38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus [1] entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. [2] Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Bloom points out an important exchange between Martha and Jesus, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Jesus replies “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Like Martha, I had been living like the completion of my tasks were most necessary. But that is not the point that Jesus is getting at. The problem is not that I was busy doing things rather then stopping and listening to Jesus or something like that. But the problem is deeper. The problem lies within, my heart, namely, my motive. So what was my motivation for doing so much and trying to accomplish the seeming impossible goals? It was like Martha's; a motive of prideful self-exultation, and self-love! My motive was not love for God, and therefore, not love for others. Rather, it was love for myself. Love for how people view me, and I wanted to keep that up so I could feel good about myself. This is an out-right self-exultation masquerade with hard-working, productive completion of tasks. The drive is the want of praise from men. The reason I was anxious was because of my fear of losing admirers.
Bloom then moves to speak about Mary. Why was Mary not distracted? It is because she was entranced with the Messiah! She knew that He was the source of Living Water and the Bread of Life. Thus she sat there drinking deeply and eating with satisfaction from the Lord. It is apparent what Mary's motive or purpose for living is, chiefly, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see people order their lives around what they treasure most; what they love most. Martha ordered her life around tasks and what gave her self-worth. Thus one can say that she loved her self, her purpose was her self. Mary only cared about the Lord who is her source of life. He is who she loved. Therefore, people like Martha are at best working in vain and at worst wasting their lives. Thus I am guilty of wasting my own life. However, the savior is mercifully whispering to me to come and drink from Him, He is the only one that truly satisfies. We must sit at the feet of Jesus and recognize Him for what and who He is. He is life, and we must be entranced with Him! Are you entranced with Christ? Does the way in which you have ordered your life show you what you are truly entranced with? Jesus calmly rebuked Martha. And He does the same to us. If you feel anxious about your life and the tasks you think you must accomplish, just stop and sit at the feet of the Jesus and drink deeply. Be entranced with the Savior, and may your life defined as a gospel entranced life.
