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. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 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. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her - Luke 10:38-42 (KJV)
There is a temptation to mistaken activity with intimacy. Active participation in church activities does not necessarily imply closeness to God. It is possible to become conversant with the work of the Lord at the expense of knowing the Lord of the work.
In the above conversation between Martha and Jesus, Martha expressed her extreme dissatisfaction about serving Jesus alone. At first sight, it appears quite absurd, Luke records that Martha was cumbered about much serving. Cumbered is an old English word which means to be distracted. What could be much more important than being focused on serving your visitors? I believe many of my readers if not all, will empathize with Martha.
However, the crux of the matter is not that Martha was busy serving and providing hospitality. The distraction of Martha is not in her serving, but rather in her worry. Her worry made her lose sight of the most important aspect of hospitality- gracious attention to your guest. She goes further to accuse her guest of not caring about her (Lord do you not care …?). Scripture does not tell us what form of service she was so engrossed with. It could have been preparing a meal or fixing juice for the Lord. There is however no doubt that her strength was drained by her service as she vented her displeasure at both her sister and her guest, Jesus. She ended up embarrassing both the sister and the guest.
To the best of Martha’s knowledge, she was doing the right thing. In the event Martha was preparing a meal, what will become of her service if Jesus was on a fast? This goes to prove that great hospitality is not dependent solely on the service rendered but dependent on the services requested by the guest.
What transpired between Mary and Jesus in Luke’s account occurs frequently in our lives. One example is the relationship between parents and children. Children have both financial and emotional needs which must be met by parents. In the quest to meet the needs of children, parents may have the tendency to focus on the financial needs at the expense of the latter. In the event where the parent continues to focus all their energy on providing the financial needs while neglecting the emotional needs, the children remain disgruntled.
Parents who do not engage in quality talk time and leisure with their children are likely to lose their children over time. Investing our time and energy in material things at the expense of our children is tantamount to investing in an inheritance at the expense of the heir. An heir who has not been prepared adequately will squander the inheritance that is handed down.
To bring the story home, guests are usually asked for the purpose of visiting in Ghanaian tradition. This is the practice even when the intended purpose of the visit is well known. Hospitality is not complete even if you serve the visitors food and drinks and the opportunity is not presented for them to state their intentions for visiting. It is important to focus on the needs of the visitor. And that is exactly what Mary was focused on. Intimacy demands that with give our attention to God and not just religious observances. When we give attention to God, we are well-informed about what he requires of us. Thereby making our service pleasing to him and void of murmuring and grumbling.
The story of the eldest servant of Abraham who was sent to find a wife for Isaac also presents us with another example of focusing on the needs of a visitor. His priority was to make the purpose of his visit known:
And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told my errand. And he said, speak on - Genesis 24:33
The servant of Abraham would have left dissatisfied if he had not made the intention of his visit known to the family of Rebecca. To have good accommodation and food in a foreign land is a great privilege on any day. It is however second place to the purpose of visitor, the servant of Abraham. The servant had sworn by the loins of Abraham to find a wife for Isaac. Success at getting the wife was paramount to him than any meal.
Intimacy is sitting at the feet of Jesus! Our love and devotion to Him makes everything of secondary importance. The seminars, workshops, conferences and church services are important. But do not let them take the place of private prayer and fellowship with the Father.
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