Read Luke 10.38-42
In Luke 10 we find one frustrated lady. Martha was distracted, “…Martha was cumbered about much serving…” (41) Cumbered is the greek term periespato. Periespato comes from two words: peri and spao. Together they combine to make the phrase, “to draw away”. Periespato is to distracted, to be driven mentally, to be distracted, to be over-occupied, too busy about a thing or things. Here periespato is in passive voice, so Martha was distracted from within. She was preoccupied with the busy work in the kitchen instead of being in the living room with Christ. Frankly, her problem had nothing to do with Christ because her mind had nothing to do with Him at that point. She became focused on her sister and the lack of help she was receiving in the kitchen. In her own words, “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.” Interesting to note that the first thing she does is ask Jesus if He cares. As if to say… Don’t you care? Why won’t you make her do it? Why are you sanctioning her laziness? As if that was the problem. Why would she get in so much of an upheaval? Before we go further, I’m pretty sure each and every person reading or hearing this will remember a time recently where you have been a Martha up to this point in the story. She was cumbered, she was distracted from within, yet chose to act-out at Christ.
Jesus’ reply to Martha’s objection reveals the result of being distracted, “…Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.“ (41) Jesus diagnosed her as being anxious and disturbed, about many things, no less. Jesus’ reply reveals 3 identifiers to our Martha-syndrome today:
- Anxious
- Disturbed
- Patterned behavior
First, anxiety (careful) is ‘merimnao’ which means to be divided into parts. It is a part of a thing opposed to the whole. It is concern that pulls apart or distracts. It is used to explain the effect of worry to the mind. Jesus said not to do this in Matthew 6.27-28. Today, someone might say something ‘tore them apart’. That tear is the same as “careful” in our text. Secondly, disturbed (troubled) is ‘thorubeo’ which means to disturb greatly. Greeks of the first century would use it as a noisy upheaval, to yell or cause a ruckus. Sometimes it was used when someone would cry aloud or scream when in distress. It literally means to make or cause an uproar. Taking these two together, Jesus told Martha she was both anxious and disturbed, even causing a disturbance. Which she definitely did by confronting Christ with the questions she did. Why? This is where we discover our third identifier for distraction… patterned behavior. Jesus told her she was cumbered about or distracted by “many things”. This had become a pattern in her life. It wasn’t just the dishes in the kitchen was it? She became so worked up that she stormed in there and made some demands.
Jesus further replied with some instruction for Martha in verse 42— “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Instead of being so distracted by so many things that end up tearing you apart, and cause you to have an uproar… chose the ONE thing that is good for you. That one good thing that Mary did was, “Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.” (39)
Believers today are living like a Martha instead of Mary, even when it comes to church. People say things like, I’m not getting anything out of the service. That’s because it is known as a church ‘service’ instead of worship. This passage alone clarifies the difference in service and worship. Martha was serving as Mary was worshipping. Nothing wrong with serving, but not when you should be worshipping. With all of our so-called duties we are too distracted to simply praise Him and worship Him. Too busy! It doesn’t start there though. Our distractions came with us to the assembly. It came from within, like Martha. We are cumbered about with many things indeed. Our life is too fast, too busy, too much, too often. We get in an uproar like Martha, and think… not enough help, no one cares, where is everyone else, no one understands. Or as Martha complained… I’m here feeding all of these people, alone. Sometimes it comes out like… I have to finish this job, feed these animals, reply to these emails, pay these bills, invest untold amounts of time on facebook. To the point you have so much on you that you are about to lose it.
Remember it came from within! You set yourself a pattern of busyness which has caused a lack of real love (action and not feelings) for others and a disregard for worship. In fact, a distain for those who aren’t in the mess you are in. I have heard statements like… it must be nice, I wish I could. Such sarcasm is simply a result of the tumult within, like Martha. We are all Martha to some degree. Believers seem trapped in these vicious cycles, but trapped by their own behavioral patterns. Most are just going with the flow of distraction not paying attention to the consequences. The church system around them isn’t helping either… I will discuss this in our next post.