face : balancing busyness and listening

When thinking about balancing practical and spiritual needs I often think of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). I am very aware as someone who finds it hard to say no that I am probably more like Martha. I used to think I wanted to be more like Mary than Martha and give all my time to listening and learning.However if we only sat and listened and learned nothing would get done. My family would go hungry and wouldn’t be dressed in clean clothes!


So maybe it's ok to be like Martha and when reflecting upon it I want to be like both Mary and Martha, care deeply for others, be a gracious host and make time to listen to God's word. How to do both well is a hard task. Trying to balance our spiritual lives with our everyday. It makes me feel slightly anxious to think about how on earth I am going to get it right.


When I reflect upon it, it may be this is actually what Martha is feeling. She was the one who invited Jesus into her home and she wants it all to be perfect, maybe she wants to listen in her heart but doesn’t know how to stop. She is frustrated with her sister who isn’t helping her and can see her doing what she may want to do however can’t see a way to stop. So she takes out her frustrations on Mary, chastises Mary, trying to show her sister is doing wrong. Jesus doesn’t say what she is doing isn’t valuable however he does say she shouldn’t worry about Mary's choices.


Jesus rescues her by making Martha stop and recognises that her anxiety is not with her sister but with herself not knowing it is ok to stop and listen. He shows how much God loves her, that it is just as important for her to listen as her sister and she is just as valued. He is in fact giving her a chance to listen without being worried about the jobs. He is showing that actually it is just as important for her to make time to listen as to carry out her tasks. He is giving all of us the message that we need to stop and allow time to listen and learn.

By Megan

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References:

Tom Wright (2014) Luke for Everyone
Darrel L Bock (1998) Luke The NIV Application Commentary