Title: The Faith of Martha and Mary
Contents
Martha and Mary's Faith
Luke 1 0: 3 8 - 4 2
The content of today's text is what happened when the party arrived at the house of Lazarus in Bethany. Martha and Mary are the sisters of Lazarus. Although they were sisters, their personalities were very contrasting. Martha was active and masculine, while Maria was calm and emotional. On this day, to welcome Jesus, their sister Martha was preparing a meal in the kitchen to entertain guests, while Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet and quietly listening to His words.
Seeing this, Martha was a little annoyed and had a spring, so she asked Jesus. "Lord, I do not think that my brother works alone. Command me to help me." Then Jesus said. "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but if you do a few things, even one is enough. Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken from her."
We can see here that the two sisters were in contrast not only in character but also in faith. Here we are going to examine the personalities and religious aspects of Martha and Mary.
First: Martha's character and faith.
In verse 40, Martha says that she had a lot of preparation and her heart was busy.
① I am a busy person with a lot of work to do
Everyone says they are busy. Because I am busy, I do not have enough time to pray and read the Bible. To the disciples who were asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said in Matthew 26:40, "Couldn't you have stayed awake and prayed with me for an hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not fall into temptation." Here, one hour is 60 minutes. The minimum time required for a follower of Jesus is one hour. We also need to pray for an hour a day.
No matter how busy you are, you should be able to pray for an hour a day. Only then can you fulfill your mission as a disciple. Billy Graham, a world-famous revivalist, said, "Prayer is the key to the morning, and the evening is the lock." A saint's day should start with prayer and end with prayer. “Prayer is the most precious thing in life,” confesses the Reformer Martin Luther, “if we neglect prayer even for a single day, we lose the passion of our faith.”
If the passion of faith is cooling down in our hearts, it is because we are not praying with the excuse of being busy. I hope that you will become a prayer saint who kneels before God, realizing clearly that there is nothing more important than praying.
The same goes for reading. Like Martha, she often lives without reading even a single chapter of the Bible a day because she is busy. The Bible is the Word of God and food for the soul. But if you live without reading even a single chapter of the Bible, how can you lead a right life of faith? The success or failure of faith depends on the Word. As Stanley Jones said, "Starting a day without a Bible is like a captain setting sail without a compass." No matter how busy you are, start your day by losing one Bible a day. Because God's word contains infinite treasures.
Therefore, we must use the Word of God as our guide of action in our lives. You should read the Bible calmly and regularly in your daily life, and lead a spiritually fulfilling and correct life of faith.
② Martha had a self-proclaimed faith.
Martha wanted to be recognized and praised by Jesus for working hard for Jesus and his companions. In other words, he wanted others to recognize him. So Martha asked Jesus in verse 40, “Do you not know that I work alone?”
There are two forms of living by faith.
㉠ There are people who live a life of faith like a show window.
The show window shows everything inside.
㉡ There are people who live a life of faith like an iceberg.
There is more unseen than visible on icebergs in the Arctic or Antarctic Inexperienced captains sometimes run aground when they are vigilant that the iceberg is barely visible.
There are people who expose all of their beliefs and say, "I live a religious life like this", while there are people who hide and do everything secretly. If you are a person who shows your faith to others, it is still lowly faith. He is the owner of deep faith in a religious life that places more importance on God's eyes than human eyes and hides them in secret.
No one escapes the eyes of God. It's because you're watching with your eyes like fire. Therefore, "When giving alms, do not blow the trumpet before you, as hypocrites are seen by men and do in the synagogues or in the streets for glory. They have already received their reward. When you give alms, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. . Let your alms be in secret, for your Father who sees in secret will repay you" Matthew 6:2-4. This is true not only of salvation but also of service. It's very nice to know that your superiors recognize you. However, whether others know it or not, I believe that the reward in heaven will increase when you silently live with the faith that is acceptable in God's sight.
③ Martha was very jealous.
There is a saying that there is nothing left of a woman except jealousy. Martha is busy preparing food, but Mary sat at Jesus' feet and received love, and a spring came out. Jealousy and fountains exist in both women and humans. This is because the blood of Cain flows in the heart of man. When God loved his younger brother more than himself, he killed his younger brother, and this jealousy heralds the end of mankind.
If envy and jealousy still remain in the children of God, that is what makes them kill. Isaiah 10:17 says, "The light of Israel is fire. His holy one is a flame, and in one day the torture and briers are consumed." If envy and jealousy remain in our hearts, we pray that they will be extinguished by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Second: Mary is a certain character and faith.
① It is a humble faith.
Verse 39 “There was a younger brother named Mary, who sat at the feet of the Lord and listened to him.” Jesus sat down on the chair and Mary sat at his feet and listened. It is mentioned three times that Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard the word. John 11:32 "Mary fell at the feet of Jesus and prayed for her brother" John 12:3 "She sat at the feet of the Lord and anointed her"
To sit at the feet of Jesus speaks of Mary's humble attitude. James 4:6 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” Proverbs 22:4 “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord is riches, glory and life.” Col 3:12 “Therefore, ye As God's chosen, holy, and lovingly chosen, put on mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience
Humility, gentleness, and patience are closely related. Mary's humility means that she has meekness and patience. Even if her sister Martha complained like that, there was no mention of Maria being angry. The maturity of a Christian's personality is measured by how humble a person is. To know how ripe an ear is is to know how it bowed its head. Although Mary was younger than Martha in her age, the maturity of her faith was higher than that of Martha. Being humble may seem foolish to the world, but in the sight of God, you are recognized as a powerful person.
Humility comes from self-awareness of one's own worthlessness and one's littleness before God. In Acts 10:33, the Roman centurion Cornelius fell at Peter's feet and said, "Now we are all before God, to hear all that you have commanded us." Her earnest heart made her kneel before the feet of the Lord. 1 Peter 5:5 "Ground yourself with humility toward one another. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
② I have the faith to learn.
Maria's posture is like "a cadet learning in front of a teacher". Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart." 2 Timothy 3:14 "Stay in the things you learn and be convinced of." There is no end to learning. You must learn until you die. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and tried to learn the meek and humble character of Jesus. And I tried to learn the words of truth that came out of his mouth.
The path of life itself is a path of learning. Without learning, there is no progress. It doesn't improve. You must diligently learn the Word through your religious life or church life. Faith grows through learning. Mary believed in Jesus as the Son of God and learned not to miss a single word from His mouth. The most desirable Christians are those who, like Mary, strive to learn seriously.
③ I had faith to listen to the Word.
Martha wanted to serve Jesus with food, but Mary served Jesus by listening to Jesus. Verse 39 "heard his words" Jesus loved Mary more than Martha, who listened to him well. So Jesus says in verse 42, “Mary has chosen the good side, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Proverbs 22:17 “Incline your ear to the words of the wise, and set your heart on my knowledge, for it is beautiful to keep it in you and put it on your lips.” Proverbs 28:9 If you do not listen to him, his prayers are also detestable." When we try to do something before God, we will prosper when we first hear what God wants and respond with Amen.
There were many others who showed kindness to Jesus besides Martha who prepared the food. There are people who lent donkeys, people who rented the house of the Last Supper, people who gave their possessions, and people who gave their graves like Joseph of Arimathea, but more precious than this is to listen to the word. This is not to say that Martha's devotion is not worth it. Martha's devotion is precious, but it is even more precious to kneel before the Lord and listen to the Word. We also believe that God's grace will come when we please the Lord by imitating Mary's faith.