When Being A Servant is Wrong

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

On my second trip to Nicaragua, I befriended a man by the name of Julio who was a Nicaraguan mason helping my team build a house for a family in need. In order to be in community with the Nicaraguans, we built this house without use of a single power tool. We relied on Julio and the other mason’s to teach us how to build a house by hand. My job for the week was bending steel, the station that was manned by Julio. With time on my hands and me itching to speak some Spanish, I struck up a conversation with him. We chatted while bending steel for hours. While I consider myself a proficient Spanish speaker, my knowledge of tools is slim…even in English. So, Julio began teaching me the Spanish name of various tools we used. Then, he would ask me how to say them in English. I’m pretty sure by the end of day two he had asked me how to say everything around us in English. I could sense his thirst for knowledge. Due to the heat and amount of physical labor we were doing, we were encouraged to take short breaks every hour. Julio and I began using those breaks to learn more. We would sit under a tree with my notebook and I would teach him new words. His face would light up in excitement and he began using those English words with others from my group, and even teaching some words to the other Nicaraguan masons.

For Nicaraguans, having English as a second language is almost essential. If you know English, you can getter better jobs with better pay, and possibly remove yourself from poverty. But the sad truth is many are unable to learn English because they are unable to pay for the $200 per semester classes because they have to work to be able to put food in their bellies. Also for Julio, he wanted to learn English because of the American groups he worked with on a daily basis that he currently could not communicate with.

In the middle of each work day, after lunch, we would have about an hour and a half of “siesta” or quiet free time. If you know me, you know my love for staying busy. I have 3 jobs totaling between 30-40 hours per week plus my school work. I don’t know what to do with myself if I have free time. I constantly feel the need to stay busy. So this awkward hour-and-a-half of free time really bothered me. On day three I sat in a hammock pondering what to do over my free time when I was approached by Julio. He asked me if I would be willing to teach him more. I jumped at the opportunity and spent the rest of my free time teaching and learning.

It was only when I stopped for a moment in my free time and l sat in that hammock and listened did I get a calling. Instead of doing something I considered productive, I finally sat and relaxed and listened. By doing that, I got to be a servant. I got to be the hands and feet of God.

The story of Mary and Martha takes place on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem as told in the beginning of Luke 9. Jesus and his disciples set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news.

Martha, being the wonderful woman she is, welcomed Jesus into her home.

I don’t know about your house, but at my house, when someone is coming over, it’s time to clean. Make sure everything is nice and tidy and even do some dusting so people think your house normally looks like that…you even make your bed for that one time a year. I can imagine this is much like Martha…except, greater.

She probably had this planned out for days, maybe even weeks. And she more than likely planned out the meal, and cleaned every inch of the house in preparation.

Now, the day had finally arrived. Jesus was coming to her home. 

Martha was doing what she had been taught…she was doing what she thought she was supposed to be doing…she was being a host. She was in the kitchen slaving away at a meal for Jesus.

While Martha is in the kitchen doing all the work, Mary comes along and just hangs out with Jesus. By doing this, she is completely going against her role in society, she is neglecting her duty in the kitchen and taking on a masculine role. She clearly violates every social boundary set forth in this time and thoroughly disappoints her sister.

Martha is clearly upset and goes to talk to Jesus about the situation. Martha doesn’t understand why Jesus hasn’t made Mary help her in the kitchen. She’s mad. She’s doing all the work while her sister is doing nothing to help!!

While I would have predicted that Jesus told Mary to go help her sister in the kitchen, the story went very differently.

Instead, Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen what was better.

We, as Christians, are so uncomfortable with the fact that Jesus scolded Martha. We wouldn’t be uncomfortable at all if Jesus had responded to Martha’s concerns by saying, “Hey Mary, why don’t you go help Martha, and we can talk during dinner.”

But Jesus didn’t do that—instead, he praised Mary:  the one that instead of helping her sister prepare for feeding Jesus, was sitting and chatting with him, leaving Martha to do all the work.

How is this fair? Why does Jesus praise Mary over the hardworking, worn out Martha who is slaving in the kitchen to provide a meal for Him?

Why does he say that Mary, who simply sits and listens, has chosen a better part than Martha, that’s doing the work?

Martha was being a servant. She was doing ministry. She was meeting the needs of Jesus and His disciples.

To some degree we all know how Martha feels. There have been times when we have all felt as if we are the only ones doing the work, and that no one seems to notice or care all that we sacrifice. We feel unappreciated.

The problem with Martha is not that she is busy serving and providing hospitality, because Jesus commends this kind of service. The Parable of the Good Samaritan immediately precedes the story of Mary and Martha, talking about service to the neighbor. Exactly what Martha is doing. But Martha’s distraction and worry leave no room for the most important aspect of hospitality—attention to the guest. Her worry and distraction prevent her from truly being present with Jesus. Martha was so consumed with her to-do list that she forgot WHO she was doing this all for.

I think so often we are like Martha. We do all these Christian things but we forget WHO we are doing them for! We are so busy doing things for Jesus that we forget to pause and be present with him.  It’s only when we are truly present with him that we can listen to what He wants us to do. We ARE called to be a servant, but we are called to be HIS servant.

We have to have time to be present with God. Being present with God and listening is how we find our passions. It’s how we know where He wants us to be a servant.

Being a servant is great, but being a servant where we are called to serve is even better.

Also, Mary is stepping over some pretty giant boundaries for her time. She isn’t following the social norm. Instead of taking on the feminine role like Martha, she is committing a social taboo. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is about women’s rights, but I think that Jesus praised her because she was stepping out of her comfort zone.

Mary didn’t just dream of sitting with Jesus, she didn’t just want to sit with Jesus, she DID sit with Jesus.

Mary isn’t “simply listening” …she is breaking boundaries and seeking justice.

She could have easily gone along with Martha and slaved away in the kitchen. That would have been the easy choice. That would have been the expected choice.

Mary knew she wasn’t really supposed to be sitting with Jesus. She knew socially, she was supposed to be helping Martha in the kitchen. So Mary did something about it. She sought justice.

I believe that there is nothing wrong with being a Martha…and neither did Jesus. Jesus never said she was doing the wrong thing, He simply said that Mary was doing the better thing. 

If Martha weren’t there, Jesus probably wouldn’t have had any dinner. So, Martha’s aren’t so bad after all. If there weren’t any Martha’s in this world, things like cooking and cleaning would never get done. We all need to be a Martha in some sense. Let’s face it, Martha was doing the service, she was doing the ministry in this story.

But as Christians, we need to also be a Mary. We need stop wanting things to be done, and actually do them. We need to listen to our calling and go do it.

It’s not about just being a Mary or just being a Martha, but finding that balance. It’s about being present with God like Mary, then being a servant like Martha.

Someone once said, “Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it….but I’m afraid He might ask me the same question.”

As Christians, we should break the social norm.

We should do the unexpected.

We should seek justice.

We should change the world.

When I was still in youth group in Murray, my youth leader had a series of video lessons we watched over seeking justice. And I remember talking about getting mad. The video kept saying that we should “get mad about it.” Get mad that there are starving children and get mad that clean water is not readily available to 780 million people. I kept wondering why we should get “mad” about it. But think about it, the more you get mad about something, the more you want to do something about it, right?

Recently, my Facebook has been filled with comments on the Duck Dynasty fiasco, A&E banning Phil Robertson after his comments toward homosexuals during an interview. Matthew Paul Turner said on his blog,

“Remember this is about a reality TV show, a meaningless TV show about a family of outspoken rich hunters. It’s just entertainment, people! Some Christians seem to believe this is a really important thing to be angry about. But it’s not. Did you know that 500 people were killed in Sudan yesterday? Did you voice your grievance about that? Because that’s something that’s actually important. Whether or not Phil ever appears on Duck Dynasty is completely meaningless in comparison. So let’s get our priorities in order here. There are much more important events happening in the world.”

He is so right. We get so mad about the meaningless things in this world. Facebook status’ were filled with outrage. Yet, how many statuses do you see of people that are outraged about something that matters? We get angry at the refs in a little league baseball game or at someone on the road that can’t drive, but we don’t get mad that there are starving children, or people dying from AIDS or HIV.

This past June, a YouTube user uploaded an amazing video using Jelly Beans that focuses on our time left on earth. It uses data from the American Time Use Survey and United States Department of Labor to estimate how many days we really have to do the things we are passionate about or that we are called to do.

The video begins with 28,835 Jelly Beans, one for each day the average American lives. After the first 15 years, we have left 23,360 Jelly Beans.

The video goes on to say, “We will be asleep for a total of 8,477 days, and if we are lucky, some of that time will be sleeping next to someone we love. We will be in the process of eating, drinking or preparing food for 1,635 days. We’ll be at work, hopefully doing something satisfying for the equivalent of 3,202 days. 1,099 days will be spent commuting or traveling from one place to another. On average, we will watch television, in one form or another, for a total of 2,676 days. Household activities like chores, tending to our pets and shopping will take another 1,576 days. And we will care for the needs and well-being of others for 546 days. We’ll spend 671 days bathing, grooming and doing all other bathroom-related activities and another 720 days will go to community activities like religious and civic duties, charities, and taking classes.”

So after removing all of that, we are left with 2,740 beans or 2,740 days.

We have 2,740 days to do what we love, to change the world, to make a difference. We are approaching on 365 days…what will you chose to do with them? How will you follow your calling? How many of those days will you sit and listen? How many will you be serving?

Blessings, 

Faith