My Bible study group has been looking at a series on the lives of different women in the Bible. I usually expect such studies to include Ruth, Esther etc., so I was pleasantly surprised that this one contained some unusual choices. One of these was Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus.
I'm used to hearing women's talks and studies on how we should be 'Marys' and not 'Marthas'. But that's not what Jesus was saying when He gently rebuked her. He wasn't saying hospitality is bad; there are other places in the Bible where Christians are commanded to be hospitable. He wasn't telling her to stop serving Him that way. He was gently rebuking Martha because she wanted Him to tell Mary to stop sitting at His feet and start helping her prepare the meal. She was wanting Mary to fit into HER plan of how best to serve Jesus.
This was liberating to me. Jesus is NOT saying you need to have a messy house and sit around doing Bible study all day (my husband would be happy about that). We all have different gifts and ways of serving Jesus. It's not up to us to stop people from what they're doing because we think they should be joining in with our ministry. How many times have I seen that happen? People having a single focus and passion who get annoyed with everyone for not dropping everything to be involved in their particular ministry.
A timely message at Christmastime to not judge other Christians because their gifts and passions are different to yours. Just because they might not have time to be involved in what you do, doesn't mean they're doing nothing.
1 comment:
Great post Sarah. So true!
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