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“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.”
We think we know this story — and that’s what makes it dangerous. So pay careful attention and let it upside down your life. Jesus and his disciples arrive — thirteen tired, hungry travelers — and Martha opens her home to them. What an amazing gift! Hospitality has always been a deeply spiritual act. In the Bible, it often brings people face-to-face with the divine — with angels, prophets, and even strangers who turn out to be God. Imagine the scene for a moment: the chaos of a surprise visit, the sounds of hungry, boisterous men, the pressure to prepare food, to make a space feel welcome and to meet every need. What an act of grace — and what a weight to carry.
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Meditative Question:
Close your eyes and step into the story.
Where are you? Are you bustling in the kitchen beside Martha, sitting quietly
at the feet of Jesus like Mary, or hungrily arguing at the table with the
disciples? What stirs within you as you take that place — the joy of giving,
the weariness of expectation, the longing to be seen, the desire to rest? Why
do you think you chose that place?
2 minute silence
Song: Servant Song / By Our Love
“She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.”
The
men settle into the main room — the public room — the space for men.
You see in that world, spaces were divided: men in one space, women in another.
But Mary does something unexpected. She crosses an invisible and physical
boundary and sits down at Jesus’ feet to listen.
That’s not just a posture of devotion. That’s the posture of a disciple. In first-century language, “to sit at someone’s feet” meant to study under them — to be in training. It’s the same phrase Paul uses when he says, “I was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.” So Mary isn’t just listening — she’s learning – she’s joining – she’s making the world upside down. She’s courageously stepping into a space no woman was supposed to enter. She’s becoming what the culture said she could never be — a teacher, a leader, a voice for the kingdom. And Jesus welcomes her there.
In Mary, the promise of Galatians 3:28 was present:
“There is no longer male and female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.”
This is Jesus’ upside-down kingdom where learning is not limited by gender,
status, or expectation — it’s open to all who draw near to him.
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Meditative Question:
Who in your world is a “Mary” (maybe, it’s you). Someone longing to learn, to
listen, to belong — yet who finds themself held back by barriers or unspoken
rules? Can you imagine how it feels to stand at the edge, waiting for an
invitation to draw near? How might you help open the space for them to be fully
welcomed so that they fully belong? If you are a Mary, what is that invisible
boundary that seeks to keep you from following Jesus?
2 minute silence
Song: Make Room
“But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’”
It’s easy to judge Martha, but think about it — she
probably wanted to sit too.
She just couldn’t. Because in that world, and often in ours, the “hospitality
work” always seems to fall on the same female shoulders.
The text says Martha was “distracted,” but the word really means “pulled away” or “pulled apart.” She’s pulled from presence by pressure. She’s doing what needs to be done — the work of care, the work of service — and yet she feels the sting of being alone in it, the burden of being required to do it. Many of us know that feeling. We start with love and end up with exhaustion. We serve faithfully but wonder if anyone notices, or if it even matters. Martha’s frustration isn’t faithlessness — it’s fatigue. She’s pulled away from Jesus by the weight of a gendered expectation and pulled apart by work that is too heavy to bear. Because someone had to make the meal, right? Someone had to serve.
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Meditative Question:
When do you feel your yourself pulled away from Jesus or pulled apart from
yourself — not by indifference, but by the weight of too much? What burdens or
expectations press upon you, whispering that you must do more, be more, prove
more? What would you like to set down so that you too might sit at Jesus’ feet?
2 minute silence
Song: Shattered Things
“But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’”
Notice how Jesus says
her name — twice. “Martha, Martha.” It’s not a rebuke; it’s an embrace. He sees
her. He sees the weight she carries and invites her to set it down. And in that
moment, something shifts. Jesus redefines what matters most — not the endless
doing, but being present, listening, and resting in him. And maybe, if we
listen closely, we can almost hear the rest of the story —
“Judas, go buy the food.”
“Peter, go make
dinner.”
“James and John, clean the house.
Because if women are to be free to sit at Jesus’ feet, someone else has to get
up and serve. Friends, that’s the gospel of the upside-down kingdom. There is
no men’s work or women’s work. There is only kingdom work. And that work
is shared.
Brothers, if we want women — our sisters, our mothers,
our daughters — to rise into their callings, then we must not only make space —
we must take up the work that keeps them from freedom – burdens and
boundaries that pull them away or pulls them apart. Because Jesus’ invitation
is not just for women to join men’s spaces — it’s for everyone to share the
labor of love, together. This is the kingdom that shatters old hierarchies and upside
downs our relationships.
It’s not about who serves and who sits — it’s about who listens to Jesus and
lives his love.
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Meditative Question:
Where might God be calling you to take a new step — perhaps to serve so another
can rest, or to rest so another may serve?
Closing Reflection
Jesus’
invitation to Mary and Martha is an invitation to us all:
To stop long enough to listen.
To serve without being consumed.
To share the load so that everyone can find a place at his feet.
In
his upside-down kingdom, no one is left in the kitchen while others learn,
and no one sits while others bear the burden alone. Men and women are called to
the same table — to listen, to serve, to love, and to live the freedom of
Christ - better together.
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