By the time she got to Jesus, I think Martha was feeling pretty sorry for herself. Since she doesn’t want to be rude to the honoured guest, she starts of in a sweet, polite voice. “Lord…” but as soon as she speaks she cannot contain all the emotions. “DO YOU NOT CARE????” Here I think I hear a twinge of bitterness. “Do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to come and help me.” After hearing that, I’m picking she’s feeling a bit lonely too. She has to serve alone! It’s always easier and better to have someone there with you as you work. The company makes the work so much easier. But here she is, feeling overwhelmed with this huge workload. Slowly she starts feeling resentful towards her sister, which turns into self-pity, which turns into loneliness. Now being lonely often causes a lot of frustration, and here we see that Martha is pretty frustrated when she talks to Jesus. She can’t get her work done without Mary, and Mary is just sitting there listening. But to make matters worse, take a look at Jesus’ reply in verse 41. His reply also shows us two more of her emotions. ANXIOUS and TROUBLED. In verse 41, Jesus pointed out to Martha Mary’s focus. Her focus is listening to Jesus. But what is Martha’s focus?? Her focus is on Pleasing Jesus.
I imagine the feeling of disappointment when she hears Jesus’s gentle rebuke. She was doing her best, but as Jesus pointed out, she had the wrong focus. He wasn’t telling her that she was wrong, but more showing her where her focus should be. He loves her soo very much, and only wants what’s best for her, and that means wanting her to have the right focus.
I imagine Martha hanging her head with hot tears running down onto the floor as she realises her mistake.
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