Okay, so those of you who know me and have been to/lived in the house I live in at a dinner party time (the only type of party I actually, genuinely enjoy btw) will have at one time or another, at least thought, he is such a Martha.
This has been said to me by people enough times to warrant a response. Here is that response.
Probably best to start with the story for some context:
"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. 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.” 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 10:38-42 ESV)
In this episode of Scripture Jesus goes to the home of two women, one sits and listens to Him while the other prepares food for the three of them. The one who prepares the food gets annoyed by the one who listens and complains to Jesus who says that Mary (the one sitting at Jesus' feet and learning from Him) chose the right thing to do.
1. So firstly I think it is important to note these two foundational scriptures: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Colossians 3:17 ESV) and "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."
(Colossians 3:23 ESV)
So, if having the dishes washed and food prepared just so are part of how I serve God through serving you that doesn't make me a Martha.
2. Secondly, I get really irritated when I know there is a mess and so for this ("Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." [James 1:19-20 ESV]) to be true for me I have to feel comfortable, which involves knowing there is no mess.
I don't know if you have watched me when there is but I get irritated and slightly angry (or a lot angry, depending on the day) and I talk a lot to cover up my nervousness about the mess, and I don't listen because all I'm thinking about is the mess.
3. Having people in my house is an exercise in stressfulness. The build up to people coming over is stressful (don't get me wrong I love it immensely once people are there, but before that it is maddening). So the way the house is clean and the whatever else is Martha-y about me (according to some) is a thing I do to get that stress out of my system. I have learned that, even though I hate doing them, one of the times I talk to God most is doing a moderate amount of dishes... too many is too much but just some makes me and God talk, which calms me down.
4. This extends to the dishes being done while people are in the house too. Large crowds of people freak me out (large is relative to the size of the space, in Number 6 large was about 12 people, in No. 2 it was maybe 7 and in 87 it's about 6). Therefore I like to escape the large crowd (of 6 people) and go do something else and doing the dishes can be (it isn't always) God's way of taking me out of a freaked out situation into one where He has an opportunity to calm me down. Once calm I can be outgoing and happy again and have those wonderful chats about life with God.
5. This is the last one.
The story of Martha and Mary is one where they invite Jesus to their home and give Him some dinner or some such.
If Jesus was in my house I would be doing nothing but 'sitting at His feet'.
However, I would never invite Jesus into my house (not for food) because my house is not good enough for the creator of the universe to come for dinner to. If I had the opportunity to get Jesus dinner we would be going to the 62 Euro for a main course place in Disneyland Paris (or the equivalent thereof in Cork). Unless He specifically wanted me to cook (at which point I would have dinner ready for a time specified to Him to come over and freak out in the privacy of His presence because He is everywhere anyway) and then sit at His feet once He got here and clean up when He left. (In this scenario there is no one else, except maybe Andy and Jon, or that type of number, at the dinner too).
I don't know, I find it a little presumptuous when people say that when you aren't around them that you are being a Martha... As if everything everyone says is as good as Jesus' words.
I mean no offence and I have had wonderful conversations with everyone who comes to those parties and has said I am a Martha, whether in jest or seriousness. However, Jesus... Just think about that :P
There you go five reasons I am not a Martha.
Read this today and thought it was fantastically apt (it was actually my thought of the day on my calendar yesterday which, if I had read it yesterday, would mean it would be included in the blog.)
ReplyDelete"Part of life we may spend, as Mary did, in the living room during times of quiet and peace. But much of life will be spent "in the kitchen with Martha"- in our place of work. Your kitchen may be an office or a cubicle or a factory floor or a desk at school or a home where you watch over little children or a center where you volunteer. "The kitchen" is generally the place in our society where we are worried and upset over many things. But what if we decided to sit at Jesus' feet even there?"