Lonely

There is a story in Luke 10 that constantly seems to speak to me in new ways:

A woman named Martha opened up her home to Jesus. Mary, her sister, sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.

Martha came to Jesus 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, you are worried and upset about many things,” Jesus said, “but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better—and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha opened her home to Jesus. Maybe Jesus asked her to, maybe He didn’t, but it was her choice, anyways, and I’ll bet she made the decision with joy. But now, she was on the hook for the administration of the party that would happen. In her culture, the responsibility for a gathering like this was no small thing.

Mary, however, wasn’t helping in that task. And after a while, Martha blew a cork “Lord, don’t you care that Mary isn’t helping me? This is a lot of work. And it’s all for you. Aren’t you concerned that I’m burning out on all this effort all by myself?”

As I read the story this time around, I identified with her cry. Pastoral ministry can get lonely. Sometimes it feels like you are carrying the whole thing by yourself.

“Lord, don’t you care that Mary is not helping me and that I’m in this alone???”

But Mary wasn’t called to make preparations for the party—she was called simply to listen. Jesus wasn’t going to make Martha feel better about her “ministry” by assigning Mary to help. If He had, then there would be 2 people who were worried and upset, and not listening.

Martha had to learn how to serve and listen. Then she’d be able to joyfully pull others into her task. But as long as she was worried and upset and distracted, Jesus wasn’t assigning anyone else to help, because they would also be overcome with the same condition.

Is it possible that we sometimes can’t (shouldn’t) find people assigned to help us because we would set the wrong example? That Jesus doesn’t want to take away the simple devotion people have to Him? Maybe we must learn how to focus on Him in our work before we will find partners in that work?

Otherwise I will just create a bunch of people who know how to throw parties and run meetings, but who don’t know the first thing about how to listen to Jesus in the midst of those gatherings.