Mary Mike and Martha

Christ-in-the-House-of-Martha-and-Mary-Johannes-Vermeer-before-1654–1655

So, you probably looked at the title of this post and then your eyes were drawn to the painting and you couldn’t help thinking, “Uh-oh, he’s finally lost it…does he really believe he’s Jesus?” Nooo…nothing as absurd as that–I’m the girl in the red shirt!

Yep, that’s me on the left, ‘Mary’ Mike. Which leads to the next question…which one are you? And, no, you can’t be Jesus either. You have to pick one of the women, that’s what the story behind this painting is all about…

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” .Luke 10:38-42 ESV

So, are you a ‘Mary’ too, or are you more of a ‘Martha’ ? I understand some ‘Marthas’ may hesitate to stand up and be counted considering that the Lord just scolded them. But I’m going to make a case here that while He was teaching Martha about “one thing” she was missing, she is an invaluable servant to the Lord–and His church. And as for us ‘Marys’, we shouldn’t get too satisfied with the Lord’s praising our getting that ‘one thing’ right. Not when there are many other times when we’re not doing that ‘one thing’ , when instead we’re just sitting there, watching Martha do all the work.

One Thing

I have to confess that as a ‘Mary’ I’ve tended to read the passage about the two sisters and found myself thinking…‘man, the ‘Marthas’ of this world are messed up!’ Sorry, Mary Mike, that’s not what it says at all. I have to believe the Lord told–taught Martha exactly what she needed to know. He didn’t want her to be anxious and troubled, and she was focusing on many–likely too many things. But her servant’s heart and actions weren’t wrong. Take the Lord at His Word…she just missed one thing…‘one necessary thing’. Granted, it’s a big thing…Jesus was right there in front of her–and He was teaching! So it was time to sit down and listen…and just bask in the overwhelming joy of being in the Lord’s presence! Don’t think for a moment that was an easy thing for her to do. ‘Marthas‘ can’t abide seeing anything left undone in the Kingdom–even temporarily. And their servant’s eyes see everything that needs doing. And on top of that, as hard as it is for ‘Marys‘ to understand ‘Marthas‘, I think it’s a lot harder for ‘Marthas’ to put up with us. But the truth is, Mary and Martha have to get along, and work together. When that happens, the church comes alive. And right now we need the church to come alive.

The Church

But before we go any further on Mary and Martha getting together, I’d like to step back and get some perspective on something–The Church.

Let me begin by admitting that there’s a phrase that I use all the time, one that I wish the Lord would send an angel with a hot coal to forever burn off of my lips…“my church”. If you really stop to think about it, that little phrase can lead you into a very unhealthy place. In fact, you’ll only find those two words…”my” and “church” placed next to each other in scripture exactly once…

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 ESV

Jesus gets to say, “My church”, Mary Mike doesn’t. And it’s not just His church–it’s His Bride

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, Revelation 21:9-10 ESV

Reminding myself that there is only ONE church–the Bride of Christ, helps my perspective. Mary Mike tends to be very picky about his church. He’ll look down his nose from his pedestal of self-righteousness, and he’ll think or say things like, ‘this church isn’t serious enough about God…who picked that song…oh my, what a watered down sermon…and who picked that color for the new carpet? Forget about it, I’ve had all I can take of this church, I’m outta here! Oh how quickly ‘my church’ becomes ‘this church’ when it fails to meet Mary Mike’s lofty standards.

But it’s not my church. It is the Bride of Christ. And it’s not there to serve me–at least that’s not it’s primary purpose. I’m there to serve it…to help prepare the Lamb’s Bride for her wedding day. Every ‘Mary’ and ‘Martha‘ among us are called to do that–equipped to do exactly that.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Ephesians 4:11-13

One body–ONE CHURCH is a hard concept to grasp these days. I grew up in a very small town that had four churches right within the city limits–two of them side by side. I’m sure they all got along, but the phrases ‘one body’ and ‘unity of the faith’, they don’t fit my recollection of how those four parts of ‘the body’ interacted. That was forty plus years ago, but I don’t see a lot of difference when I look around at the Bride today. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a “home church”, we all need a place and a group of people we regularly worship and serve with–that is absolutely scriptural! But the churches Paul wrote his letters to and the ones ‘called out’ in Revelation, their names came from their location, not their denomination. I’m not aware of any of the many different denominations–or non-denominations really focusing too much effort on attaining a unity of faith. I know there were and are legitimate reasons for church splits and Christians having different view points of view on how to worship and serve–but that doesn’t take away from the Lord’s command for all of us to pursue a unity of faith. Can you imagine meeting the Lord and asking Him, “So Jesus, what are You…Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian…Catholic?” If you do, I don’t want to be standing beside you…I’m allergic to lightning bolts. So, what led Mary Mike to blathering on like this? A goad of course…this one.

The Covid-19 essential business and services list.

Click image to go to “Essential Business” list.

Most of the businesses, services and occupations on the list make sense, though some don’t. But the fact that the churchthe Bride of Christ, is NOT on the list–how can that be, Lord?

Nation wide–world wide, churches have been ordered to close their doors…to save lives–I get that. But I can’t help asking…”how many unsaved people will catch this virus…and how many of those will die…die and go to hell before accepting the gift of grace?” So, is there anything more essential than the church in these strange times–yes, but only one thing…one necessary thing…the same thing Martha was missing–the Lord Himself. But He uses His church to lead the lost to that ‘one necessary thing‘. So I ask myself…why did the Lord allow millions of church doors to be closed? Didn’t He promise that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it‘…His church? My theory…He’s fine with church buildings closing–as long as His Church opens up. You can’t close those doors–door actually…there’s only One–I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture”. John 10:9 ESV

I think there’s plenty of evidence to support my theory too. I am amazed and blessed to see how our churches are finding ways to reach out and stay connected, even in these ‘socially distanced’ times. But I can’t help but feel that we haven’t even scratched the surface yet of what we can do–what we should do. Everywhere you look there are guidelines, telling us just what we need to do to save lives–that’s important, but it doesn’t hold a candle to saving souls. Now I’m not glued to the media by any means, but I have to say, with what we’re facing, I expected to see and hear a lot more of our Christian leaders speaking out…boldly speaking out. Telling a world that seems to be mired in hopelessness that there is hope…real hope…hope that reaches far beyond the pandemic we’re facing.

But you know what…that’s what Mary Mike tends to do…he sits and reads the Bible…prays and listens to sermons…and he watches and waits for Matha to do what needs done. But the truth is…for whatever reason, we’ve all been kicked out of the building. But we also–every ‘Mary’ and ‘Martha’ of us…we’ve all been given gifts…gifts that we are to be using…for His church…His Kingdom…and His glory–everyday! And if all the ‘Marys’ and ‘Marthas’ will do that…if we will trade in our differences, and exchange them for a unity of the faith…I think we will all be awed at the amazing things the Lord will lead His Church to accomplish.

How do we get that done when we’re pretty much housebound? I don’t know. At least I don’t have a detailed plan. But I’m confident of this…if we’ll all just remember ‘one thing’…if we’ll just take time to sit down at the Lord’s feet, and listen, let Him teach us, tell us what He needs done…then we can get up and get BUSY. I know the gates of hell will will not prevail against the Lord’s church–I just want the world to realize that too.

May the Lord bless His church so that she might be holy and without blemish at His coming,

Mike

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