M is for Martha in a Mary World

Luke 10

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus^[d] 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.^[e] Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary can sit quietly and pay attention during the sermon.  Martha has to be up doing something.  Which lady do you think you are more like?

In church sermons, we have to be Mary.  We have to sit patiently and listen to God’s Word.  The good thing is Mary was drawn to Jesus.  Jesus is captivating and relevant.  He knew exactly how to reach her.  He knew that Martha does not learn the same way Mary does.  She has to be up cooking something or cleaning something.  In fact, she can concentrate better when she’s doing something.

So, what if you are Martha and you sit in a church service that expects you to be Mary?  You still have to be like Mary, but how can you be like Martha without distracting?  Martha has ADHD.  Who else has it?  Me.  ADHD describes a person, but it does not define her.  Martha and I may have more trouble sitting still and focusing on a man in front of the room speaking, but we can still train ourselves to sit still and concentrate.  How do we do it in school?  How did I do it in church growing up?  Sometimes Mom gave me a Bible coloring book to work on.  Sometimes I would open the hymnbook and read the hymns.  Sometimes I’d open the Bible to the passage, read it, and then keep on reading until the sermon is over.  Stuff like that would keep my hands occupied and let my mind focus on the preacher.  When we get older, we can also have a notepad and take notes.  We have to make sure they have something to do with what we learned in church that day.