8^th September

“As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what He taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing….”

Luke 10:38-40a

In 1999 Zach Neese wrote the song ‘The More I Seek You’, which was popularised through Kari Jobe’s recent albums. The song contains such deep and profound language and doesn’t seem to dissimilar to that of something David would have written in the Psalms. The intimate picture this song paints, tells of how close our relationship with Jesus should be. Reading today’s passage we see a similar encounter of complete intimacy with Jesus, through the actions of Martha’s sister Mary.

As Jesus and His disciples made their way to Jerusalem, they were stopped by a lady called Martha who welcomed them into her home. Amazingly, Martha opens her home to Jesus, without the text being clear that they even knew each other. Furthermore, again Jesus breaks cultural customs by dining with a woman and even allowing Mary to sit at His feet. Yet this event represents something so much more than just a un-cultural dinner date.

As Martha scurried about busily preparing dinner for her guests, her sister Mary, simply sat at Jesus’ feet listening to His teaching (a posture than young disciples would have adopted when learning from their Rabbis). Martha, slightly irritated, confronts Jesus and asks for Him to “tell her to come and help…”. Yet Jesus loving answer may not have been what Martha had wanted to hear. He commended Mary for discovering what was the most important thing to do. Jesus added that there was only “one thing worth being concerned about”, intimacy with Him.

So often, our lives can get so caught up in serving and being distracted by doing so much for God that we forget to spend with God. Martha wisely and loving opened her door to Jesus, yet was so caught up in serving Him that she didn’t spend any time with Him. On the contrary, Jesus commended Mary for simply sitting at His feet and listening to His words. Let us take a look at our lives and think about what is stopping us spending intimate time with Jesus. Let us not be so busy serving Him that we also forget to sit and His feet and spend time with Him. He longs for intimacy with us.

“The more I seek You,
The more I find You
The more I find You, the more I love You

I want to sit at Your feet
Drink from the cup in Your hand.
Lay back against You and breathe, feel Your heart beat
This love is so deep, its more than I can stand
I melt in Your peace, its overwhelming”

Zach Nesse, Gateway Music