5 LET'S SPECULATE THEN

5

Let’s Speculate Then

Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 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!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42

Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." John 7:33-34

Is there anything more to Martha and Mary than a lesson in where our focus should be? We have discussed how many have speculated about these two. We have touched on how some saw each as two sides of the Christian life: service and worship; and others saw this as two sides of church participation: Deacon and Elder. We can accept those views if it helps, but I feel they are forced upon the situation. Why would we say this from what happened in the situation? Does our worship entitle us to ignore service? Should service take precedent over worship? Is an Elder too spiritual to indulge in service? Does a Deacon have a right to complain about the Elder not helping with church maintenance? It would seem if these are the meanings we take from this visit than we have missed something, a gap we have to leap over to such a conclusion.

Well, you may ask, do you think there are other meanings to be found here. Yes, I do and yes I am going to speculate, but if others can speculate, so can I. I see two possibilities; Religion verses Christianity and the failure in faith of Israel.

I know for many, Christianity is considered a religion. I see Christianity as a lifestyle, a worldview, a way of life, in fact, is life, and in earliest times, believers in Christ called it The Way. Religion is a formal set of rituals usually invented by men. (I say usually because there are certain rituals and practices of the Jews that were dictated by God.)

Most Churches have agendas. This helps prevent chaos, but most of the things we think of when we think of the church are merely tradition. You don't have to be baptized by a Minister in a church on a Sunday morning, for instance. You can be baptized anywhere at anytime by anybody. As churches grew and became more formalized, so did the "preparations that had to be made". There are many jobs surrounding the church and it is easy to become very taken up with them. This, as I have mentioned before, happened to me. You find yourself helping with the service, being on committees, cleaning the hallways and mowing the lawn. There was a point where my wife and I were youth ministers and that service to the church required much preparation that often included worry and upset. And much too often trying to get everything ready and make everything perfect took us away from the Lord in ways we needed. Religion and serving religiously can become one's idol. In fact, some people are so busy religiously serving Christianity they never become Christian. Sometimes people do so much for the church they believe they have earned their salvation, but they have never really put their faith in Christ and so miss it.

I'm not judging Martha or claiming she was never saved. I am only saying it is a possibility she might have been working for her salvation and missed the Word of God which was what she needed. She chose works over faith. You see where Jesus says her concerns were and that Mary chose the better.

Lets look at when this visit and then the subsequent events concerning Martha, Mary and Lazarus occur in Christ's ministry. These happen in the last months of his life. He has come to Bethany not long after having a confrontation with the Religious leaders of the times, a time when his life is even threatened. It is in this confrontation he tells them, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." This could have just as easily been said to Martha when she is so busy she has no time to sit before Him.

But here again we also have a picture of what is happening on both sides of this visit, confrontations with the religious leaders over what he and his followers aren't doing and not hearing what he is saying. Israel is busy practicing and defending their religious practices, which they have perverted with traditions from the original intents of God, and they have no time for their Messiah while he is with them. We can kind of see Israel so busy in preparation for the Messiah that they ignore him, while the Gentiles who have done nothing to prepare are accepting Him by faith.

I think these themes carry through with the raising of Lazarus and the party given in Jesus' honor afterward. And I think we also have to ask the question why did Jesus weep?

Illustrations in this section:

"Marthe et Marie" by Jacques Pilliard, 1844

"Martha and Mary" by Nathan Greene (born 1961) date of painting unknown.