Among the pitfalls of which Christians should be wary, surely one of the most prevalent in our day is the trap of a performance-driven life. For certain high achievers, contentment is hard to come by. Nothing is ever finished, done, or good enough—and it never will be. And while that sort of approach may lead to apparent success in academics, business, and so on, when we try to adopt it in the Christian life, we quickly make our faith little more than a long list of activities to do, lacking in life or spiritual health.
If we wish to have a vital faith, we need to think less in terms of achievement for Christ and more in terms of commitment to Christ. The story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38–42 is helpful in this regard, challenging those of us who are overachievers to sit down and rethink our priorities.
Looking at Martha
Martha was an achiever, and for good reasons. She was a woman of hospitality. She loved the Lord Jesus and “welcomed him into her house” (v. 38). What a wonderful service to be involved in! This story reveals, though, that there is a point where the blessing of service becomes a liability without the proper attitude.
Martha was, on the one hand, distracted: “Martha was distracted with much serving” (v. 40). It wasn’t necessarily that the task of serving Jesus was too much for her; it was that she made more of it than was warranted. She wanted to do something special for Jesus—and her commitment kept her from acting like her sister Mary, who “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching” (v. 39).
At the same time, Martha was disgruntled. Seeing Mary at Jesus’ feet, she gave voice to her frustration, asking Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me” (v. 40). Many of us know this attitude in our own homes, where we’re not content simply to be busy at a task; we also need to find fault in someone less busy.
In endeavoring to serve her Master, Martha meant well. But she had got her priorities wrong—and her misguided zeal disturbed the harmony that should have been enjoyed between her, Mary, and the Lord Jesus.
Learning with Mary
While Martha busied herself with serving, Mary, we read, sat at the Lord’s feet. This should surprise us! Women typically did not sit at rabbis’ feet. But Jesus, the great rabbi, disregarded that convention and was perfectly happy to teach Mary.
When Jesus indicated He had something to impart to her, Mary turned from everything else. A purple passage from an old commentator is illuminating: “By her attentive hearing Mary helped to make the seat of Jesus a pulpit, her own humble place at his feet a pew, and the whole room a chapel in which the mercy of Jehovah was proclaimed.”
The spirit of the servant of Christ must always be a spirit that longs to hear the voice of Christ.
Mary was determined to listen to the Lord’s words. Every teacher knows that children can hear your voice without actually listening to what you’re saying. Mary was not that kind of student. She was listening to Jesus. The spirit of the servant of Christ must always be a spirit that longs to hear the voice of Christ. As He said of Himself as Shepherd, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:3–4). By her willingness to still herself and listen to Jesus’ voice, Mary evidenced the fact that she was a member of His flock, one of the sheep of His pasture.
Listening to Jesus
In light of these two sisters’ differing postures, the sensitivity of Jesus’ reply to Martha’s complaint is striking. Where Martha is frank and rude, Jesus does not respond in kind.
We can almost hear the sympathy with which Jesus addresses Martha as He speaks her name: “Martha, Martha…” “I know what you’re trying to do,” we might imagine Him saying. “And I know why you’re trying to do it. And Martha, I love you for it. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you want to serve Me.” And yet He tells her, “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 other words: “Martha, you need to get your priorities straight.”
Jesus would later tell His disciples to “provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33). Martha had laid intense value on her labors. Mary, on the other hand, had given her attention to something of everlasting value.
Martha had laid intense value on her labors. Mary, on the other hand, had given her attention to something of everlasting value.
Commenting on Martha’s busy effort, Charles Spurgeon writes, “A fly on St. Paul’s Cathedral might as well imagine that all the traffic at his feet was regulated by his presence, and would cease should he remove.”2 When we adopt the overbusy posture of Martha, we can create the impression that the world would cease if we didn’t finish our checklist. We communicate, perhaps unwittingly, that we earn our value and God’s favor through activity when in fact, what Christ seeks for and from us is so much more: the total abandonment of ourselves to Him.
The story of Mary and Martha reminds us that a strong work ethic can be a great virtue—but at the end of the day, it has its limits. Today, as God’s children, instead of looking to our labors to justify us, may we make a priority of sitting at Jesus’ feet, under His Word, in simple, attentive devotion.
This article was adapted from the sermon “First Things First” by Alistair Begg.
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1946), 612. ↩︎
C. H. Spurgeon, “Martha and Mary,” The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 16, no. 927, 235. ↩︎
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