Mary and Martha (Part 1)

There's confusion at times around the persons of Mary and Martha among us believers. I find that when this topic comes up, there's often guilt related to this story (Luke 10:38-41), reflected in the defensiveness that arises about these two sisters.

I don't pretend to have a final word on the subject, but I hope what I share may help give at least a piece of understanding as to why the Holy Spirit made a point of including these young women in the Word of God. I don't believe His intention was to pit the two against each other and thereby cause us to do the same.

There's A LOT that could be said about them. My point in this 2-part writing is to say that I believe that Mary and Martha each represents a mindset or attitude related to priorities. I'm not convinced that any one person is a "Mary" nor that any one person is a "Martha". I don't think we're intended to apply these labels artificially.

We tend to think that the very active person who has a calling to work with his/her hands is not expected to spend time at the feet of Jesus because of the demands on him/her and because they just aren't the contemplative type. On the other hand, we look at a more contemplative type person as someone who finds it easy to sit and listen to Jesus and who doesn't do anything else.

I see Mary as representing what I'll call the "spirit of first Love". In other words, she exemplifies the one who has settled in his heart that he will do whatever it takes for Jesus to remain true to Jesus as First Love in a world that is constantly pulling and pushing the believer into so much human-initiated activity that he has little time to sit at Jesus' feet to listen to Him.

I see Martha as representing the believer who has given up the fight and reconciled himself to being a slave of the expectations of himself and of others.

I had a simple experience a number of years ago that the Holy Spirit used to open my understanding to what it means to have a "Mary" heart. One Saturday morning I was going through my normal routine of having a simple breakfast after having had time in the Lord and His Word. As I finished eating, I got up as normal to wash the dishes, and suddenly I had a sense of the Lord drawing very near to me in a manifest way. My first thought was that I would wash the dishes and then take some moments to be with Him. At that moment the Spirit of God whispered to me that this was a Mary/Martha moment. The "Martha" response to His nearness is to finish the task at hand first THEN stop to be with Jesus. The "Mary" response is to push the "pause" button, leave the task undone and be with Jesus.

By God's grace, I chose the "one necessary thing" that morning; of course, the dishes got washed a little later. The secondary things that have to get done will get done when we make being at His feet priority.

All of God's own are called to be "Marys" in heart and mind, though the expression of this will differ with each one according to each calling and personality; it's a heart posture of fighting for being at Jesus' feet as top priority, being His friend above all else. Notice that I speak of "fighting" for this; in other words, it's the attitude and action of contending for the "first Love" lifestyle even though we will never feel like we've "arrived." I believe Martha represents the one who has decided to quit fighting for this place at His feet and has settled for a lesser place of not experiencing His nearness and is content to serve Him at a distance and leave intimacy with Jesus to those who we think are more "naturally wired" for that.

Put into different language, I see Mary and Martha as pictures of walking in the spirit and walking in the flesh. Sarah and Hagar (as taught about in Galatians 4:21-31) are pictures of the same.

God has fashioned you uniquely for Himself; whatever your uniqueness looks like, you can have a Mary heart, one that desires and fights to be in the "first Love" relationship with Him. Even when you feel you don't attain this (and how do we ever know we've attained??), your desire and struggle to live in this reality counts to Him, and His heart is moved by you. The more living understanding you have of His heart being touched and moved by your fight to keep Him in first place, the more empowered your heart will be to walk in the "Mary" reality.

Next week I'll share some thoughts about how we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of remaining in the Vine, true to Jesus as our First Love.

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your life and death and resurrection and ascension and for the Gift of Your very own Spirit by which we are empowered to be men and women with hearts and minds like Mary of Bethany. Come and increase desire for You so that we can leave undone that which must be left undone in order to give You wholehearted devotion. Thank You for Your zeal concerning this, which is our greatest hope for being true to You!