Circuit Thoughts

Luke 10:38-42 has a wonderful story about two sisters. Mary and Martha live in the same house, they are the sisters of Lazarus. (Yes, THAT Lazarus) Anyway, Jesus has come to visit, and Martha is trying to get snacks and other things ready, Mary is just sitting at Jesus’ feet listening, and Martha is a tad upset.

The reason this story is so endearing to me is, I have siblings, and I have helped raise three children. In my experience there is the one child who will do all the work of the house if you let them, and then there will be the one who will do nothing. At least that is the accusation between the siblings.

Martha did confront Mary and asked Jesus for help. Jesus pointed out that Martha was distracted by all the work and needed to not worry so much.

When doing church work, we often pride ourselves on our activities. In the past I was a choir director of a church up north. I can tell you that I kept busy, even during the sermon, so I really couldn’t tell you what our pastor was saying. I was worried about getting the count right, about the instrumentalist hitting her notes and the choir being on key. I was doing the “work of God,” but I was not actually honoring God.

And that is really the point of Mary and Martha. There will always be work to do in the church, but we can’t let that work get us so tied down that we miss the reason for the work. Every church has some kind of mission program, or outreach program, and that is great. The problem is when we start focusing more on the outreach than we do on Christ.

If we are to be disciples of Christ, then our primary focus should be Christ. Putting Christ first in all things will put all things in perspective. (Hey, I should write that down). There will always be poor to help and hungry to feed. We cannot get so bogged down in the ministry of healing, feeding, or helping that we lose sight of the true reason we became disciples.

First and foremost, the church’s job is to make Disciples. Remember that Great Commission thing at the end of Matthew? (Go and make disciples)? Notice Jesus did not say, go and make sure everyone is fed and has a roof over their head. No, we are called to be and make disciples.

The thing is, if we focus on Christ and make disciples, the hungry will get fed and the homeless will have shelter. Things will get done.

Now, Martha was not a bad person, she just wanted things to be right for Jesus. But, the only way to make things right for Jesus is to accept him as your personal savior, then go out and make disciples. It’s time we got things put back in the proper order. Christ first, and everything else falls into place.

See you in church.