NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

November 1

Scripture focus: As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand." The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it's the main course, and won't be taken from her." Luke 10:38-42 The Message

In recent months my family has had the opportunity to practice what I preach – and we’re not particularly happy about this state of affairs. Frankly, we’re eager for our “end of the rope” experiences to slip off into the night. We’re anticipating a new year with more determination than anticipation. If I ever ran in a marathon, this is how I imagine it would feel – we see the finish line and we are gritting our teeth in grim-faced determination – trying to finish the year without making a further mess of things.

The story of Martha informs my thinking on this subject of finishing what I start. I began 2009 with desires and dreams – I plan on ending the year with this same spirit of expectancy in God’s prevailing purposes for me and mine. Martha helps keep my enthusiasm humbly in check.

Martha began her grand epic adventure – serving Jesus a delicious home-cooked meal – with delight. She welcomed him and made him feel at ease. Martha might have appreciated this victory too, if she hadn’t lost her place in the story. This is pure speculation, but I think that if Martha was willing to invite Jesus over for supper, she probably had the gift of hospitality.

Unlike the Pharisee who needed the unsolicited and unwelcome help of a harlot to treat Jesus graciously, Martha was obviously on her game this particular evening – Jesus felt at home.
Poor Martha got distracted by Mary. She wasn’t able to keep her eye on the finish line. Dishes needed washing, dessert was ready to serve, and the drinks needed a refreshing splash.

Suddenly, the kitchen felt more like solitary confinement than a launching pad for serving the Son of God.

Unable to contain her frustration, Martha demands that Jesus coax Mary back into the kitchen. In our community, we would call this triangulation. Triangulation is when one person (Martha) has a conflict with another (Mary), but instead of working it out with the alleged offending party (Mary), one of the offended parties (Martha) brings a third person (Jesus) in to run interference. Running to God with our worries and woes is a good thing – in fact, He invites us to do so. But Martha’s story provides me with a timely reminder – I’m responsible for myself and responsible to love others. Martha stopped working her own spiritual renewal program the minute she became distracted by Mary’s program. Two more months are left in this year. I’m praying we’ll pull up our britches and re-tie our shoes – we’ve got 61 days left to follow God’ s lead in 2009 – we don’t have time to worry about how anyone else is running their race! When we let others distract us, sometimes we trip over our own shoes.

Recommended reading: Isaiah 28-31

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