Hello, this is Will Hardy with ManTalk Radio. We are all about breaking down the walls of race and denomination. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few minutes. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network.
This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him at any time about anything.
On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. So James, I understand you have had a very exciting afternoon. Oh man, our dog just had her first litter of ten beautiful labradoodles, five milk chocolate, four dark chocolate, and one vanilla.
Nine boys, one girl. I'd say I'm exhausted, but I feel sorry for the poor dog. So this just happened? Yeah, I was out working on the car around noon when I heard, James get in here quick! And our standard poodle had been in labor for the past several hours, so we didn't get much sleep last night. But man, when it happened, it was sudden.
My wife has her own labradoodle venture called River Home Doodles, and she had, anyhow, she had everything all set up, and it went great, really, no complications. You know, after an afternoon like that, are you sure you still want to talk about Mary and Martha? I mean, what did Luke write about Martha? That she was distracted by all the preparations that she had to make? I know, I resemble that comment, but we really were praying a lot.
Oh, I'll bet you were. So where do you want to go with Mary and Martha? Well, maybe not everyone knows the story, so let's just go ahead and start there. Jesus was in their home, and Luke writes in Luke 10 40 and following that, 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's left me to do the work by myself?
Tell her to help me. And the Lord responds, 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 from her.
Now, I love this passage, but usually when folks talk about it, it boils down to a simple point or two. Be like Mary, don't be like Martha. Spend more time at Jesus' feet, and that's okay as far as it goes, but it leaves most folks saying, well, I guess I'm just a Martha. That's who I am, because what we really need to do is look at why Jesus says what he does. I mean, because otherwise people just say, well, Jesus needs people who get stuff done too.
Right. I mean, it's almost like they give up on the idea of ever being like Mary, even though Jesus said that Mary chose what was better. This is where we need to look at the fact that Mary was doing something, first of all, but again, we need to ask why. Why did Jesus say Mary chose what is better? And not only that, why did he say it will not be taken from her?
If we go there, we'll see some great things. You know, one of the interesting things about what happened that day was that Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, and it was unusual for a rabbi in Jesus' day to even allow a woman to do that. Do you think that's part of the reason why Martha said, tell her to help me? Yeah, I do think it was because a lot of rabbis in Jesus' day, they avoided women.
So it's very interesting. But any way you look at this, still the main focus here is on being at Jesus' feet. And if you think about it, that's where really good stuff happens. Yeah, just think about the woman wiping Jesus' feet with her hair, or the man with a demon-possessed son who knelt before him, or Jairus, the synagogue leader, whose daughter was really deathly ill. I mean, something good happened for each one.
Yeah, you're right. I mean, each one of them fell at Jesus' feet. Or think about the leper who did the same thing, or the man possessed by a legion of demons, or Peter, when he said, go away from me, for I'm a sinful man. And then Jesus told him to follow him. So again, something good happened in each of these instances.
And that's what we don't want to miss here. That's why Mary chose what is better. Good things happen at Jesus' feet.
We're blessed when we go there. And, you know, I think what that means, being at Jesus' feet, is just being quietly attentive to him. Plus, you know, look at it from the other angle. Look at Martha's question. Don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? I mean, do you see how alone she feels, and at a distance from Jesus?
I mean, it's almost like she has this critical spirit toward him. And isn't that what can happen when we get distracted and busy? Jesus seems farther away, and so do others as well. So why do you think Jesus said about Mary that it won't be taken from her? That's really interesting.
Yeah, it is. And you usually don't hear too much about that. But first, I love that he just said it, because think about it. It shows us that the time we spend at his feet really means something to him. So he's saying that if we do this, you know, we won't regret it.
We'll be blessed. Yeah, I think it really helps to realize how much time we spend with him means what that means to him. It's like he's defending when it says it won't be taken from her. That's like the time you're talking about, right?
That's really cool. Yeah, yeah. And I love that, that if we decide to get there, you know, by reading his word, by sitting quietly before him, by listening and living in relationship with him in this natural, unforced way in prayer, you know, if we decide to do that, he will help us stay there because he loves to have us there more than anywhere else. Again, remember what he said, one thing is needed. So again, it's like this promise from him that if we do this, he'll bless us. So we want to be at Jesus' feet because there's peace and there's power and quiet attentiveness to him.
It's worth so much and can form actually the other things that we do. And that brings us back to what Luke said about the preparations that had to be made. If Martha had been with him first, I think the preparation she made would have been made differently and better because of it. Maybe Jesus would have helped her and he did when he broke bread for a crowd or made wine at a wedding. Maybe everyone would have worked together. Right.
I mean, any number of things could have happened. I like what Ben Patterson wrote about this passage. He said, it isn't that God's against doing, it's that he wants us to understand that being always precedes doing and that who we are with him is more important than what we do. So you could say that Jesus wants us to live at his feet first.
Yeah, absolutely. At his feet. I mean, start there.
Everything starts there. Do we want God to bless what we are doing or do we want to do what God is blessing? That's the real question. So often we live the first way, right? And we get going on a course of action and ask for God to help us. But if we learn to just be quietly attentive, we will hear and know his leading and blessing more intimately than we could any other way. And then our work will benefit because of it.
What is better? That's the beauty of it. Sometimes I think life can even be like a pile of puppies and why not? Wow. So let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this passage and help us to get there at your feet. And let those feet lead us rather than us leading your feet.
Seems impossible. So I guess we just need to make sure that you're the horse that leads our cart. Help us to do that, Lord. Help us to just call on you and to spend time there. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-23 10:51:36 / 2023-09-23 10:55:29 / 4