Rest and receive.

Luke 10:42
But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.

This scripture clearly shows us that the choice is ours: either simply receive the blessings and rest that Christ has offered to us, or work to somehow impress the God who created the universe. (Wow, when you put it that way, it sounds pretty stupid!) Which decision will you make? More importantly, which decision will you stick with?

You see, in the case of Mary and Martha (interestingly enough, I’ve never heard it presented as “Martha and Mary”, even though Martha was mentioned first in the passage) both women began at the same place in their time with Christ. “[A]nd she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” (Luke 10:39) This verse tells us that Mary and Martha were both sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He had to say, but something happened to Martha.

Martha got distracted by work, work that she felt needed to be done in order to satisfy their guest. Work that probably consisted of preparing bread, cooking meat, and pouring wine. She got caught up in her need to serve the Christ and completely missed the point of His coming.

Mary, on the other hand, recognized why Jesus was there. She sat and listened to what He had to say. She soaked up all of His wisdom and rested by His feet. Surely she knew that dinner still had to be made, but she recognized that Christ was much more important than a simple dinner with friends.

How often today do we become Marthas at church instead of Marys? We’re told constantly to serve, serve, serve and give, give, give. I ask you, is that the message that Jesus brings? He said that Mary had chosen the one thing that was needed: rest. His rest. Martha started at a place of rest and left to work. Sometimes isn’t that what we do in our walk? We come to the cross and start under grace, at a place of rest, but then we get distracted and move out from under grace back to works. We forget that Jesus finished all things at the cross.

While Martha was off preparing a meal of bread, meat, and wine to satisfy their physical needs, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus who is the Bread of Life, the Lamb of God, and His blood, the Wine of the New Covenant abundantly supplying her spiritual needs. We need to start recognizing this simple truth: our desire to be justified by our works is a flesh-oriented attitude. It is self-centered, not Jesus focused. Martha was upset because Mary wasn’t helping HER (Luke 10:40), not because she wasn’t serving Jesus! That’s what happens when we forget to rest, to receive the grace and justification offered by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

I’m not saying we need to stop serving and giving; I’m saying we need to stop making serving and giving our top priority! Resting and basking in the abundance of Grace found at the foot of the cross should be our main focus.