Finding Resilience, Joy, and Our Identity in Jesus Christ
Rhashell D. Hunter’s Horizons Bible Study
Lesson 2: Mary of a Certain Village, Luke 10:38-42
Martha is always busy. She is doing important work for an important ministry. She has a blog post to write and a newsletter to complete. Over the last year, the need has increased, and the ministry has expanded from feeding 50 families to 100 families. Now she has guests at her home, and her sister, Mary, is not pulling her weight. Martha, out of sorts and frustrated, goes to Jesus and says, “Tell my sister to come and help me.”
Whenever I have taught this story in Luke 10:38-42, almost everyone identifies with Martha. We prefer an active life and cherish a sense of accomplishment. We want to do things that make a difference, and we prefer service over other aspects of the Christian life. During officer training one year, I set up four stations of essential aspects of the Christian life: worship, service, prayer and Bible study, and asked the elders to stand by the stations that represented where they were most comfortable putting their time and energy. Eighty percent went to the station representing service.
Service is an indispensable aspect of a faithful life. Our gratitude for God’s grace should inspire faithful actions. However, we often overlook other essential parts of the life of faith.
Mary has chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet as a disciple, listening to him teach. To Martha, Mary is not pulling her weight. To Jesus, Mary has chosen the better part of listening to God’s word. Spending time with Jesus gives us our foundation from which all else flows.
It is essential to know what Jesus taught and let it guide our actions. In the bitter divisions in our country, it is easy to get caught up in the rhetoric and portray the other political party as the enemy. However, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and not be judgmental about others. We are to treat others the way we want to be treated, which I feel means we should display respect and kindness to others, regardless of whether we agree with them. By reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Chapters 5-7, we learn some of the fundamental principles for living as followers of Christ.
As Mary listens, perhaps Jesus is teaching from the prophets. Through them, we learn that God judges Israel harshly for trampling people who are poor and vulnerable. Jesus teaches in Matthew 25 that when the nations are judged, those who showed no compassion for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger or the imprisoned will be condemned.
When we know what Jesus taught, we are better equipped to make choices that align with who Jesus is. For instance, in our current day, almost no one talks about the deepest needs and rights of poor families, but this is a major theme throughout Scripture. How might Matthew 25:31-46 apply not only to our individual lives but also to our communities and our politics?
Mary is often presented as the contemplative aspect of faith. Contemplation on Scripture and engagement in prayer can provide us with a quiet center. Jesus tells Martha that she is worried and distracted by many things. Prayer and contemplation of Scripture can settle us down and give us perspective. We can journal around a Scripture passage. Take the story of Martha and Mary. Read it through three times to let the words begin to sink into you. Write as though you are Martha. What are your thoughts and feelings? Upon what do you focus? Write as though you are Mary and then as Jesus. What does each one think and feel? Upon what do you focus as Mary and then as Jesus? What insights does the passage give you about yourself?
A passage of Scripture can deeply touch us. I was reading the Gospel of Luke when I was younger and the story of Mary and Martha affected me profoundly. I identified with Mary, wanting to sit at Jesus’ feet as any male disciple would. The story gave me permission
to attend seminary, even though I had never met a woman pastor.
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