Too Busy Or Not Too Busy: An Exposition of Luke 10:38-42

       38       Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 
       39       And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 
       40       But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 
       41       But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 
       42       but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” 
-Luke 10:38-42

Introduction

I was listening to a sermon on Nehemiah chapter 3 where Nehemiah and the Israelites were rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. In that sermon, in reference to the Tekoite nobles who would not work, my pastor made the statement that some people avoid service because they are too busy. Then he dropped a great soundbite,

“We’re all busy, but sometimes people are just busy about the wrong things.”

This got me to thinking about busyness and the fallible mindset it can give us. Oftentimes we think the busier we are, the better we are. If we work hard, we will be successful! After all that’s the American dream is it not?

We all know someone, and maybe we are that someone, that is always on the move, always doing something, and even looks down on others that they deem as lazy and stagnant.

But in times like that, we would do well to remember that:

Crowding a life does not always enrich it. -Author Unknown

Fortunately, the Bible tells us about a busy lady, how it affected her mindset, and what Jesus truly expects of His people.

Read Luke 10:38-42

1. Martha’s Distraction – v. 38-40a

As we begin in the text, we see that Jesus is traveling during His ministy, and He enters into a village. Given the names we see mentioned in the text, Martha and Mary, we deduce that this village is that of Bethany. We conclude this based on other mentions of sisters named Martha and Mary and would naturally conclude here that this is the same people. This Martha and Mary would then be sisters to Lazarus. Lazarus was the man resurrected from the dead in John 11. This family were close friends to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Upon arriving in Bethany, we see that Jesus is welcomed into the home of Martha. The text further illustrates that while Mary sat and listened at Jesus’ feet, Martha was consumed with serving. Clearly, Mary sees Jesus as Lord and an authority given the detail that she sat and listened attentively at Jesus’ teaching. However, it doesn’t appear to be a lack of recognition in Martha’s eyes as to why she was not listening to Jesus as well. In this text, she will acknowledge Jesus as Lord, calling Him kyrios, a Greek word meaning one who has authority.

So why is Martha distracted? If she knows Jesus is kyrios, and Jesus is in her home teaching, why is she not listening like Mary? The answer is rather simple. She is entertaining the world’s most elite VIP! Think about it for a moment. You probably tidy up your house when company come over, and the more prestigious the company, the more thorough the cleaning. Friends warrant a tidy up, parents warrant a full clean, but royalty would deserve the most thorough cleansing and hosting performance you could muster.

The argument could be made that Martha is busy serving, not because she doesn’t know Jesus, but because she does! However, a few questions remain, is this a good thing, and does Jesus desire this?

2. Martha’s Demand – v. 40b

Let’s address the first of the 2 questions above: Is this a good thing? Well to answer that, let’s see if Martha was sanctified in this process.

After revealing the differences between Martha and Mary, the text tells us that Martha approaches Jesus and asks Him about the situation. To be frank, that was a nice way to describe it. In truth, she asks Jesus a snarky question and immediately demands that He demands Mary to help her.

What?! Do you see what happened here? Martha commands the Lord to demand her sister to stop listening to Jesus’ holy teachings, but rather help her play hostess instead! Imagine the audacity a person would need to have to command Jesus anything, much less that He start demanding people stop listening to His teachings.

This is what busyness can do to a person. Crowding our minds and our lives with endless tasks gives us the illusion of progress. To be fair to Martha, I don’t think she would agree that commanding Jesus to do anything is a good idea. I think she was simply so engulfed by her busyness and her responsibilities, that the sight of an “unproductive hostess” (in her eyes, not ours) was too much to stomach.

Busyness consumes us too. When we become fixated on work, service, and family, we almost begin to worship the service and the process rather than the Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. When we do, our lives begin to lack true purpose and holiness and ultimately are just clogged with emptiness. However, we cannot see it.

I wonder what Martha expected Jesus to say or do? What do we expect in times like these? Are we to win some sort of crown for our packed schedules? Regardless of our expectations, the only thing that really matter is how Jesus directs us in times like these.

3. Jesus’ Direction – v. 41-42

Notice the calm response of our Lord at Martha’s horrific demand. He simply says, “Marth, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” (Luke 10:41-42a, emphasis mine)

She is overwhelmed, she is troubled, she is anxious about so many things, but only one was necessary.

What does Jesus mean? Is this a scolding? Is this chastisement? It doesn’t appear to be. It appears to be a very compassionate reminder, that while Martha is busy with chores that are not wrong, she is ultimately overwhelmed by things that are unimportant at the time. This fact has led her to lose sight of what truly is important.

Application

What does this lesson mean for us? As we read this account, what can we glean from the text. If you’re like me, sometimes it seems difficult to harmonize the truths of Scripture.

Proverbs 31 tells us the duties of a virtuous woman, especially for her family, but Matthew 10:37 tells us that we are not worthy of Christ is we love family more than He.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 tells us that a man who doesn’t work, shouldn’t eat, but we also see Scripture establish a pattern of rest for God’s children.

So how do we balance these things? How do we balance busyness with faithfulness?

By understanding that busyness, in and of itself, is neither holy nor sinful. It’s not good or bad! In a vacuum, it’s nothing. We are no more righteous with a full calendar as we are with an empty one.

What is the key? The key is focusing on Jesus. Jesus doesn’t say in Matthew 10 to not love your family, He says don’t love them more than me. Jesus wants willing servants who are not distracted by the service but love the One whom they serve.

We need to, like Mary, choose the good portion of hearing the words of Jesus and serving God out of love and devotion to Him.

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