Part 3 of a 5-Part Series Bible Talk With Sister Deb: Stories of Strength from Scripture's Women

This episode dives into the lives of Martha and Mary, two sisters from the Bible whose contrasting approaches to serving Jesus illuminate important lessons about prioritizing time with God. We reflect on the balance between service and spiritual nourishment, encouraging listeners to evaluate their own relationship with Christ.

• Martha embodies a busy and diligent worker 
• Mary prioritizes listening and learning at Jesus' feet 
• Jesus highlights the importance of focusing on what truly matters 
• Reflecting on the balance between Martha's service and Mary's stillness 
• Encouragement for listeners to carve out time for intimacy with God

Chapters

• 0:00 Women of the Bible
• 14:21 Balancing Mary and Martha's Way
• 23:53 Bible Talk With Sister Deb Osborne

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, you're listening to Bible Talk with Sister Deb Osborne. Hey, you're listening to Bible Talk with Sister Deb Osborne. You can also listen to her show on WIC 88.1, christian Radio Station, every Sunday at 5 pm. You can also listen to her show and much more on the 421 show. You can find that on Google, apple or Spotify or whatever platform you're choosing. If you'd like to email Sister Deb, you can email her at osbrendebrak at gmailcom. That's O-S-B-O-R-E-N-E-D-E-B-R-A-K at gmailcom. And if you'd like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal slash H-O-R-421, or you can go through the website hor421showbuzzsproutcom. Shows are recorded live no post-editing recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all of your studio needs, you can email at hor421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502. Now we give you your host, sister Deb.

Speaker 2: 1:24

Praise the Lord.

Speaker 2: 1:25

Praise the Lord.

Speaker 2: 1:26

Praise the Lord. Thank the Lord for today. How's everybody? So, as you know, this past month, february, we have been doing a series on the females of the Bible and I'm just totally having a ball with this man. I just I'm having a ball with it. I love looking up and hunting and reading information. I just love it.

Speaker 2: 1:53

So today, you know, the Bible does a whole lot of focusing on men. We hear about Adam you know who was created before Eve and we hear about Noah, who saved humanity. You know, one time we hear about Adam you know who was created before Eve and we hear about Noah, who saved humanity. You know, one time we read about Abraham, isaac and Jacob, who were the main men of you know, the nation of Israel, and we hear of Moses. You know who God gave the law to. So we think you know where does that leave all of the ladies of the Bible? So we think you know where does that leave all of the ladies of the Bible? Well, the answer to that is that it leaves them to quietly teach us some of the most powerful and significant lessons that the Scripture has to offer.

Speaker 2: 2:34

Now the Bible also gives us, you know some great stories of some of the powerful, awesome women too. I mean, of course, we know the most famous lady of the Bible is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Then we have Miriam, of course, you know, sister of Moses and Aaron. She was the first female prophet, you know, in Christianity. Then we have Deborah, of course she was a prophetess, she was a military leader and also one of the first female judges. I think we have Phoebe, of course, who carried, delivered and read all of Paul's letters to the Romans, and if you read a lot about Phoebe, you'll get to understand that she actually paved the way for the women's ministerial work, you know. So, defying all the odds, these ladies, these women in Christian history, they left permanent footprints for us. They left messages, hidden messages, wide open messages. They left something that we can follow and understand what they went through and how they handled it.

Speaker 2: 3:37

But the story or the ladies that I want to focus on today is in Luke 10, 38 through 42. And this tells a short story of Martha and Mary of Bethany. But the ladies that I want to focus on today is in Luke 10, 38 through 42. And this tells a short story of Martha and Mary of Bethany. Now John's gospel tells us that of course Jesus loved these two ladies and their brother Lazarus. We can read about them in John 11. And the thing about it is Mary and Martha of Bethany. They were known by their name, was known from where they were from. There were so many Marthas and Marys apparently back then. I read somewhere that they were known to be Martha of Bethany and Mary of Bethany from where they were from. And so you know about some little things about the two ladies.

Speaker 2: 4:24

We find Martha a very interesting character, a go-getter, you know. She's efficient and capable. She sees what needs to be done and she does it. Lots of initiative. Today, if she were here, she'd probably be the president of the local PTA or she'd probably be in some kind of different ministries if we had to go to church with her and see her. But Martha, she focused on Christ. She had invited him to come to dinner and bring his entourage. She focused on preparing and making sure everything was good. Only the best will do, I guess, was her kind of attitude with it. So Martha was such a high-stressed person. She probably got stressed and worried real easy. She had a no-nonsense personality, really extremely bossy with Jesus. She had a couple different times there. She was really bossy to Jesus. I wouldn't have talked to the Savior the way she did, and you can read that in Luke and John, you'll see that. But you know she was a true leader. She was the head of the house. You could just tell she seen what needed to be done, like I said, and she did it.

Speaker 2: 5:38

Then we have her sister, mary, sweet laid-back Mary. Now she's not lazy, she's just slower-paced than Martha, apparently you know she's. And Mary reminds me when I hear her and read about her. She reminds me of somebody that steps out of her house and notices all the birds in her yard and all the flowers, stops to smell them all and always remembers people's names her neighbors probably knows more about her neighbors than they do because she speaks to people and she's a people person. She cares about what people think. She takes time. She probably doesn't jump to do a whole lot of things real fast.

Speaker 2: 6:17

Now Mary, on the other hand, when she finds out Jesus is coming, I know she readies her heart for the Lord's visit. She prepares to learn from him. She recognizes that this face-to-face gift with him is what she needs. She probably more than likely, I would say, had a very, very deep spiritual connection with God. She was probably one of those that if you went to visit them in their house, you'd see her sitting at the table reading the Bible while Martha's cleaning.

Speaker 2: 6:51

Now, martha was hard, she worked hard. She invites Jesus to come to their home and Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to his teachings. Now, mary and Martha both serve, but Mary's first choice or priority is to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ. Like I said, martha's a take-charge kind of gal. We see her rushing around preparing the meal for him and his disciples, making sure that everything looks good and everything runs well, kind of like behind the scenes. But then we look over and we see little Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening and learning from his teachings.

Speaker 2: 7:31

And if you read up on this, this position was usually taken by men that wanted to learn from their rabbi, and it was the culture back then and it was very unusual for a woman to do that. And so we read over in there it's Luke 10, 38 through 42. And when we read about that we learn that Mary got really, really frustrated and a bit overwhelmed, I'd say, because of all the work and stuff that went into taking care of her guests. Maybe I don't know, maybe she was upset because she couldn't sit down and listen to Jesus. I would probably want to sit down and listen to the Lord personally, you know.

Speaker 2: 8:10

But so if you read Luke 10 and 40, and this is what it says and the Bible says, but Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, lord, doest thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her, therefore, that she help me. See that's, do you not care? I mean, that's that's kind of me bossy. I think it's bossy with the Lord, you know, I think. But but Jesus tells her. He tells her Martha, martha, you're worried and you're upset about a lot of things, but only one thing is important and only one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen the best thing. And Jesus said I'm not going to take that away from her. You know, now I wonder if these words bothered Mary, martha, it probably would me, it would have probably hurt my feelings.

Speaker 2: 8:57

But we had to stop and think about people. Do we sometimes get our priorities wrong? Do we get too busy doing other things that we forget that we need to sit down, sit still and spend some time in God's presence and listen for guidance from Him. Do we tend to forget that? Do we let the hustle and the bustle of the world just take our minds totally off? Hebrews 4 and 16 tells us to, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace in the time of need. I mean, yes, martha learns a very important lesson here, one thing that she learns from Jesus. She learns what he wants from all of us, and he teaches her that the most important thing in life is to be in his presence. Now think about this If Jesus walked in front of you, would your first thought be to make everything perfect, or would you want to stop and spend time with the Savior?

Speaker 2: 9:56

Now, sometimes, I think what we usually have on our minds gets our heart's affection, our attention, and that's not too bad, but it's not the best either. I mean now Mary. You know Mary loved time with Jesus and she gave her entire heart and mind to focus on him and his presence. And when Martha complains you know, about Mary Jesus reminds her exactly what she should be focusing on, and we need to ask ourselves what is taking our time away from Jesus. Today, I mean friends. It's time to stop rushing around and worrying about life and unnecessary things, like Martha, okay and it's time to take a seat at the feet of Jesus Christ, like Mary. Now, we I'm talking all of us. When I say we, I mean me too we need to get our priorities straight and learn from Mary and set aside time each day to go before the Lord in prayer and read His Word, and when we do all this, jesus will give us a peace of mind in the midst of all of our worries. You know, matthew 6 and 33 says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto.

Speaker 2: 11:06

You See, now think about the kind of person Martha is. She invited Jesus and his disciples into her home. She was doing what society expected of her as a woman, because if you realize or read anything about ancient Rome or Jewish societies, they generally didn't treat women all that well. Women were valued for being good wives, cooking and keeping the house clean, cooked, you know, straightened up and, of course, having kids. So it's really not all that surprising that Martha's first thought at Jesus' visit was to make sure dinner was served, being the good hostess, the one behind the scenes who's keeping everything going straight and good. But Martha wanted to care for Jesus and see that he was well taken care of.

Speaker 2: 11:57

But think about this, people she has the Son of God sitting in her house. Of course she wants things to be perfect, but Jesus tells Martha, and he tells her. He says to hear what he's trying to say. I'm paraphrasing Jesus. It sounds like he's trying to say and we get different things out of the Bible, I know, but it sounds like he's trying to say you know what? To hear, to listen and to learn is the most important thing. That's what I got out of it. You see, jesus didn't condemn Martha, nor did he put sister against sister. He just took an opportunity to teach his disciple.

Speaker 2: 12:33

And yes, I called Mary and Martha, who are women in a male-dominated world. I called them disciples of Jesus. The Bible tells us that Mary positions herself at Jesus' feet and when you read Jewish tradition that says that sitting at the feet of a rabbi was what a disciple does, in Acts 22 and 3, the Apostle Paul tells us that he was educated at the feet of an esteemed rabbi in Israel. Now it actually gave the rabbi's name, but since I couldn't pronounce it, feel free to go back and read that. It's a really good little story there too. But see, mary sat at the feet of her rabbi. And since this was a position assumed by a disciple, then I'm going to assume that Mary of Bethany was a disciple of Jesus. Now I'd probably get talked about for that. And was it scandalous? I'm sure it was. But I looked at it like this people, jesus' acceptance of Mary and her position at his feet. Then we can say that Jesus welcomes women to sit at his feet and learn.

Speaker 2: 13:40

Friends, both of the women here have a heart of gold. Neither is more spiritual than the other. And when Jesus comes to their house, I'm sure they both probably got excited. But they both want to spend time with Jesus and they just have two different ways of doing it. But I'm going to tell you, my guess would be that had Martha wanted to take a spot and sit down on the floor at the feet of Jesus, I'm sure he would have probably moved everybody over and made a place for her. I'm sure he would have and see, if you think about it, christ's words probably stung Martha, but his rebuke was out of love. He wasn't trying to be mean. He wanted to show Martha that he only wanted one thing from her he wanted her attention. He wanted to show Martha that he only wanted one thing from her he wanted her attention.

Speaker 2: 14:21

You know, and, brothers and sisters, ask yourself this today how do you approach Christ? Is it like Mary or like Martha? Are you so busy that you're neglecting time with Christ? I know the world begs us daily to do more, to be more, to accomplish more, and you may even tend to be a Martha, you know, wanting to tidy more, to be more, to accomplish more, and you may even tend to be a Martha wanting to tidy up, wanting to clean up, make order, the order of the day, and that's all well and good. But maybe sometimes we need to change our priorities and be a Mary and as a disciple, we are called to abide and to bear fruit, and we must take ourselves away from our to-do list and look to Jesus and ask what is it that he wants us to do? Open up our ears. You know, now we like Mary, we can choose to sit in his presence by prayer and his word, by simply being aware of his hand in our lives. Every morning we wake up and we open up our eyes and we're breathing. His hand is in our lives and, friends, we must abide and remain in Jesus and by sitting at his feet we will receive and we'll be able to absorb his love, and when we hear his words, and these words will remain in us. Now don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with being a Martha.

Speaker 2: 15:43

She's known for her no-nonsense personality. She's a leader, very hospitable. She welcomed people into her home. She really had a lot of courage, because to host Jesus back then that was a dangerous move because he had a target on his back from day one and it got worse after his ministry. But see, martha was also a perfectionist and hospitality in a Jewish culture was a big deal. Back then, a woman was judged on her hospitality and her reputation and Martha was probably distracted because she was trying to ensure that her hospitality was perfect and beyond negative words. But see, martha was a woman of faith too, and she was an imperfect woman, just like all of us. She loved Jesus with all of her heart. She was a believer. She had immense faith.

Speaker 2: 16:36

Read the story of her and her brother Lazarus and there's so many things that we can learn from Martha and really, if we're honest, we can all probably identify with Martha, but maybe we need to concentrate on being more like Mary and go to the feet of Jesus, because, friends, he said, come to me, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest See. You see, when we sit and we hear God's words, we kneel before Him in prayer and we bow our heads at worship, and it's here, in this space, in this place, that we find the peace, the discernment, the wisdom, the strength and friends, all of the courage that we're going to need in our journey to Him, and we are going to need all of that in the coming times. Now I ask myself am I Mary or Martha? I do like to clean and I believe everything has a place. I've got one little small closet in my tiny home and it's full. If you walk by it and open the door, something's probably going to fall on your head. But if someone told me that Jesus was coming and I would immediately start cleaning and lighting candles and it's human nature, it's a woman thing Somebody important is coming. So let's clean up, let's shove stuff in the closet and dust the spots so you can see and so on.

Speaker 2: 18:00

But I think really I'm a Martha, but I have a desire to be a Mary. I desire to sit at the feet of Jesus because I was created by God. He made me who I am today. He made me a woman, so maybe I'm automatically a Martha. I don't know. I want things to be perfect and neat and tidy, and maybe maybe there just isn't a balance to be found between Mary and Martha. I don't know, maybe I can learn to serve without the stress that Martha displayed, by prioritizing my time spent with Jesus, like Mary.

Speaker 2: 18:37

Because, you know, the Bible does tell us in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is a time and purpose for everything under the heaven and people. At this point in time, right now, at this point in time, the most important thing to do is to listen and learn at the feet of Jesus. And, you know, ladies, because somebody important is coming. The Holy Bible tells us that Jesus is coming soon, and I don't know about you, but I want to be about my Father's business. I want to be there. In that line, I simply implore you to follow the example of this lady here and the other women of the Bible that we've talked about so far. These biblical women represent not only the kind of bravery to which all Christians are called, you know to do in the face of suffering, but they represent a unique, powerful purpose which God has designated for women to achieve God's plan, which would have otherwise been impossible.

Speaker 2: 19:45

I mean, you know, people, we have to prioritize our time. We can be a Martha and a Mary. It's possible. I believe it's possible. I believe we can be a Martha and keep order, but I also believe we can be a Mary and we can give our time to God and we can prioritize our time and we can take time out of our day to sit down and. Thank you, jesus, for waking me up this morning. Thank you, god, for the roof over my head and the food on my table. Thank you for the many, many blessings that you bestowed upon me, because he has blessed us. So there's not a thing wrong with thanking Him for it. You know, and he knows our hearts, he knows how we feel, he knows that we're thanking Him, he knows how we feel about it, he knows that we're appreciative. He just likes to hear it, and there ain't a thing wrong with talking to Him. There ain't a thing wrong with going and being a Mary and sit down at the feet of Jesus Christ and listen to what he has to say, listen to his teachings. Close your eyes and put your heart into it and get into his word. Open up his word and read it. There's just so many things in that word that will help you. And, ladies, just please understand where Mary and Martha are coming from. It's not a bad thing to be either or or both. We should probably have the drive to be both. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 21:20

Anyway, I'm going to close. I'm going to close with a prayer. I'm going to close with a prayer. I will say this I do hope that this has blessed you as much as it's blessed me to bring it to you. Like I said, I've really had a very good time with this and I have.

Speaker 2: 21:40

Chapter 4 is coming up. Series number 4 will be coming up next week, hopefully, lord's willing anyway. So let's pray Our Father, god in heaven. We are all living in a Martha world. There's so many distractions, never-ending demands, evil doings all around us. Lord, we ask you to help us create in us a merry heart in our Martha world. We know we are people who make mistakes. Over and over again. The Bible tells us we fall short, but we ask you, lord, to remind us to sit down and to sit still and to open up our minds and our hearts and listen, listen for your words, listen for your instruction, and to move up. We ask you, lord, to help us to close our mouths and to open our hearts and to listen to your teachings. Help us, lord, to take the burdens that we have and take them to the feet of Jesus and to learn and to leave them there.

Speaker 2: 22:48

Lord, I ask you today to bless everybody, each and every lady, me and anybody that's listening to this today. I ask you just to let these people open up their hearts and their minds and let them understand what's being said here today. Let them understand that it's okay to be a Martha, but have the heart for Mary, have the heart of Mary, have the heart to want to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ and learn. Just let these words go to the people that needs to hear it. We thank you, lord, for this time here. We thank you for all the many blessings that you bestowed upon us. We thank you that we had time to come into this station here and to get the word out there, to let people hear this we thank you and we praise you and we honor you, we worship you and we love you. Lord and God, we ask these and all things In Jesus' holy name. We pray, amen and amen. Thank you for listening. God bless everybody.

Speaker 1: 23:53

Hey, you've been listening to Bible Talk with Sister Deb Osborne. You can also find her show on WUIC 88.1 Christian Radio Station every Sunday at 5 pm. You can also find her show on the 421 Show podcast. You can find it on Apple, spotify, google whatever platform you're choosing. If you'd like to email Sister Deb, you can email her at osborne Debra K at gmailcom. That's O-S-B-O-R-N-E-D-E-B-R-A-K at gmailcom. And if you'd like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal slash HOR421 or you go through the website at HOR421showbuzzsproutcom. Bible Talk is recorded live, no post editing recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all of your studio needs, you can email at HOR421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502.