(Reflections from Sunday Morning’s Message – Luke 10:38–42)

She meant well.

That’s the thing about Martha—she wasn’t careless, she was committed. Her home was open, her table was full, her heart was sincere. The bread was baking, the water was poured, the linens were pressed. She was doing all the right things, for all the right reasons. But somewhere between the kneading and the noise, her serving became her strain.

Luke says it gently: “But Martha was cumbered about much serving.” The word means “to be pulled around.” That’s what hurry does—it tugs your soul in so many directions that you forget where you were headed. She was still serving Jesus, but she’d lost sight of Him.

And that may be the quiet tragedy of modern faith.

We’ve learned to fill our calendars, to make our ministry efficient, to do more and rest less. We call it commitment, but often it’s just exhaustion wearing a Sunday smile. We do for Him, but we rarely sit with Him.

When Jesus answered Martha, He didn’t rebuke her work—He redeemed her focus. “Martha, Martha,” He said with the affection of a friend, “you are anxious and troubled about many things.” He wasn’t scolding; He was rescuing. He saw a heart frayed by good intentions, a spirit stretched thin by holy busyness.

It wasn’t her activity that needed correction; it was her attention.

Mary hadn’t abandoned responsibility; she had chosen relationship. She understood that before you can serve well, you have to sit still. Before you can pour out, you must first be filled.

Stillness isn’t laziness. It’s alignment. It’s remembering that the Savior values our presence more than our performance.

The longer we live, the more we learn that noise and nearness don’t always go together. You can be surrounded by ministry and still miss the Master. You can be busy with the things of God and quietly barren of the peace of God.

So maybe the invitation of this story is not to stop serving, but to start slowing. To trade motion for meaning. To let the clatter of the kitchen give way to the calm of His voice.

When Jesus said, “One thing is needful,” He wasn’t dismissing Martha’s service. He was reminding her that all service begins at His feet.

If your faith feels weary—if the joy has leaked out of your devotion—pause. Breathe. Listen again.

The dishes can wait. The details can wait.
But the One sitting in the next room cannot.