaning and preparing for people to come over the day before and not sit down or rest until everything was tidied up the day after the party. She’d spend the whole party picking up after people and serving food and drinks. I’m the opposite, I’ll help get things ready but once people show up—they’re on their own. I mean it when I say, “make yourself at home.” There’s the fridge, there’s the pantry, there’s the microwave. Then I’ll get lost in conversation until the last person leaves.
But since I want to stay married and actually have friends—I force myself to be helpful and hospitable. And Kim has gotten a lot better at letting things be and joining the party while it’s happening. We’re both works in progress.
Can you relate to this? It seems like those two kinds of people tend to be attracted to each other. Maybe God designs us in pairs. Sets. One person who tends to live in the moment, wrapped up in what’s happening, deeply interested in the conversation. And another who is always doing something, always busy, just one more chore before I sit down.
Today we’re going to meet a couple of sisters who are the ultimate examples of each person.
Luke 10, verse 38:
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
Jesus had set His face toward Jerusalem. Luke doesn’t give us a chronological or geographical, step-by-step travel log of the journey. The next chunk of stories are all from being on the road to Jerusalem—just not in order.
So, as the big group of people following Jesus are making their way, Jesus stops to visit with some old friends. Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus (although he’s not mentioned in this story) live in a town called Bethany—it’s actually pretty close to Jerusalem, that’s why we know Luke’s not giving us an actual timeline.
Some people think these were friends of Jesus’ family from before His ministry began. Lazarus is called “The Disciple that Jesus Loves” when they send for Jesus because he’s sick and going to die. Lazarus is, of course, the man Jesus raises from the dead.
So, Jesus is in town and drops by. There weren’t cell phones or email, so this would have been a surprise visit. Martha invites Jesus to come on in but can you imagine what she might have been thinking?
If you knew Jesus was coming over this afternoon to your house for lunch, what kind of panic would that throw you into? Is the floor swept? Laundry put away? Are there dishes in the sink? Is there something really yummy to make for dinner? Do we have any nice wine? I’d hate to have to ask Him to conjure up some.
So, Martha starts doing what most of us would do, she starts straightening up, putting things away, preparing food.
And her sister Mary—she just sits down at Jesus’ feet and listens to Him talk. Telling stories of the road. Talking about what God’s been doing—glimpses of the kingdom of heaven. Must be nice, huh?
Verse 40:
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.” Luke 10:40
Martha was so busy trying to serve Jesus that she wasn’t listening to Him. That seems kinda profound. Seems like a miss.
I’m not sure how to imagine her tone. Did she barge in and interrupt Jesus in the middle of what He was saying to complain about her lazy sister—in the most passive-aggressive way “do you not care that I’m doing all the work by myself?” Manipulating Jesus, trying to get Him to command Mary to get in the kitchen and get to work.
Or maybe she wasn’t quite that rude. Maybe she’s just overwhelmed with everything she thinks she needs to be doing and turns to the Lord for help. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she was as respectful as she could make herself be.
Jesus is very gentle in His response, verse 41:
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:41-42
In Bible-speak, using someone’s name twice is a sign of tenderness. “Martha, Martha” is like saying “my dear sweet Martha.” And what He says to her is true for a lot of us, “you are so worried about so many things, you take so many things to heart, you make things so hard for yourself—life is hard enough, you don’t have to make it harder by making up problems where there aren’t any.”
Martha thought all those things she was doing had to be done right now. I mean, Jesus is at her house for goodness sake! Those towels need to be folded and put away! The mantel needs to be dusted! Got to take the garbage out! I need to make everything perfect for Him!
Most of us feel this way about anyone who comes to our house—but this wasn’t just anyone, this was Jesus!
He doesn’t say what Martha was expecting Him to say. He said she was worried about all the wrong things. There’s only one thing that needs to be done right now—and Mary is doing it.
He’s even playful with her. He makes a food pun. “Mary has chosen the good portion—this is the real main course, Martha.”
The food we eat in the meal will come and go, Mary has chosen the portion that will last long after our visit is over.
Jesus basically says to Martha, “Put down your apron and come sit beside your sister. Let me serve you first. There’ll be plenty of time for you to serve me later.”
Somehow Mary knew the most important thing she should be doing was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He had to say. Somehow she knew how special that moment was.
If you were sitting at the feet of Jesus, on the floor of your own home, do you know whose feet you’d be sitting at? Is He your friend? A builder from Nazareth? A teacher? A kind and gentle man like no one else you’ve ever met? Yes! All those things. But also…
Listen to what it says about Jesus in Colossians 1, verse 15:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Seriously, listen to what this is saying about Jesus, it’s absolutely glorious) For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Yes, you’re sitting at the feet of your friend named Jesus, you’re also sitting at the feet of God. The physical, visible image of the invisible God. The One who created everything that exists. That’s who your friend is. That’s your dinner guest. Before anything existed, He existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit in perfect completeness and harmony. Before light, before time—He’s the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega. He is the Word of God who spoke “Let there be light.” That’s who Mary was sitting and listening to.
Verse 18:
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Colossians 1:18
He not only existed before anything else existed, He created everything, and He continues to hold reality together by the power of His will and divine imagination. Yes, He is a flesh and bone man but He is also God. Mary was sitting in her living room listening to the voice of God.
Verse 19:
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:19
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus, listen to Jesus. All the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Him. In the words of the man Mary was listening to.
It’s the same with us. When we come together to gather around God’s Word—this thing we’re doing right now—it’s as if we’re sitting right there with Mary. Listening to the words of Jesus Christ who is outside of time and inside of time at the same time.
He didn’t just create the world and time and the story of everything from the beginning to the end—He also stepped into it, became part of it. He is the author and the finisher. He is also the main character. And we gather here, in His name, at His feet, as His people, to listen to what He has to say to us. This is the good portion.
We can’t serve Jesus until we’ve been served by Jesus.
There was another time Jesus visited His friends in Bethany and this time the Disciples were with Him—it was about a week before the crucifixion.
John 12:1-5
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, (of course) while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”
I don’t know of anyone else in the Bible who gets in trouble for worshiping God—but poor Mary gets it twice! Notice Martha isn’t the one complaining anymore. It was some guy named Judas—who cares what he thinks, right? To be fair, Mary just busted open a $30,000 bottle of perfume and poured some of it on Jesus’ feet—rubbing it in with her hair.
If I was Martha or Lazarus, I might have had something to say about that, too. If not about how expensive her foot and body wash was, then for sure about how she was making the whole house smell like an accident in the Chanel store in Manhattan. For me, it would be an instant headache and my eyes would start burning. “Mary! Come on!”
But Jesus goes on to say that she was anointing Him for His burial. She didn’t use it all, she was going to save the rest of it for when she showed up on Sunday morning to pour it on His lifeless body in the tomb after the crucifixion. But she wasn’t actually going to need it, was she?
So while Jesus was in the room, having His feet anointed, being worshiped by His tender-hearted friend, He was also looking at the cross and empty tomb. The fulness of God was dwelling in Him and He was thinking about how He would reconcile to Himself all things. On earth as it is in heaven. Making peace, bringing His kingdom, saving Mary and everyone else who would ever believe by the blood of the cross.
Please listen to what this means for you: You are reconciled to God by the blood of the cross. Even as you sit here listening to Jesus’ words that were spoken 2,000 years ago. That’s the most important portion for you to take from this lesson. No one can ever take that away from you.
We can’t serve Jesus until we get a glimpse of who He really is.
I don’t know about you, but all this talk about Jesus being the image of the invisible God almost makes my heart explode!
I get a little glimpse of who Jesus is—who He really is—and I almost can’t take it. I can’t keep it to myself. Since I was a teenager, all I’ve wanted to do is find ways to help other people see Him, too. I lay awake in bed at night trying to come up with ways to show people how Jesus looks to me. It’s the reason for everything I’ve done with my life.
I’ve spent it trying to serve Jesus. So many people don’t know the Gospel. They don’t know the life God has for them. They don’t know His Word. His love. His resurrection. They’re lost, rudderless, hopeless. How are they ever going to know if we don’t tell them—if I don’t tell them! We have to go make disciples! Preach the Gospel! Proclaim the kingdom of heaven!
Which is all true. Every bit of it. We have work to do.
But I think I can hear what Jesus might say to me. “Frankie, Frankie, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.”
It’s a cart before the horse kind of thing. We can’t serve Jesus until we’ve been served by Jesus.
In John 15:7 Jesus says,
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
That’s all Mary was doing. Abiding in Jesus. Hanging on His words. Martha was distracted from abiding in Jesus by literally trying to serve Him. Jesus told her to sit down, put her mind at rest, and abide in His love, His Word.
It’s the same thing we need to do. Abide. Do this first. Then, when His Word is abiding in you—the good portion that no one can take away—then you can ask whatever you wish and Jesus will do it for you. This will make God happy. Then you can serve Him. You will bear much fruit—get all kinds of things done—once you hear the word of Jesus, the Word of God, then you’ll actually know what He wants you to do. What it means to truly be His disciple: you need to rest in His love before you try to share His love with anyone else.
We can’t serve Jesus until we’ve been served by Jesus.
That’s the biggest thing we should take away from the story. But there are some smaller takeaways:
Like at church: Don’t be so busy and caught up in serving at your church doing all these things for Jesus that you neglect the most important thing. The most important thing we do when we gather as God’s people is receive what He has for us. He speaks to us through His Word. We need to sit down and hear what He has to say to us—be served by Jesus. Whatever area you serve in on Sunday, you need to make sure you are served, too.
And at home: If you’re like Martha when you have people over—you’re the person who never sits down with your guests because you feel like you have to do everything, make everything ready, clean everything up—you know who you are. Those things are important. You are very appreciated by all the people you are serving—it’s a wonderful gift you’re giving to the people you love and your guests. But take time to sit down and be with the people in the room, too. Listen to their stories. Laugh at their jokes. Join in the conversation. Don’t hide behind all your busyness.
There are two kinds of good hospitality. The story of Mary and Martha shows us both: one loves to delight in her guest and the other wants to delight her guest. We really do need to do both.
So, every week we are here serving in the Lord’s house. We worship God and love people. We serve the Lord with praise and thanksgiving, we listen to His Word. And we serve each other, along with any guests who might actually accept our invitation and show up. We need to remember the proper approach: We must first sit at the feet of Jesus, abide in Him, and let Him serve us His Word which comforts and challenges us. Then we can abide in His love, what He’s given us, and share with each other and everyone else. In other words, the posture of receiving Jesus is not found in the busyness of what we do for God, but in the stillness of listening to His Word—and believing it. Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ, and faith is the highest worship. We have been created to serve God and serve each other but We can’t serve Jesus until we’ve been served by Jesus. AMEN