Are you Mary or Martha? This is a question, not an answer. Mary, or Martha? Are we too busy for Jesus, or are we at his feet, listening?
When I watched Mad Mad House, I noticed one episode seemed to be `apeing' this verse from Luke. This girl was trying to get the million dollar prize, and one day she was asked to stay in the room of the Voodoo priestess lady. The Voodoo priestess gave her a choice: either sit and talk with her, or go with the others to the bathroom and scrub out the toilet. The girl chose to scrub out the toilet. She did not win the prize money.
While I feel this girl did not miss out on much, because she only missed Voodoo lessons, Martha missed out on some very important information from Jesus.
I have seen similar things happen at churches I've been to. A man decides to paint the church or mow the lawn instead of participating in service. Some ladies leave service early to serve breakfasts or coffee. In these instances, I wonder if they are missing something important.
Sometimes when you serve in a church service, you also take on the Martha attitude. In choir, you get wrapped up in trying to sing perfectly, and keeping a schedule, and sometimes don't pay attention to the words of the song you're singing. If you serve as acolyte or pastor, you might worry more about doing the traditional ceremonies properly than about understanding their significance and showing people what those ceremonies are about.
Then there are the `business people.' People who work seven days a week, nearly 24 hours a day, in order to buy that new car or pay for something else expensive, instead of at least trying to go to a Wednesday night service or a bible study group somewhere.
In our own lives, we sometimes ask ourselves, is this really the best use of my time? Or should I spend this time praying or studying the bible, or doing some other thing the Lord commands?
Ask yourself: who am I acting like? Mary, or Martha?
Dear Father in heaven, please help me to act like Mary more and like Martha less. Help me to not be so busy as to not listen to your son Jesus. Help me to keep my hands open and ready to do what your Son commands. I pray this in your holy name. Amen.