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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
July, 1935
Points and Problems 1. Indolent and careless people often use the incident o f Mary and Martha as an excuse for their own carelessness. But to take this attitude is to miss the point of the story. The Word of God never of fers any premium for laxity and laziness. On the contrary, it condemns the slug gard, bids men to work vyith their hands, and declares that if men do not work, they are not to eat. Martha, wgs not re buked for doing the things that needed to be done, but for permitting the household tasks to crowd out everything else. Verse 40 says: “Martha was cumbered about much serving.” The Greek word means “distracted.” It is one thing to be efficient about our everyday tasks, but when the sweeping o f floors and the getting of meals are taken seriously to the point of “distrac tion,” it is time to stop and reflect. It is possible to become slightly insane about these matters. It is'a pleasure to enjoy the hospitality o f a well-kept home, but some o f us have been in homes so well kept that w e . felt a bit uncomfortable. Martha seemed to be more concerned about having things done in her own way than about the comfort o f her Guest. 2. The Lord said: “Martha, thou art careful." If we had nothing else but these words, we might regard them as a com pliment. Is it not a good thing to be “care ful” ? Bishop Moule suggests that we should take the English word in its orig inal meaning, which was “care-full.” To be “ full o f care” is not a virtue, when the “ cares” have to do with material things. 3. “But one thing is needful," said our Lord, “and Mary hath chosen that good part.” In this saying, I believe, we have an echo o f a passage from the Psalms which He knew so well. "One thing have I desired o f the Lord, . . . that I may dwell in the house o f the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple” (Psa. 27:4). This was precisely the “ one thing” Mary desired—to sit at the Lord’s feet, to be hold .His beauty, to inquire of Him and listen to His word. Golden Text Illustration On the tenth of April in 1852, beneath the African sun, died an American. He was laid to rest in a lonely cemetery in Tunis, Africa. Thirty-one years later, as an act of a grateful public, the United States dispatched a man-of-war to the A f rican coast; American hands opened the grave, placed the dust o f that man’s body on board the battleship, and turned again for his native land. Their arrival in the American harbor was welcomed by the fir ing of guns in the fort, and by a display o f flags at half-mast. The remains were carried to the nation’s capital city on a special train. There was a suspension of all business, an adjournment o f all depart ments o f government, and as the funeral procession passed down Pennsylvania Avenue, the P r e s i d e n t , Vice-president, members of the cabinet, congressmen, judges o f the Supreme Court, officers of the army and navy, and a mass o f private citizens, rich and poor, stood with uncov ered heads. To whom did they thus pay homage? To a man who expressed the longing of his heart rather than the happy experience of his life, a man whose soul longed for the domestic tranquillity o f a pious home, and he.expressed that longing in the words o f that sweet song, “Home, Sweet Home.”—O. A. N ewlin , in 1,001 Illustrations fo r Pulpit and Platform, by Webb.
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A Home Jesus Loved L uke 10:38-42; J ohn 11:17-28
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Memory Verse: “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Approach : Our story today is going to be about a woman who loved God. She lived a long time after Daniel and King Josiah and Amos, but she loved God, too, and always tried to please Him; L e ss o n S t o r y : ätóSéte
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Martha lived during the time that the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was on earth, a n d m a n y times He visited her home. Martha lived with h e r brother and sister, Lazarus and Mary. T h e i r
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home was just about two miles away from Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus spent much of His time. Often He would go from Jerusalem to the quiet home o f Mar tha, Lazarus, and Mary, to rest and talk with them. W e think that Martha must have been the oldest, because she took care o f the home. She liked to have Jesus visit them. She honored Him, and she believed Him to be the Son o f God. Nothing was too much trouble for her to do to make His visits happy ones. Because she felt this way, Martha made a mistake which many o f us make when we entertain our friends. She worked so hard getting ready for Jesus’ coming, that by the time He arrived she was too tired and too busy to sit down and enjoy being with Him and hearing the things He had to tell. Worse than that, she was so tired that she became cross and started to scold her sister. Mary had stopped working when Jesus came and had sat down to listen to Him. Martha was working out in the kitchen, and she was getting crosser and crosser. “Why doesn’t Mary come out and help me?” she said to herself. At last she went into the other room and said something like this to Jesus, “Tell Mary to come out and help me serve.” Martha felt sure that she was right, because she knew that Jesus doesn’t want people to be selfish. She thought that surely Mary was being selfish when she left all of the work for her to do. But Jesus had to show Mar tha that this was not selfishness. Mary
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