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Snapshots of Rest: Two Sisters
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Deborah P. Brunt
When God says something three times in a row, it's always advisable to listen. In Hebrews 3 and 4, we're reminded three times in 20 verses: "the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.'"
The Spirit first gave this warning in Psalm 95:7: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
Now, several thousand years later, he still says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
But what does God keep urging us to hear? What does he keep warning us not to harden our hearts about? The surprising answer is rest.
In Moses' day, God's people failed to enter his rest. They failed to enter rest because of unbelief. The writer of Hebrews urges, "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience" (Heb. 4:11).
This leaves us distraught. We don't want to be disobedient. We don't want to "fall." But real rest seems like an idealistic goal, attainable only in heaven (where we're just sure there's nothing to do but sit on clouds and play harps). We honestly don't know what rest looks like - and we have no clue how to enter it.
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| Enter here |
Good news! God doesn't point his finger at us, cry, "Get some rest, or else!" and then stand back to watch us utterly fail in doing so. He doesn't expect us to conjure up rest, like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus issued an invitation with a stunning promise attached: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
How do we enter rest? We come to Jesus - and receive what he gives us. Ah, but how do we who know Jesus come to him? How do we who already belong to him respond to his call to "come here"?
The gospels offer snapshots of four women who did just that: Three Marys and one Martha repeatedly came to Jesus. As promised, each of the four found rest. Looking at their stories, we begin to see what coming to Jesus involves. We begin to see how real rest looks.
In this article, we'll see how rest looked in the lives of two sisters. In two future articles, we'll focus on the two other Marys. Can we please not assume we already know about these women? With open ears and softened hearts, can we listen together for what God is telling us about entering his rest?
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| One thing |
The gospels include three snapshots from the lives of sisters named Mary and Martha. The first glimpse of these women is the most well-known. Luke 10:38-42 says,
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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Martha, Martha - how much we have in common with you!
Notice, though, that Martha did come to Jesus. First, she opened her home to him. Once he arrived, she didn't automatically do everything right. But because Jesus was present within, he was able to show Martha what was robbing her of rest.
How interesting that he waited to do so until she came to him - with a complaint. Fuming over Mary's frivolous ways, Martha could have just stayed in the kitchen, muttering under her breath. She could have summoned Mary and chewed her out. Instead, Martha chose to express her frustration to Jesus. Smart woman. She didn't get the answer she expected, but she did get the one she needed.
In Martha's mind, she could not rest - because Mary had left her to do all the work! If Jesus cared, he would make Mary get "actively involved" in serving. Jesus did care - so he told Martha the truth: She lacked rest because she courted anxiety. Feverishly, obsessively, she tried to do too much. Mary had chosen "what is better" than operating in ministry overload. She had chosen to do what Jesus urged in Matthew 11:28-29: "Come to me . . . learn from me."
Not content to give Jesus a passing nod and then hurry off to attend to the tasks Martha insisted be done, Mary "sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said." In a time and place where women simply didn't do such things, Mary came to Jesus as a disciple. She came to him to be taught. Even more amazing, he received her, affirmed her and taught her.
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| I believe |
Mary and Martha had a brother, Lazarus. Months after Jesus' visit to the sisters' home recorded in Luke 10, Lazarus got sick. With their brother on his deathbed, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus. He traveled back to their home in Bethany, but only after deliberately delaying two days. Lazarus had been in the tomb four days by the time Jesus arrived.
Based on the story we just read, which of the sisters would we expect to handle this tragedy better? John 11:20-27 tells how Martha responded:
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
In crisis, Martha came to Jesus. As honestly as before, she expressed her confusion and disappointment. But this time, she didn't cry, "Don't you care?" Instead, she expressed faith: "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Ultimately, Martha made a confession of faith almost identical to the one Peter made in Matthew 16: "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus had told Peter, ". . . this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven" (Matt. 16:17).
Like Peter, Martha could only have known who Jesus was by revelation. The fact that she knew, and believed, shows she had taken seriously what Jesus had said about the "one thing" needed. Since Jesus' visit in her home, Martha had been coming to God to learn from him. Before crisis struck, busy Martha had learned to be still before the Lord and listen to what he said.
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| No words | |
After her encounter with Jesus, Martha "went back and called her sister Mary aside. 'The Teacher is here,' she said, 'and is asking for you.' When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. . . . When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died'" (John 11:28-32).
In crisis, the sister we might have expected to come to Jesus first did not. Too grieved and disheartened, Mary stayed in the house. Did Jesus castigate her? No. He called for her. "When Mary heard this," she quickly came to him. Falling at his feet, she too expressed her deep disappointment - but, unlike Martha, Mary spoke no words of faith. Did Jesus reprimand her? No. Seeing her weeping, he wept.
Then, with both sisters watching, he called Lazarus out from the grave.
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| Last glimpse | |
We see the sisters once more in John 12. Days before his own crucifixion, "Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."
In this final snapshot from these women's lives, Martha is still serving - and Mary still isn't helping. Indeed, she's back at Jesus' feet. Yet, we see a different picture entirely from that of Jesus' first visit to the sisters' home. Martha serves without anxiety or any hint of complaint that she has to "do it all." Mary no longer sits at Jesus' feet to listen to him, but rather kneels there to "waste" her perfume on him. The One to whom both sisters keep coming receives what each offers him. In profound ways, Jesus has given each one rest.
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| The rest | |
Martha shows us . . .
Rest is doing what Jesus says is necessary - and not doing what he calls "unnecessary." It's refusing to assume we know what's needed and, instead, learning to recognize his voice and to listen when he speaks. Rest is rejecting the lie that ministry overload pleases God.
Rest is serving without worry, panic, anger or accusation. What's more, rest is serving God in the way he's called and gifted me - without expecting others, even those closest to me, to serve him the same way.
Rest is taking time off from serving when life's burdens require it. Wisely, Martha focused on grieving, not serving, when the whole town arrived for her brother's wake.
Rest is trusting God even when he has disappointed me. That does not mean denying or stuffing my confusion and disappointment. Rather, it means honestly telling God how I feel and yet expressing faith in him. From the moment I begin speaking words of faith, Jesus gives new revelation and stimulates deeper faith, restoring me anew to a place of rest in him.
Mary shows us . . .
Rest is receiving comfort from Christ himself. When my heart is broken, rest is knowing he is calling for me. Rest is the result of falling at his feet. When the tears won't stop and the faith words won't come, rest is feeling his teardrops splash on my shoulders.
Rest involves continually being found at Jesus' feet. What's more, rest involves a profound understanding of when to sit there, taking in, and when to kneel there, pouring out.
Rest is calmly staying the course when I'm doing what pleases Jesus but others disapprove. Martha criticized Mary for sitting at Jesus' feet. Judas criticized Mary for anointing Jesus' feet. But as long as Jesus was affirming her, Mary continued doing what she was doing, unperturbed. Rest is embracing the affirmation of Christ himself.
Mary and Martha show us that something wonderful takes root and grows as we repeatedly come to Christ and receive rest from him. It's called joy.
"Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest."
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, Today's New International Version™ TNIV ®, Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society (4). All rights reserved worldwide. Also quoted: GOD'S WORD Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations Bible Society. All rights reserved.)
Read the first article in the Return to Your Rest series: |
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When God looks at the culture of the Mississippi Delta, the South Carolina Lowcountry, the Deep South, or the conservative church in the US, he applauds and affirms what is good. He discloses what is morally neutral and gives freedom in regard to it. Ah, but here's the painful part: For his glory and our good, he reveals what needs to be rooted out.
As we cooperate with him, he exposes what has deadened us to him, what has misrepresented him, what holds us perpetually in bondage, what denies our true value and identity, what wars against righteousness and justice, mercy and love. He uproots what promises to enrich us, but only impoverishes us; what repeatedly slams us, yet keeps us clinging obsessively to what we are not.
God does all this in order to return us to the exponentially deeper roots of who we are in Christ. "You received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live as Christ's people. Sink your roots in him and build on him" (Col. 2:6-7 God's Word). Now, O Lord, we let go of anything we've thought we had to cling to, anything we've bound ourselves to serve. We embrace our true identity in you as we humble ourselves before you and trust in your unfailing love.
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