“But the Lord said to her, ‘My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it—and I won’t take it away from her.’”
-- Luke 10:41-42
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Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) was an English Baptist preacher, author, and editor. Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle from 1861 until his death. Founded a pastors’ college (1856), an orphanage (1867), and edited the monthly The Sword and the Trowel magazine. To read full biography click here. |
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As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me."
But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it—and I won’t take it away from her." Luke 10:38-42
It is not an easy thing to maintain the balance of our spiritual life. No man can be spiritually healthy who does not meditate and commune with Jesus; no man, on the other hand, is as he should be unless he is active and diligent in holy service. David sweetly sang, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures;” there was the contemplative, “he leads me beside the still waters;” there was the active and progressive: the difficulty is to maintain the two, and to keep each in its relative proportion to the other.
We must not be so active as to neglect communion with God, nor so contemplative as to become unpractical. In the chapter from which our text is taken, we have several lessons on this subject. The seventy disciples returned from their preaching tour flushed with the joy of success; and our Savior, to refine that joy, and prevent its degenerating into pride, bids them rather rejoice that their names were written in heaven.
He conducted their contemplations to the glorious doctrine of election, that grateful thoughts might sober them after successful work. He bids them consider themselves as debtors to the grace which reveals unto babes the mysteries of God, for he would not allow their new position as workers to make them forget that they were the chosen of God, and therefore debtors. Our wise Master next returns to the subject of service, and instructs them by the memorable parable of the good Samaritan and the wounded man; and then as if they might vainly imagine philanthropy, as it is the service of Christ, to be the only service of Christ, and to be the only thing worth living for, he brings in the two sisters of Bethany; the Holy Spirit meaning thereby to teach us that while we ought to abound in service, and to do good abundantly to our fellow men; yet we must not fail in worship, in spiritual reverence, in meek discipleship, and quiet contemplation.
While we are practical, like the seventy; practical, like the Samaritan; practical, like Martha; we are also, like the Savior, to rejoice in spirit, and say, “Father, I thank you,” and we are also like Mary, to sit down in quietude and nourish our souls with divine truth.
This short narrative I suppose might be paraphrased something after this fashion. Martha and Mary were two most excellent sisters, both converted, both lovers of Jesus, both loved by Jesus, for we are expressly told that he loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They were both women of a choice spirit, our savior’s selection of their house as a frequent resort proved that they were an unusually gracious family. They are people representative of different forms of excellence, and I think it altogether wrong to treat Martha as some have done, as if she had no love for good things, and was nothing better than a mere worldling. It was not so. Martha was a most estimable and earnest woman, a true believer, and an ardent follower of Jesus, whose joy it was to entertain Jesus at the house of which she was the mistress.
When our Lord made his appearance on this occasion at Bethany, the first thought of Martha was, “Here is our most noble guest, we must prepare for him a sumptuous entertainment.” Perhaps she marked our Savior’s weariness, or saw some traces of that exhaustion which made him look so much older than he was, and she therefore set to work with the utmost diligence to prepare a festival for him; she was anxious about many things, and as she went on with her preparations, fresh matters occurred to ruffle her mind, and she became worried; and, being somewhat vexed that her sister took matters so coolly, she begged the Master to upbraid her.
Now Mary had looked upon the occasion from another point of view. As soon as she saw Jesus come into the house she thought, “What a privilege have I now to listen eagerly to such a teacher, and to treasure up his precious words! He is the Son of God, I will worship, I will adore, and every word he utters shall be stored in my memory.” She forgot the needs both of the Master and his followers, for her faith saw the inner glory which dwelt within him, and she was so overpowered with reverence, and so wrapped in devout wonder, that she became oblivious of all outward things. She had no faults to find with Martha for being so busy, she did not even think of Martha, she was altogether taken up with her Lord and with those gracious words which he was speaking. She had no will either, to censure or to praise or to think even of herself; everything was gone from her but her Lord and the word which he was uttering.
You see then, that Martha was serving Christ, and so was Mary; Martha meant to honor Christ, so did Mary; they both agreed in their design, they differed in their way of carrying it out, and while Martha’s service is not censured (only her being cumbered comes under the censure), yet Mary is expressly commended, as having chosen the better part; and therefore we do Martha no injustice if we show wherein she came short, and wherein Mary exceeded.
Our first observation will be this, the Martha spirit is very prevalent in the church of God just now; in the second place, the Martha spirit very much injures true service; in the third place, the Mary spirit is the source of the noblest form of consecration.
I. THE MARTHA SPIRIT IS VERY PREVALENT IN THE CHURCH
At this period — prevalent in some quarters to a mischievous degree, and among us all to a perilous extent. What do we intend by saying that the Martha spirit is prevalent just now? We mean first, that there is a considerable tendency among Christian people, in serving Christ, to aim at making a fair show in the flesh. Martha wanted to give our Lord it right worthy entertainment which should be a credit to her house and to her family, and herein she is commendable far above those slovens who think anything good enough for Christ. So also, among professing Christians, there is at this present a desire to give to the cause of Christ buildings notable for their architecture and beauty. We must have no more barns, our meeting houses must exhibit our improving taste; if possible, our chapels must be correctly Gothic or sternly classical in all their details, both without and within. As to the service, we must cultivate the musical and the tasteful. We are exhorted not to be barely decent, but to aim at the sublime and beautiful.
Our public worship, it is thought, should be impressive if not imposing; care should be taken that the music should be chaste, the singing conformed to the best rules of the are, and the preaching eloquent and attractive. So everything in 291 connection with Christian labor should be made to appear generous and noble; by all means the subscription lists must be kept up; each denomination must excel the other in the amount of its annual funds; for surely everything done for Christ ought to be done in the best possible style. Now in all this there is so much that is good, so much that is really intended to honor the Lord, that we see no room to censure: but yet show we unto you a more excellent way.
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C. H. Spurgeon, Preacher, author, and editor
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), preacher, came of a family of Dutch origin which sought refuge in England during the persecution of the Duke of Alva. Charles Haddon’s grandfather, James Spurgeon (1776-1864), born at Halstead, Essex, was independent minister at Stambourne. His son, John Spurgeon, the father of Charles Haddon, born in 1811, was successively minister of the independent congregations of Tollesbury, Essex, of Cranbrook, Kent, of Fetter Lane, and of Upper Street, Islington. To read full biography click here. |
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