Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 34:4 (Autumn 2020)
Article: It Will Not Be Taken From Her
Author: Teresa D. Roberts

PP 34:4 (Autumn 2020) p. 10

It Will Not Be Taken From Her

Teresa D. Roberts

Teresa D. Roberts is a professor and serves as Vice President of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. She holds a DMin from Emmanuel Christian Seminary in eastern Tennessee and master’s degrees from Lincoln Christian Seminary in Lincoln, Illinois, and from Malone University in Canton, Ohio.

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.” (Luke 10:38–42 NIV)

Identifying With Martha

The beauty and wonder of Scripture includes hearing a narrative and finding yourself associating with a biblical character. We can open Scripture and feel as if we have peered into a mirror, seeing our reflection in characters such as:

the quiet teacher, Priscilla,

the fearful Jonah,

the bold Peter,

the dedicated Hannah,

the deceitful Jacob,

the clear instructor, Paul.

I have seen myself in the faithful Timothy and dedicated Lydia, alongside doubting Thomas and selfish Sapphira. But it is the character of Martha, and specifically her story in Luke 10, in whom I have seen my reflection most clearly time and time again.

Because I identify with Martha, I feel I need to defend her, and by extension, defend myself. I have attempted to rationalize Martha’s actions or downplay Jesus’s rebuke. Clearly, in the setting described, someone has to extend hospitality, prepare dinner for guests, and make the Lord feel welcome.

As the tenth chapter of Luke opens, Jesus has sent out the seventy-two, who needed service such as that which Martha later extended to her guests. Luke 10 continues with the parable about the hospitality of a Good Samaritan to a brutalized Jewish man. Certainly then, it would follow that the service of Martha preparing a meal for the itinerant teacher and his band of disciples should be applauded rather than critiqued.

But I can’t d...