Great Expectations
by Tracy Bankuti
Hindsight, as the saying goes, is 20/20 and invites a perspective of reality that can encourage us toward maturity in our relationship with Jesus, and others. You can’t help but wonder what Martha gleaned when she looked back on this moment in time.
It would be easy to give Martha a fail grade for her lack of attention to Jesus, however, the acceptable culture of her day invited the men to sit at the Rabbi’s feet, while the women were expected to take care of the hospitality side of things.
So, we could say that Martha was doing what would have seemed to her the right thing to do, the expected thing, and that her sister was doing what many younger siblings have done through the ages; finding an excuse to get out of the work.
Expectations are part of all of our lives. Some are reasonable, some unreasonable. Many are godly but many are not. If uncommunicated, expectations will not be met in the way that we expect and can result in bitterness and offense causing damage to a relationship.
Can you hear the expectations in Martha’s cry to Jesus? She must have been so frustrated with her sister but also with the seeming lack of action on His part.
Listen carefully to Jesus’ response to Martha.
“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” (verse 40).).
The Kingdom of God never has and never will be subject to our cultural norms or personal expectations. Martha was learning a valuable truth in this moment; God’s ways are not our ways, they are different, higher, wiser, better and surprisingly unfamiliar.
We can only guess what Martha was really looking for, what her great expectations of Mary, herself, and Jesus truly were.
There are times when, as disciples of Jesus, we roll up our sleeves and sacrificially serve giving sacred space for others to glean from Jesus.
But there are also windows of time when we are called to lay aside everything and everyone and intentionally choose the better thing, the one thing that Jesus commended Mary for: to sit down at the Saviour’s feet!
I wonder if Martha chose differently the next time Jesus came to her house!
Tracy Bankuti has been part of the team at Ellel Canada East since December 2009 after coming on a healing retreat and taking the training courses with her husband George. God has miraculously restored her marriage of 35 years, her family and health and she now serves on full time team along-side her husband and daughter Allicia. She is passionate about restoration for families, enjoys teaching, ministering, playing her guitar and hiking in the forest.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
