st. barnabas church.

Holy Week revisits the last week of Jesus life on earth. It leads up to the Passion of the crucifixion on Good Friday and is followed by the celebrations of His rising in new life on Easter Sunday. During Holy Week one of the bible passages is about Mary and Martha.
  This comes from Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke. Mary and Martha, who are sisters, open their home to Jesus as he travels with his disciples.
 While a meal is being prepared, Jesus starts teaching and Mary sits at his feet, listening. Martha is apparently also listening but distracted by the meal preparation and gets irritated that Mary isn’t helping. Martha goes to Jesus and says, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me”
Jesus’ response was unexpected. Rather than tell Mary to help, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, 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”
Why Does Jesus Rebuke Martha in the Story?
One of the first things we need to recognise about this story is that Mary and Martha are not simply “the hero” and “the villain.” Martha’s actions were about being hospitable and serving her guests—two things which when used rightly are good and God-honouring. 1 Peter 4:9–10 describes hospitality as a spiritual gift and Romans 12:6-8 describes service as a spiritual gift. So, the problem with Martha’s actions wasn’t that she was doing things that God doesn’t value. The problem must be something else.
The text says that Martha was distracted from listening to Jesus, which may suggest she’d been invited to sit at his feet but kept going off to focus on the meal instead. This would fit Jesus’ point about Martha being upset by many things, not realising which thing is the right one to focus on.
The idea that this is about priorities comes again when we notice that Martha asks Jesus whether it’s “unfair” that Mary isn’t doing any work. Fairness is about priorities, finding the right option at the moment. Martha is asking what is more important in that context: listening to Jesus or making sure he is well cared for as a guest. Jesus responds that the most important thing is to learn from him.
 There is a time and a place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). At that moment, the most important thing was to listen and learn. What is stealing your attention from Jesus today and letting bitterness or resentment sneak in. It’s time to stop rushing and worrying like Martha and take a seat like Mary. We can set aside time each day to come before the Lord in prayer and reading His word. He offers us peace in the middle of chaos and worries. His grace is sufficient, and His mercies are new every morning.
Anxiety about many things comes from neglect of the one thing most necessary: sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to Him.
The Lord will surely have things for us to do in our lives, a chance to use our gifts and talents but they need to come from Him. This is why ‘prayer’ is the one thing necessary and the better part because work should flow from it and is subordinate to it. Let us ask the Lord Jesus to help us to cultivate a Mary heart in a Martha world and let us make King David's prayer our own: ‘Give me an undivided heart that I may live in awe of your name’.