Pentecost Week Sixteen - Day Four - Mwybe it's not about that...

Mary and Martha: A Story About Trust
New Testament: Luke 10:42
Old Testament: Psalm 27:4

What If This Story Isn’t About Balance? And what if it is not about Martha, as I said yesterday?  (Hey – artistic license and all that jazz).

We often hear Mary and Martha’s story framed as a lesson in balance—work and rest, action and stillness, doing and being. But the more we sit with this passage, the more we realize it’s not about balance at all. What if it’s about something deeper?

What if this is about trust?

Martha wasn’t wrong to want things to go well. Like any good host, she was pouring herself into honoring Jesus. She was doing the right thing! After all, hospitality in her culture wasn’t just polite—it was sacred.

But under the surface, something else was driving her. Worry. Anxiety. That persistent, exhausting belief that everything depended on her.

And that’s where Mary’s choice stands out. Sitting at Jesus’ feet wasn’t just an act of devotion—it was an act of surrender. It was her way of saying, “I trust that what You have for me is more important than what I can do for You.”
Martha, Do You Trust Me?

When Jesus gently says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,” He isn’t criticizing her. He’s inviting her into something better.

And if we listen closely, we can hear the unspoken question behind His words:
Martha, do you trust me?
Mary’s choice to sit at Jesus’ feet wasn’t just countercultural—it was counterintuitive. It went against every instinct to perform, to serve, to hustle,

But in that moment, Mary trusted Jesus to be the provider, not her. She trusted that the most important thing wasn’t what she could give, but what she could receive.

Trust Over Hustle
Let’s be honest: we live in world where productivity is praised, busyness is celebrated, and rest?

Well, Rest feels like weakness.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can do all the right things for Jesus and still miss Jesus.

Martha wasn’t wrong to serve. Her heart was in the right place.

But in her serving, she lost sight of the One she was serving. Mary, on the other hand, saw clearly. She understood that being with Christ always comes before doing for Christ.
This story challenges us to rethink the way we live.

It reminds us that discipleship isn’t about how much we accomplish or how well we perform.

It’s about trusting Jesus enough to let go—letting go of fear, letting go of control, letting go of the belief that everything depends on us.

The Good Portion
Jesus gently tells Martha that Mary has chosen the “good portion”—and that it will not be taken away from her. But here’s the thing: the good portion wasn’t about Mary’s stillness. It was about her trust.

When we trust Jesus, when we sit at His feet and listen, we’re doing something that can’t be taken away.

The world can strip away our titles, our accomplishments, even our security. But the time we spend with Jesus? That’s eternal. That’s the good portion.
 
Prayer
Lord, thank You for inviting us into a life of trust.
We confess that so often, we let fear and worry drive us.
We feel the need to prove ourselves, to hold everything together, to keep going even when we’re exhausted.
But You offer us something better.
You remind us that what matters most isn’t what we do, but what we receive from You.
Help us to trust You enough to let go of our anxieties and busyness, and to rest in Your presence.
Teach us to choose the good portion, to sit at Your feet, and to let our actions flow from intimacy with You.
May we live lives marked by