Bible Stories for the Young
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Martha was so excited. Jesus was in town, and He was coming over for dinner. She wanted to make dinner very special for Jesus.
Martha had so much to do. She had to wash, wash, wash. Chop, chop, chop. Cook, cook, cook. So much to DO to get ready. She got busy, busy, busy.
Knock, knock, knock. “Jesus is here!”
Martha and her sister Mary ran to the door to let Him in.
“Come in, come in!” Martha said to Jesus. “Dinner is almost ready.”
Busy, busy, busy. Martha still had to get the dishes out. Plates, plates, plates. Spoons, spoons, spoons. Cups, cups, cups. All right, time to bring the food.
“Where is Mary? Why is she not helping me?”
Bread, bread, bread for everyone. Meat, meat, meat, for everyone. Grapes, grapes, oh no! Martha forgot the drinks. There was so much to DO, DO, DO!
“Where is Mary? Why am I having to do all this work by myself?”
Quickly Martha grabbed a pitcher and started filling the cups, cups, cups. She took a cup to Jesus.
Then she saw her sister, Mary! Why was Mary just sitting? Mary was sitting right next to Jesus listening to Him talk, while Martha was doing all the work, work, work. Why wasn’t Mary helping her? Martha wanted to sit with Jesus too, but she just wanted to get all the work, work, work done first.
Martha blurted out, “Lord Jesus, don’t You care that my sister is making me do all the work by myself? I’m so busy, busy, busy, and I NEED her HELP! Tell Mary to help me.” (By the way, we don’t tell our Lord Jesus what to do like that.)
Jesus looked calmly at Martha. “Martha, Martha,” He said,” you need to relax. You are too worried about lots of things, things, things. But only ONE thing is important. Mary chose to do that. She is not worried or busy, busy, busy. She is just sitting right at My feet listening to My EVERY word. I am grateful for how you wanted to make dinner special, but Mary has chosen the better thing to do. So, no, I won’t take it away from her by telling her to help you.”
We don’t know exactly what Martha did after this, but I imagine she dropped to her knees and decided to listen to Jesus, too. I would… wouldn’t you?
