The Barrenness of Busyness

Eastford Baptist Church
March 15, 2007

“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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

One of the greatest enemies of a joyful life is hurry. In the 1960s there was a report to Congress that stated advances in technology would simplify our lives. In fact, they spoke of a shortened workweek and extra leisure time, but apparently something happened on the way to the future. Instead of extra time, we live in a time-crunch. Is there anyone who really has enough time to accomplish all they want to do? It seems as if we’ve become addicted to doing things as fast as we can so we can cram in everything our busy schedules demand. We eat fast food. We drive rush hour on the expressway. Even the products we use point to our addiction to hurry: We send packages by Federal Express, use a long-distance company called Sprint, manage our personal finances on Quicken, schedule our appointments using a Day Runner, diet with SlimFast. We even swim in trunks made by Speedo!
The busyness of our life can act like an anesthesia, which dulls our spiritual senses. It eventually affects our memory causing us to forget the value of sitting in the presence of Jesus. This is what happened when Jesus took his disciples to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Martha is suddenly confronted with the fact that Jesus has arrived for lunch, and he didn’t bother sending an e-mail in advance that he was coming. Not only did he arrive unannounced for lunch, he brought his big, Galilean fishermen friends along with him. And they had voracious appetites! Now she was confronted with the fact that these hungry men needed feeding. So being the kind, helpful, energetic, faithful, reliable person that she was, she sets to work because somebody has got to do it. But there’s a problem. As she starts to work there is a barrenness in her soul as she is busy at the sink. There's no joy or delight in it. She’s frustrated that she’s doing all the work by herself. (A hurried lifestyle most often produces harried people.) And where’s her sister Mary? Why she’s out lounging at the feet of Jesus, just enjoying his presence. Seeing her out there just about drives Martha nuts. Finally she can’t stand it any longer and her frustration boils over. Martha goes up to Jesus and gives him a piece of her mind. She tells him it's not fair that she should be so overloaded and that her sister is so under-employed! “If you cared for me, you would straighten this out!”
Jesus doesn't say an awful lot in response, which does not help people like Martha who get so upset over all the perceived pressures they are facing. “Well, Martha dear, you probably aren't going to be terribly pleased to hear this, but in actual fact, Mary has chosen the better part.” While Martha was experiencing barrenness, Mary was experiencing blessedness as she soaked in everything Jesus had to say. The Lord didn’t want that interrupted. The Bible doesn’t actually say how Martha reacts to Jesus’ comments, but I imagine her going back out into the kitchen even a little more frustrated then before. I imagine the banging of the pots getting a little louder as Martha slogs through her self-imposed anxiety.
But I guess we need to be careful about being too critical of Martha. After all, there was work to be done and somebody had to do it. And after all, she was working for the benefit of someone else, not herself. Doesn’t she display the heart of a servant? There’s nothing wrong with having a strong work ethic. The Bible never promotes idle hands or a slothful attitude towards work. But that’s not really the point of this passage.
This is a passage about priorities. Jesus is teaching us that loving God must come before serving God. Loving Christ and enjoying Christ must come before any other work to which we put our hands – no matter how important that work may seem to us. When we don’t keep that priority straight, there is a barrenness that begins to creep into our soul. The King of Kings had come to visit, but Martha was so distracted by her busyness, she didn’t have time to enjoy Him. She tried to justify her stressful, busy life by pointing to her responsibilities. But Jesus reminded her there are more important things in life than meeting the next deadline. More important than all our individual responsibilities is responding to the wonderful God who loves us. He put us first on His priority list. We should likewise honor Him.
It is unlikely that the pressures and demands in our life will slow down any time in the near future. If anything, the pace of life seems to get busier and more demanding as time goes on. The question we must ask ourselves is how we will respond. Will we live continually enslaved to the tyranny of the urgent? Or will we slow down and sit at His feet and enjoy His love and presence?

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Praying for all the Martha’s out there,
PT