Martha's Dilemma

Luke 10:38-42
"Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

When the story of Mary and Martha is talked about, Martha often gets slightly berated for her failure to sit at Jesus’ feet. It is tempting to simplistically conclude that Mary was spiritual and Martha was carnal. While Mary wanted to listen to Jesus, all Martha was interested in was doing.

Mary gets the star and Martha has to sit in the corner of the room. We figure that it is better to pray than cook for the potluck supper, and spiritual things always trump natural things. While there certainly is truth in this, there is a much deeper dynamic and lesson here that few people realize.

Beyond the simple spiritual-versus-carnal lesson, I think Jesus was trying to teach two less obvious principles that we can apply to many areas of our lives and which shed light on the spiritual-versus-carnal concept: 1) Sometimes it is okay to break free from cultural norms and 2) Misplaced priorities can be detrimental.

According to cultural norms, Martha was doing exactly what was proper: She was serving her guests. To do otherwise would have been a terrible slight to visitors. In Martha’s society, failure to prepare food and drink for guests was unthinkable. Her womanhood was defined in great part by her ability to serve her family and guests.

During our time in Jordan, we spent a lot of time in people's homes. I do not remember one instance of being in a home where we were not served food (usually fruit or cookies) and drink (usually tea or juice). Middle Eastern women are such gracious hostesses that I feel quite clumsy by comparison. The picture above features Umm George, or Mother of George (her eldest son). She and her family do not have a lot materially but they are generous with what they have.

When Martha asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her, she was appealing to their society’s inbred understanding of a woman’s place in their culture. Their proper role in society dictated that women take care of the home and children. Even today, in Jordan, few women work outside their homes. Even if you walk into a women’s clothing store, nine times out of ten you will find a man serving as the clerk, not a woman. Although a few women work in grocery stores and hospitals, it is understood that these are exceptions to the norm.

Then as now, as a traditional woman living in the Middle East, it was unacceptable to mix with men. Many of the homes we visited were guided by this rule. To a great extent, men fellowship with men and women fellowship with women, sometimes even in separate rooms.

When Mary opted to sit at Jesus’ feet instead of helping Martha in the kitchen, she became a woman in a man’s world. By entering a room full of men, as though she was one of them, she removed herself from her proper role in society. So, although we understand that we should be like Mary and not Martha, there is more here than at first meets the eye.

Jesus was trying to help people understand that sometimes the gospel contradicts culture. And when it does, we must follow the gospel. In this case, although what Martha was doing was entirely right, there was a higher law at work here. Mary discovered that “good part.” She somehow realized that her acceptable role could be set aside for a higher way of life. While Mary instinctively understood this, Martha had to be taught it.

Jesus invited “whosoever will” to follow Him (Matthew 8:34). Anyone and everyone – male or female, Jew or Gentile, poor or rich – was welcome. Jesus did not validate the barriers in His society. In fact, during His ministry, Jesus was constantly uprooting traditions and unseating cultural norms. He fought against deeply rooted mindsets. Some of the mindsets, in and of themselves, were not necessarily evil. But when they caused people to be stuck in a rut, Jesus referred them to a higher way of life.

When Jesus told Martha, “You are careful and troubled about many things,” He was letting her know that her problem was her adherence to cultural norms when something more important was occurring. Although she was doing what was right and proper, she failed to recognize that there was a higher law trying to work in her life. Note that nowhere in the passage did Jesus actually condemn Martha for her hospitality and service. He only pointed out her misplaced priorities, which were causing her to be agitated and upset. It is okay to do as long as our deeds are motivated by pure love for Jesus.

We can learn a lot from this passage. Sometimes we feel so compelled to mirror the customs and mindsets of our society. We feel pressured to conform. As our world gyrates with change, from modesty limits in clothing styles to the acceptance of once shunned sins, we are bombarded with pressure to follow their trends. Because we are Americans, we do American things and we think like Americans. We never pause to consider that our loyalties to American culture should be far exceeded by loyalty to our King who rules a nation far superior to America or any other earthly country.

Some things about America are not necessarily evil but our adherence to them can inadvertently cause us to have misplaced priorities. For example, America was built on principles of hard work, entrepreneurship, and solidarity. These are some of the concepts that made America great. Here, you could become almost anything you wanted to become. Dreams could become reality.

Whereas these principles are not evil in and of themselves, for some they could become detrimental. A man could become a workaholic and neglect his family, creating insecurity and resentment among them. An entrepreneur could become so focused on making his business successful that he fails to spend time in prayer and misses church services to work late, eventually becoming spiritually lukewarm.

We must dedicate ourselves to keeping the Kingdom of God in sharp focus. It will not happen automatically. In the Old Testament, God warned His people against assimilation (Leviticus 18:26-27; Deuteronomy 18:9; 12:29-31). You will live among them but don't worship their gods, He said. Don't follow their customs. Blending was never acceptable.

When we try to fit in with the world around us, we are attempting the impossible. We are simply not one of them. We are peculiar, or special, people (Titus 2:14). We are a holy, or separate, nation that has been called out of darkness (I Peter 2:9). We might be Americans, but we are also citizens of a greater nation. When choices have to be made, our loyalty to our heavenly home surpasses our earthly home. Sometimes we will have to completely abandon certain activities and concepts. With other things, we will just have to keep first things first. As it was not wrong for Martha to serve, so some things will not be wrong for us to do, as long as our priorities and motives are right.

Mary was misunderstood by her sister Martha. When we go against the status quo and break free from cultural norms, we should expect to be misunderstood, even ridiculed at times. Until onlookers break free from the kitchen and enter the presence of Jesus, they simply will not understand the beauty of things they find so repulsive.

Just as Jesus admonished Martha to readjust her priorities and lay aside her innate habits that were so comfortable to her, He sometimes asks us to do the same. When we must make a choice, our guiding charter must be the Bible and the principles of the Kingdom of God. It is a higher law, a superior way of life.