As we start November, our minds will soon turn to the holiday season and all the busyness and activities. Today’s lesson will challenge us to think about the holidays differently this year – to slow down and be present in order to honor God. Today’s Bible passage from Luke 10:38-40 reminds us to focus on the important things in life.
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But 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 has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“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.”
So Jesus unexpectedly shows up at Martha’s house and she starts running around the cleaning up the place and getting some snacks together while Mary stops to soak in as much of Jesus as she could. Martha complains that Mary is helping but Jesus encourages her to stop worrying about so many things and just focus on the one thing – Him.
Although Jesus is with us in Spirit all the time, he isn’t dropping by any of our houses for a visit so what are we supposed to take away from this story? I believe if Jesus were here he would give us two things to do this holiday season – turn our minds toward God more frequently and be fully present with our family & friends.
Jesus ends by saying that we should focus on the things that can’t be taken away from us. For example, a clean house gets messy again but the value of quality time with loved ones can’t be taken away. People will not remember you picked the perfect wine pairings for your party but they will remember if you were fully present in conversation with them. People won’t remember the cookies your family made to give as gifts as much as they will remember the time you spent with them when you dropped them off.
We’ll wrap up with the picture below which sums up today’s lesson well:
Questions:
- During the holiday season, do you typically feel more like Mary (focused on the right things) or like Martha (focused on the busyness of getting it all in)?
- If you had a chance to ask Jesus how to be more like Mary than Martha, what do you think he would suggest?
- Even though today’s lesson is very simple, we often get sidetracked. What are some of the main reasons we lose our way sometimes and act like Martha?
- Some would say that one of the keys to today’s lesson is to say “no” to certain things in order to say “yes” to more of the important things. What are some things you might need to say “no” to this holiday season?
- Based on today’s lesson, what are some things you would like to do differently this holiday season?
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