By: Jarren Rogers

What would you do if Jesus came to your house for dinner?

Annie and I would have a lot of cleaning to do. Our house isn’t a disaster by any means. But this is the savior of the world we’re talking about. We are going to sweep, mop, and dust everything in sight!

We’d probably go online and find the best and most delicious recipes. We’d set the table with our finest dishes and silverware. We’d break out the linen napkins with the silver rings. It’d be a lot of work, but it’s all worth it because this is Jesus we’re talking about!

Mary and Martha know how intimidating it would be to invite Jesus over for dinner. Martha opened her home to Christ and His disciples and began cooking a grand meal. She knew how demanding all of the preparations would be, so she invited her sister Mary over to help. 

But there was one problem. Mary didn’t help at all. 

The minute she stepped foot into the house and began hearing Jesus teach and speak, she couldn’t help but sit at His feet and soak it all in. 

Martha, stressed out and overworked, calls out to Jesus, “Tell Mary to get in here! This casserole isn’t going to cook itself! This is how it’s been our whole childhood, Jesus. Mary gets to sit around while I do all the work. Tell her to come help!”

“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘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’” (Luke 10:41-42).

Martha was serving the Lord. And yet Christ tells her it is she, and not Mary, who is distracted. 

It’s easy for the us to mistake busyness and service as doing God’s will. We can be involved in every ministry, serving in every capacity, giving hours and hours to the church, and yet Jesus may say to us, “You’ve got it all wrong. You’re missing the point.”

Martha’s problem, and many of ours as well, is that we confuse service with relationship. We think that by doing things for God, we are nurturing our relationship with him. But what Christ tells Martha, and us as well, is that we have it all backward.

We have to begin at Jesus’s feet. Listening to His words and spending time in His presence, resting in His teaching and His love. That is the one thing that is needed: Learning from and loving Christ, being in relationship with Him. 

It’s only after encountering Christ and sitting at His feet that we are subsequently prompted to service. We don’t find intimacy with Christ because we serve. Instead, we serve because we’ve found intimacy. Works are the natural response to sitting at Christ’s feet and soaking it all in. 

Don’t get distracted by doing all that needs to be done and simply speaking to Jesus through the kitchen door. 

Begin at His feet. And there, find grace and truth and love.