As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
Many many moons ago, the school I was teaching at in Westminster saw a huge influx of families moving into our area from Mexico. Older families moved out as their children grew up and left home, and their homes became rental properties for our new migrant families. In fact, the numbers were actually startling. Ninety-five percent of our students were from Mexico. Irony of ironies, our elementary school faculty had no Spanish speakers. Yikes!! The State of Colorado sent us speakers to help us prepare to better serve our new clientele. And that started the effort of understanding their culture. In our very first meeting, we talked about priorities. We were told that our new families were not so likely to be looking at those Dr. Spock parenting guides that told us that at 8 months our children should do this, something else at 12 months, and something more at 15. In America, we tend to panic if those expectations don’t occur right on time. We were told that the culture our families had grown up in tended to be much more patient about time frames. Kids will learn when they are ready. Our new families would be much more laid back about learning. We had grown to have a certain set of priorities that our new families did not. It was quite the learning process.
In our story, the sisters Mary and Martha had different priorities. Martha’s priorities were not out of line. She was concerned about very real jobs that needed to be done in order to prepare for their new house guests. This was an exciting and special time. And Mary wasn’t helping. She just wasn’t. She was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach. You can understand how Martha felt. But Jesus lovingly responded to Martha’s query.
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
However busy our lives may be, however important the jobs may appear, of first import must be our relationship with Jesus. I am reminded of Jesus’ story of the ten virgins.
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.”
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’”
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’”“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.”
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’”
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’”
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” Matthew 25:1-13
The five virgins who were locked out were not necessarily doing wrong or evil things, but they ended up missing out on what may have been the most important moment of their lives because of misplaced priorities.
Ultimately, our lives and our futures depend on our relationship with Jesus. We must protect that at all costs. This priority is about eternity. Choose Wisely!!
by Bruce Hanson
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