Most people who have read about Jesus would recognize the name Mary, but we don't talk about her sister Martha very often. In this particular story, the siblings - Mary the disciple (not the mother of Jesus), Martha, & Lazarus are visited by Jesus. Martha goes into the kitchen to cook, and Mary stays with Jesus listening to His teachings. When Martha gets upset that she's doing all the work, she complains to Jesus, and Jesus corrects her by reminding Martha that He (Jesus) is worth Mary's attention.

It's easy to read this story and assume "oh, we should be more like Mary and less like Martha", but I think there's more to it than that...

Martha is the one who welcomes Jesus into the house - she opens the door, welcomes Him in, and then gets distracted. How often do we welcome Jesus into a moment, and then get distracted by something else? Martha struggled with unbelief & distraction, just like many of us. If we truly knew who we had access to, we wouldn't waste a moment with anything outside of Jesus. Satan doesn't need to kill us or get us to sin... he just needs to distract us, so we never fulfill God's plan for our lives. The enemy can use busyness, sin, and worry to put distance between us and Jesus.

Now for Mary - she had a choice when Jesus entered her home. Culture at that time dictated that women were to prepare for the guest, but Mary chose to ignore her responsibilities and spend time listening to Jesus. See - Martha was distracted by what SHE was preparing. Mary was distracted by what JESUS was doing. Mary chose to go against culture and to sit and hang on every word Jesus said. We all have dreams and desires, but when was the last time we asked Jesus what His plan for our lives was? God never withholds good... unless He has something better to give. So we have to trust Him and choose to sit at His feet listening.

This story is about tension - the tension in struggling with distraction, the tension in choosing to go against culture... we have to embrace the tension of sitting at Jesus' feet and serving. We need both!

Suspension bridges require tension to hold weight - we have to be anchored one side in Jesus, sitting and listening, and the other side in serving others, showing them what Jesus is like.

Our sole purpose here on earth is to show others around us an accurate reflection of what God is like... to show them through our lives who God is.