THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever felt like you do way more chores than your siblings?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 10:38-42. 38Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
If you have a sister or a brother, then you can probably relate to Martha in today’s story. Jesus and the disciples all went to Martha and Mary’s house for dinner. While Jesus was there, Mary stopped working to get dinner ready and, instead, sat at Jesus’ feet like the disciples listening to him teach.
Martha, however, kept working in the kitchen getting dinner ready. All the while getting angrier and angrier at her sister and at Jesus for letting her sister get away without doing any work.
Can you relate to Martha? Have you ever felt like your sibling is getting away with something? Have you ever felt like you do all the work and no one helps you? Or worse yet, that Jesus doesn’t care?
The thing is, if we think about how things were done back then, then Martha is right and Mary is wrong. As the owners of the home, both Martha and Mary should be working very hard to serve their guests. This is called hospitality. Back then hospitality was a very big deal. To sit and listen to Jesus, like Mary did, without serving everyone food and drinks, or washing their dirty feet, well, this would have been a huge mistake back then.
But Jesus says that Mary has chosen the good portion. Or, “Mary has chosen the better thing.” Why do you think Jesus says that about Mary? Why would it be better to sit and listen to Jesus, than to serve Jesus and take care of him? Don’t forget to think about WHY Martha is serving Jesus.
Do you serve Jesus? In what ways? Have you ever thought about WHY you serve Jesus?
Do you ever sit still and listen to Jesus, not in person like Mary did, but by reading and listening to the Bible? Are you being still and listening right now? I hope so.
As you continue growing never forget that both are important. Yes, it is important to serve Jesus by serving others. But it is even more important to sit still and listen to Jesus too. To know him and know that he knows you. Serving without knowing that Jesus loves you will lead to anxiety and worry. Serving after you’ve been still and listened to how much Jesus loves you will always be the better way.
Because of Jesus we don’t have to serve to be loved, we are already perfectly loved by God.
With Jesus we can both serve and sit still and listen to him.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk together about how to spend time listening to Jesus through his word. Help your children to practice reading the Bible on their own, listening to what Jesus is saying to them personally.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me learn how to be still and listen to you without always having to be distracted. Amen.
TLICfamily 