Martha has a short story in the Bible, but there's so much to learn from it! Pastor Roger Theimer joins Mike and Dan to talk about the misunderstood takeaway many have from Martha's story and anchoring our identity in Christ.
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Thanks for listening!
Martha has a short story in the Bible, but there's so much to learn from it! Pastor Roger Theimer joins Mike and Dan to talk about the misunderstood takeaway many have from Martha's story and anchoring our identity in Christ.
Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
Have questions or comments? Email us at contact@kingofkings.org.
Thanks for listening!
Hey there, king of Kings family, welcome into another episode of the Beyond Sunday Sermons podcast. This is the podcast where we take a message that is preached on a Sunday morning and we break it down. We get into the nitty gritty a little bit, we try and just unearth some different insights that you just don't have time for in a 30 to 35 minute message, and we're able to bring on some different voices and have people who didn't give the message speak on it. And that's exactly what we're doing today, starting with our director of ministry and a full on dog convert, mike White.
Speaker 2:It's good to be here. My eyes have seen the glory of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Wow, dog convert, yeah, hard. Hard Used to be, I know, total anti dog, I believe in conversion, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I'll show you afterwards. I'm really, I'm interested, really I am.
Speaker 1:And if anyone is watching or listening and they're wondering who is this other voice or who's this other person who's talking, that would be Roger Timer, and whether you have spent five minutes or 25 years at King of Kings, there's a good chance you have run into Roger and you will remember him because he is just an endless source of personality and energy and enthusiasm. I mean, this is the type of guy you meet and like three minutes later you're like hugging and telling him your life story.
Speaker 2:He's just such an awesome individual.
Speaker 1:Roger, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you.
Speaker 3:I consider it an honor we get to talk about the Bible.
Speaker 1:Yes, we do get to talk about the Bible, and the context in which we will be doing so today is based off of a recent series we had called God's Broken Heroes, where we examined people from the Bible, people that we kind of put up on these biblical pedestals and we talk about the great things that they did, but when you look at them a little bit more closely, they're really really flawed, screwed up people who do terrible things, and still those are the ones who God chooses and says I want this person to carry out this mission, or Jesus needs this person to carry out his mission.
Speaker 1:The person that we're going to be examining today is Martha, who I think is someone that is so fascinating because she, in the Bible, has a very short existence. She only appears three times and each time it's only you know a couple verses. So I mean, we're talking a couple paragraphs of content and yet she's so well known. Before we even dive in, guys like first, just first blush, like when you think of Martha, what, what pops to the front of your mind?
Speaker 3:I think of friend Martha, was one of Jesus closest friends and she was a gal and he refreshed himself in her home. That was very important in his life.
Speaker 2:I mean, I would see her as the antithesis of a hero. Almost when you think of biblical hero, she doesn't come to mind, but I think she also moves beyond the church, even known in the secular world as a Mary Martha. Oh yeah, I mean, I have personality types, I know which which we'll get into, but I, I wouldn't consider her a hero, but yeah, a super close friend of Jesus and supported him as ministry. So look forward to digging into this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, the word hero probably doesn't really work in relation to Martha, at least in the traditional sense, but I think that there's a lot that we can learn from her. And that's exactly what where we're going to start today. Because her appearances are so short, I'm just going to go ahead and read the first one. We're going to start in Luke 10, 38.
Speaker 1:It says as 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 so 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 all the work by myself? Tell her to help me, Martha. Martha, the Lord answered you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. As I read that, what do you guys see from Martha's character in this passage?
Speaker 3:I feel a little bit more at home with myself.
Speaker 1:For sure I would agree with that.
Speaker 3:I am that person that can easily get distracted, pulled away from all the tasks. I readily identify with that.
Speaker 2:Even as you read it I've read this dozens of times different things were standing out. She's very hospitable. Jesus would be traveling around and speaking, going into homes and stuff like that and having meals. She was hospitable to host dozens of guests, we don't know how many. Then, for the first time, I saw her home. It's odd for a woman to be the primary homeowner back then, which is really interesting. We don't know, maybe Mary lived there, maybe Lazarus did too. We would probably guess, but we don't know who else was there. It's probably an influential woman that had power, but very hospitable.
Speaker 3:Yes, there's something else that's ought to be mentioned about her, even though it's sometimes held against her because she's set in contrast to Mary. You're thinking that she's so busy she really doesn't care about simply loving Jesus like good old Mary did. I think that if we dig under that, I think we'll find that's not the case at all.
Speaker 2:I find myself I'm a fairly type A person. It almost gets typecast as Martha's type A, bad Mary's type B. She's a beer. Whatever you say, she is and she's at the feet of Jesus. That's the right. There's obviously right there, but, like you said, there's more beneath this. There's more beneath it.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean going off what you guys are saying. If everyone was a Mary and everybody's just sitting at Jesus' feet, then the meal doesn't get made, nobody gets served, everybody starves. It does require both. Roger, you talked a little bit about digging deeper and getting into those two personalities and how it's not just Martha bad, mary good, but there's a balance there. What do you see there?
Speaker 3:Well, I think the context is first begun by understanding what's Jesus' agenda, because he always has one and is for our best. He wants to bring us into a discipleship relationship with himself. That involves what Mary's doing she's sitting at his feet. Now I think it's pertinent to note that in that culture that was a very unusual thing. That is the position of a teacher and like a rabbi having a student, you sit at the feet of your rabbi. Well, she's a lady, that doesn't happen. So that's kind of like a what. But then there's Mary serving. Excuse me, martha serving.
Speaker 3:Martha serving. And last, we think Jesus' agenda is to only be about having someone spend time with him personally, like Mary was doing. This agenda is discipleship and it involves both sitting at the feet of Jesus and serving Both of those things. If you take the context of all of his teachings, it's a lot about being and doing. So there's nothing wrong with the doing. It's just something else needs to be uncovered about what Martha was up to. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:Well, I think. I mean we don't see any reprimand or anything from Jesus until Martha comes and gets on Mary and she says don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself, tell her to help me. That's when Jesus is like oh you know, wait, martha, I've got a teaching moment for you here. I think he was totally receptive and, I'm sure, honored by her serving and preparing a meal and preparing her home and everything for him. But it was when Martha was like OK, now Mary is, she's being discipled, she's, she's in her right place. Tell her to get up and do something else. That's when Jesus was like whoa, we got a teaching moment here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wonder too speculation. Is this the first time they ever met? How much notice did they have before Jesus is coming over? Is it 15 minutes, Is it? It's probably not a lot of notice. I wouldn't think. But yeah, like you said, I think the issue is when she triangulates Jesus, her anxiety spills over Jesus. Do something, Tell her that she's doing the wrong thing, something like that.
Speaker 3:So my question would be what do you think was happening in Martha's heart?
Speaker 2:I think she was consumed by anxiety and a good thing became an ultimate thing. What was the good thing? Something's a good thing, but I think speculation. I think her identity became wrapped up in serving in that moment and everything being perfect, and she had expectations for Mary that Mary wasn't fulfilling. So anxiety overflows and she has to bring in Jesus to go set things right. I think it's what she's doing.
Speaker 3:What do you think? Well, I do think that what Jesus always goes after is what's the condition of the heart. Yes, I don't have a tendency to only look at outward circumstances, but let's go underneath and if we can identify with Martha which I can, when I would be busy in something like that, I typically am going to be worried that my house is not going to look good enough, I'm not going to perform well enough, and that's not only about me serving them, that's a lot about me serving me. So my heart gets displaced and it can become and I think we see this in her response to Mary it becomes a kind of self-righteousness. I almost hear that in that tone. This isn't fair. And when she comes back with that, this isn't fair. And she says first of all to Jesus don't you care? Oh my.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now you're accusing Jesus. Oh my.
Speaker 3:And then she says my sister has left me to not think about the fact that Mary's right there, my sister. So think about how that's defensive and also dismissive. But then it was like a command tell her to do something. And also she just felt all alone. I mean, that's what she says. So if it is a version of self-righteousness, which is all of our issue, that's what's in the heart and it surfaces like that. That's part of my take on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I was thinking about hospitality, and when you have different people over at your house you feel differently, and so I know we have close friends that they come over and you can just totally be yourself. You stay in your pajamas at night or whatever. It is no big deal how the house house does not be perfect. So yeah, I think it was identity, it was anxiety, it was how do I look in front of this crowd and then look at everything I'm doing? Jesus, while she's just sitting there, didn't even call her by name, says my sister. It's pretty interesting dynamic between them.
Speaker 1:I think you guys bring up some good points. I'm really interested in what you said, Mike, because about them potentially not knowing Jesus yet, and, as you mentioned, Roger, the Lazarus, who is Mary and Martha's brother, and Mary and Martha became some of Jesus's closest friends. But just the wording in the Bible and you know it can be dangerous to speculate too much about wording, but I just find it so interesting. It says that Jesus came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. Like that doesn't make it sound like, oh, you know, my good friend Martha's here, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pop in and see her, it's. It almost makes it sound like they might have been meeting for the first time. So like I'm trying to put myself in Martha's headspace.
Speaker 1:Here is this phenomenon, this preacher who is just making all kinds of waves. He's uber famous and all of a sudden he's here and he's got his 12 best friends with him and they're hungry and they need a place to stay. Even if she's not worried about herself and how she looks, she might have just been honoring Jesus. She's just like. I have so much to do. I don't know if I can do this by myself. Mary, get off your butt and help me. I don't know. What do you guys think about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of that stood out, Roger. I'd be curious what you would say. I speculate how much time Jesus spent in Bethany. I think it was annually because he In Jerusalem but we don't know and I'd have to look more context. But Mark breaks it more easily. But he spends a lot of the gospel in Galilee, so he would have been much more familiar there, journeyed to Jerusalem once a year, maybe a little bit more.
Speaker 3:But at least once. At least once because there were several festivals.
Speaker 2:Right. So I don't know what his reputation would be in Bethany. I mean, what do you think?
Speaker 3:I think he had quite. That's my take, Because we show how close they were.
Speaker 2:A couple miles.
Speaker 3:Well, no, close to Jerusalem, two miles from the temple and it's kind of your staging area, and he and his disciples would be sticking together. And if this were the third year of his ministry or something, or second year, then yeah, they would be together and this would be even could even be a bigger event than that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're right, he's traveling with disciples. There were those that weren't disciples that were following. There were religious leaders that were probably checking him out and wondering, because there was encounters and opposition right before this.
Speaker 3:So who knows how big the crowd is, and I think that the point here is it's completely legitimate to say this could be first, it could be a third, it could be a gathering. Either way, plenty of reasons for anxiety. And the Bible says you are distracted, you're pulled away, you're burdened down by many things. Now there's our touch point. How do we respond to that? Because we all have it. I'm gonna go back to what I think helps us understand about our heart, because this is something for us as well. By nature, we have a tendency to self justify and to promote our own self-righteousness.
Speaker 3:When we do we build a world and economy around us that's all based on earn and deserve. Yes, and that's behind those remarks. This isn't fair. She should, don't you care. Now, we've all done that and Jesus is always tuning into that, because what does he want to give Now? I got some this morning in my quiet time.
Speaker 3:I found some great theology as I was thinking of how much of our lives are do we spend in sitting with Jesus and how much serving, and I went through the Beatitudes and I see, oh my, there's a lot about sitting with him, a lot about being and a lot about doing.
Speaker 3:Okay, but foundational to it all, when we sit with him, we are receiving what's called passive righteousness. It's what he's done for me Now, not just when we sit with him, but anytime we're serving as well. I mean, you can't really separate it out, but passive righteousness simply means I am able to receive how much he loves me and how he's given his life for me and he's the one who's rescued me. Active righteousness, on the other hand, is what I do to show my righteousness, his righteousness, living through me, and that's why we can't lump serving as something bad. No, it's something good, but when our active righteousness or our own right deeds start flowing from a heart that is built on self righteousness, not our own received righteousness. Like passive righteousness, it goes south, and that's what Jesus is talking to the Pharisees in context, right here, in these sections and throughout his ministry, he's always aiming at that.
Speaker 1:What do you think makes passive righteousness so difficult?
Speaker 3:Oh, the nature of our sinful condition. We're wired that way. We are wired to be people that build a world on our own self absorption that I'm the one that's large and in charge, and if it's meant to be, it's up to me that kind of thing, so I will build it on earn and deserve, and therefore it's hard for me to set that aside and be loved based on simply who I am and in spite of my faults. But moreover, because of who Jesus is, it's one thing.
Speaker 2:I think that's why Christianity is so radical and revolutionary, because it centers on grace and that's such a foreign concept to humanity, I would say especially in our American context, where it is so much predicated upon what you do.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, that's all it is is what you do, and so then that's it.
Speaker 2:So you're coming back to an identity that you can't earn, that's been freely given to you and that's a hard concept to rest with, and I think that Martha was doing exactly what you were saying is going serving became her identity. And then, even more than that, that the chronology is fascinating, and I think we overlook some of the chronology of how God set up the order of scripture. And so right before us we see the parable of the good Samaritan. Expert in law stands up. Well, who's my neighbor gives that parable of this incredible act of humility and serving this guy who is injured and wounded, and then, right after that, mary takes that and becomes an ultimate thing to identify who she is.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that thing, anytime it becomes ultimate, it becomes an idol and it displaces God 100%, and then I have a hard time receiving who God is Now. Ironically, in my devotional time this morning I happened to be in Psalm 40 and get this Maybe it wasn't ironic. Yeah, maybe it wasn't.
Speaker 1:All right. Psalm 40,. Sorry, I didn't mean it.
Speaker 3:No, no, okay. And David writes sacrifice and offering you did not desire. He's just talking about you desire me, you desire my heart, right? But then he goes on and say this but my ears you have pierced. Well, that means he's identified as a slave.
Speaker 2:That's what they did. A slaves.
Speaker 3:But that was something that was free because it means ownership. It wasn't the ultimate identity. The ultimate identity is Is who he is in relationship with the Lord. But I'm gonna live that out and I might be a complete servant. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's interesting.
Speaker 1:No, what do you think, mike?
Speaker 2:Had freed more. The context of Psalm 40, I mean, I think that's a great point on that, you know, and Jesus is offering a greater identity, and I don't know. It's a struggle for me. You watch where you get. You get frustrated. You watch where you you compare, and it's because it's a lack of identity. Yeah, you know. Yeah, I was thinking of Colossians 3, where it talks about work at it as if working for the Lord. I don't think that Martha was necessarily doing that. I think she was working at it for herself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know that, because that's how I do. That's how I do too.
Speaker 3:I want to come in and show why I'm better than everyone else and, yeah, my own righteousness comes from my work and my right, and and I believe that's one of the reasons why God designed for us to have regular rhythms in our lives, so we can take it out and find it. That's why sitting at his feet is important, right, so that we can Uncover in our heart those things that would distract or pull away. Right, and sometimes we don't get to that position anyway because we're too distracted and pulled away. Yeah, but even the weekly rhythms of Sabbath, and why God said that's so important, take that weekly time with me, because it reminds you, to quote my cry, white, it's all about your identity, finding it there in Christ, which is all about receiving his righteousness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is interesting. I was. I was reading in John 10 this morning and where Jesus is saying I'm, I'm the gate, I'm the good shepherd, my, my sheep know my name, and so that's an identity statement. Is is your his as? Thinking about our sermons at King of Kings, we basically have one message every week. It comes out in different contexts, but it goes back to the gospel, goes back to who Jesus is, what he's done for us, what that means for me, and then out of my identity, my life flows out of that.
Speaker 2:I don't, I mean every week it's the same message, just package a little bit differently, hopefully but that's the same message that we sit at his feet, yes, and learn every day. Yep, because we forget it.
Speaker 3:Oh, forget people because of our nature. Yes, going to want to become Little bit like Martha here. Tell her to get up. Yeah, what is she thinking? Yeah, can't you one? No one appreciates me here. You know that kind of yeah it's good.
Speaker 1:All right, I want to take a look at Jesus's response now, and this is one of those times where I wish we could hear his tone, because I feel like his response would be so Different if read in different tones. So he just he starts off and he just says Martha, martha, and I think if you read that, you could read that in a lot of different ways. I think you could read it as either retribution or retutation. I think those are the two words that you used in our Our pre podcast meeting. Roger and I found that so fascinating. What do you guys think about Jesus? You've got Martha, who's all sped up, and she is, she's anxious, and now she's probably a little bit flustered, maybe even angry, and Jesus's response starts with Martha, martha. Why do you think he started like that?
Speaker 2:Whenever a name said twice or multiple times in scripture means more is more emphasis to it. But I think there's just such a tenorness in Jesus's heart because your eyes has just been taken off the right thing. So that's what I would say is it's.
Speaker 3:It's a tenorness, it's a shepherding, it's a pastoral heart Behind it, wanting her to see the main thing and if his heart is her discipleship, so that she would come to know him and love him right and serve him more completely, for her benefit as well as for his, then what's needful here? Is it a rebuke or is it an invitation? So I'm it sounds invitational. When you continue, especially in the reading, though tone could even, you know, switch that it kind of comes back to what is that one thing that Jesus refers to as you continue in his response?
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 2:Know, I jumped ahead in your.
Speaker 3:X Exposition of that verse.
Speaker 1:No, no. This is good, because Jesus says you're worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only one. What's the one?
Speaker 2:So back to the, the Martha, martha, the gentleness kind of stuff I was reflecting on on parenting and we're all married Now. Or we have employees or people. We so, when someone's ramped up and anxious, like what if you meet them with anxiety or scolding or yelling or stop.
Speaker 2:I mean that doesn't go very well, right? You want to be a calm presence? Mm-hmm, talk you down, roger, no need to be right, I don't know. I was thinking about that with my own kids, with my wife, with stuff like that. That's what they ever get anxious, but Hypothetically speaking, so that's really a nice one yeah. Sorry, back to your question. Go again.
Speaker 1:No, it's, it's all good, though that was good to add. I'm glad we got that. But but Jesus, he says few things are needed, or indeed only one. What do you think he's referring to by one?
Speaker 3:Hmm, I've pondered this and I can unequivocally say I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:And that's the podcast for today, folks, we don't know the main thing.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 3:But this is where I would land. I would land at what his number one desire is for Martha and for me, and that would be to simply know him and receive his love and love him wholeheartedly. And loving him wholeheartedly is measured by how we love others. Right, the serving counts, sure, but at the basis of it is simply receiving that love and delighting in him back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would echo that receiving love, then giving love Also, it always starts with receiving. So, yeah, I just think it's way more than a typecast of type A versus type B people and the being is always better and second. Well, no, like you said. You said really well that the being informs the doing. Yeah, and then we can't miss order, those kind of things. So we're turning to that identity, that love that Jesus has shown for us, and then that informing all my activities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, I love how we've kind of uncovered that. The lesson here is not Martha bad, it's that there needs to be both rest and action. Right, both things are good. So then, what do you guys make of Jesus? The last thing that he says? He says Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her. I think a lot of people might look at that and say, okay, well, jesus, like we said, we're looking at resting and action. Jesus is identifying resting at my feet is better than action. But I think what we've been talking about here is these two things are equal. They just, you know, you don't want to have more, one more than the other. Why do you think Jesus says what Mary has chosen is better?
Speaker 3:What would it be if because I talked about passive righteousness and active righteousness Talk about receiving his love and then living his love out? Would not both of those be two sides of the same coin? If you're sitting at his feet or if you're serving, I mean, are you not serving him when you're sitting at his feet and listening to his word or praying or responding, and when you're serving outright, are you not also receiving from him the mindset of what he's given you, so that you are serving him as you serve whomever? And if that's the case, then what is better is having at the heart the very love of Jesus. That is better than trying to run it all on your own or for your own housekeeping award.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably a sequencing thing too, the being with Jesus. Again, like we've said a bunch of times, informs the doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's a sequencing.
Speaker 2:It's an identity thing, which we've said before, and so Mary was resting that identity, whereas Martha was looking for identity and what she did so. But when serving flows out of a healthy identity, then it's great that I'm not comparing, I'm not complaining, I'm not triangulating, I'm not. But she wasn't doing that. She was trying to find that identity in what she was doing and then clearly showing how what Mary was doing was less than what she was doing. And Jesus flipped it and said actually she's resting her identity while you're finding it from this work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that brings to mind, kind of a random illustration, mother Teresa, who in her serving the dying in Calcutta had lots of disciples come and want to be part of that, but what was required was that they would be up Now this is my recollection like by five am for two hours of prayer and time before the Lord, before you go out. Well, and the point was, if you didn't do that you couldn't survive out there. But the point also became a lot of the people who came wanting to get out there and make a difference amongst the pours to the pour Just, were too restless, too undisciplined to take the two hours daily, couldn't take that regimen. Yeah, um, to your point. We need to put that as a bedrock of our daily rhythms and also just as our life's orientation.
Speaker 2:I thought Luther had a similar. When he was anxious he prayed more, I think, if I remember right with him.
Speaker 3:Well, he'd say you know I'm, what was it If I didn't pray? Yeah, if I'm too busy, it's kind of like a. Bill Higles quote too busy not to pray. Yeah, I can. I could never get it done unless I spent an hour in prayer.
Speaker 2:And then you watched Jesus rhythms. He had that same thing. There were great ministry opportunities. And he's like no, I'm going to get on a boat and go over here spend time with my father. No, I'm going to go, jesus, there's people here that need ministry. You're right, I'm going to go recharge and sit my day and be when that's maybe why Luke, immediately after this text, puts Jesus going off praying. That's fascinating. I'd look before, not afterward, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's what happens.
Speaker 1:The very next verse says one day Jesus was praying a certain place, and then that's when Jesus teaches them the Lord's prayer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, interesting Serving's great when it's done the right way. Here's an example of not being done the right way. Now go rest in identity and prayer. Yeah. Wow, you brought the heat with that one. That was good stuff there, dude.
Speaker 1:Okay, so like I mentioned off the top, Martha does not get a lot of mentions in the Bible. There's really kind of one other main section that she's in. When her brother Lazarus dies, Jesus ends up raising him from the dead. It's a miraculous story. Definitely go read that in Luke 11. But I want to speed ahead John 11?.
Speaker 2:John 11.
Speaker 1:John 11. I apologize, Good catch. I want to speed ahead to John 12 real quick, and this is. We see this beautiful story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with this very expensive perfume and she's criticized by some people saying, oh, we could have donated this to the poor. That's not the point that I want to get at today. There's two words in that whole story that stand out to me, and that's the mention of Martha. It just says Martha served yes, what do you guys make of that? Do you think, A, Martha just didn't learn her lesson? Or B, maybe she had learned her lesson, but she was still just living out her lesson, Her way of loving Jesus? We don't know. Maybe she had sat at Jesus' feet and now she was serving after, I guess. What do you make of the Bible specifically noting as Mary is again resting at Jesus' feet, anointing his feet with perfume? Martha served.
Speaker 3:I think she was getting it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she was so evident in all of Jesus' teaching. Who's the wise man who built his house on the rock? Those that hear the word of God and do it, and do it yeah.
Speaker 3:So it is coming and serving out of that righteousness that Jesus gives us, not our own self-righteousness, and I think it was a critical part of the story, because it was where this place was hosted. And Jesus get this. Jesus is going to feel loved. Jesus is going to feel loved when, in her home, martha's home. And what's Mary going to do? Well, she's going to anoint his feet with costly perfume, extravagant, and that's kind of a visual of what's happening in their hearts. I think it's fascinating.
Speaker 2:It's a very similar setup to the Luke 10 situation, but it might be ramped up exponentially more, because in John it's right before the triumphal entry. We don't know. Luke is at the first, second, third. Who knows how many times.
Speaker 2:But we know this is the last time, basically, and so there's probably an even greater crowds, there's more and more pressure to serve and look right, and then here's Mary with an even greater expression of worship, with the perfume. So Martha could have had the same situation, but I think you're right, her heart was right in the situation and she served from a healthy identity. And I would also encourage. I think in the body of Christ we overvalue the public gifts, so the worship leaders, the preachers, the, whatever it is, and we weigh, undervalued, devalue servants, administrators, prayer and recessors. Just because they're not visible doesn't mean they're not equally as value. They don't get the stage time, but man Martha's killing it and making this thing happen.
Speaker 3:Did Jesus need to feel loved?
Speaker 3:and honored According to his human nature. I mean, he's God Technically, he's God you don't need, but he does say love me, maybe more out of our need, but did he need something that they both provided? See, I think there's something behind that because, as even going on, at that next day, when he makes that walk, his feet are anointed with oil. How blessed are the feet of those on the mountains who bring good news. Oh, my Jesus, he knew the Bible. He could see the prophecy coming about, he could see the body of Christ. Ministry Right.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that's pretty sweet.
Speaker 3:I think he was feeling love from them and he needs to feel loved. We do too.
Speaker 1:I was going to say something, woody, that, no, you're just absolutely right. We do need to feel loved, there's no question about that. I think it's really interesting. Not only I think the Bible notes what Martha did she served but also what she didn't do. This time she does not say Mary, that's my expensive bottle of perfume.
Speaker 2:Don't be dumping that around.
Speaker 1:Get up and help me. She allows this thing to happen while others are questioning it. She's still doing her thing and she's saying that's how my sister is honoring Jesus. I'm going to honor Jesus in the way that I know best.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1:Any closing thoughts on Martha and her journey before we get out of here, gentlemen?
Speaker 2:I think it's just cool connecting the dots, the context, the excavating a little deeper and just seeing what's really behind that. It's not a type A, type B, it's an identity that informs activity and your own unique giftedness. We see how Martha's really grown from Luke 10 to John 11.
Speaker 3:For me. It reminds me that it's helpful to catch myself when my heart is operating from a place of my own earn and deserve empire my self-righteousness. That would cause me to be more interested in making things look right, especially in the name of religious stuff, which is easy for a church worker to do. When I do, I really simply just turn to God and say I'm sorry. Thank you, Jesus, that you completely fulfilled what it means to serve with your whole heart, because you served all the way to the point of the cross and I'm forgiven. Now please help me have that same kind of heart that, over time, helps me daily. Just not get caught off guard as much about that little self-righteous voice inside.
Speaker 2:What are indicators? I think we all have those moments of Martha. What would be indicators? I think in that moment it feels really good to criticize, to elevate myself to what are triggers or indicators for you guys where you would say this has gotten unhealthy or I've moved out of this identity.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah it's worry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anxiety, it's worry yeah.
Speaker 3:I can go to Matthew 11 and hear Jesus say hey, come to me all you who worry. You're burdened, heavy laden. Come to me, find rest for yourselves. I'm gentle and humble of heart, and that's the indicator that worry should turn me there right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, any thoughts for you?
Speaker 1:I would say just, I agree with Roger, be worried and anxiety, and then just taking a pause and saying where is that anxiety coming?
Speaker 3:from that's good In.
Speaker 1:Martha's situation. Is she really worried that Jesus doesn't feel honored, that he's hungry, that he wants a clean house, or is she worried that Jesus is thinking poorly of her? Or does she want Jesus to go? Man, I was just pretty well put together, this Martha. She can make some mean bread. What is causing her anxiety? Is it her desire to serve and honor Jesus or serve and honor herself? I think that that's something that we can apply to our lives as well, as just when that worry and that anxiety hits. It's why. Why is that hitting? Where is it coming from? And then, hopefully identifying if it is selfishly, you're able to course correct on the fly.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're very well said.
Speaker 1:Thank you, roger. Very well said, all right. I mean, I really like how we kind of came full circle. Yeah, martha, definitely not a hero in the terms that we would normally think of as a hero, but she gives us an incredible biblical example of what it looks like to both sit and to serve. There you go, and yeah, great job, martha.
Speaker 3:Good job, Martha Teaching us good stuff today.
Speaker 1:All right, that's it for us on this episode of Beyond Sunday Sermons. Let's keep living our faith lives beyond Sunday.