Zeal for the Lord: Martha and Mary

Christ, having risen, first appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women. Why to them, and not to the disciples? Because they were the first to go to the tomb, having waited only until the Sabbath ended—“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark” (John 20:1, ESV). They showed zeal for the Lord; they wanted to spend even a little more time near Him after His death. It would have been somehow unfair to appear first to the other disciples and not to them. By the way, when Mary Magdalene reported to the disciples that the tomb was empty, only two disciples—Peter and John—ran to the tomb. It was no coincidence that these were the closest disciples to Christ, the ones He liked the most. Because of their zeal. Without it, it is impossible to please God. Faith alone is not enough here—to believe that Christ exists and to go about one's own business as if He did not exist.

Next, I want to speak about two kinds of zeal—Mary's and Martha's.

“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38–42, ESV)

We see that both of these women loved Christ and had zeal for Him. Yet Christ said that Mary's portion was better. What is this portion?

I will take an example from Israel's journey to the Promised Land. As we know, not all the tribes crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. Two and a half tribes remained on the eastern side of the Jordan. They were tempted by the good lands of Bashan and Gilead.

“Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, ‘Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, the land that the LORD struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.’ And they said, ‘If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.’” (Numbers 32:1–5, ESV)

What did Moses reply? He was concerned that Israel's forces would be reduced, and their staying behind would discourage the remaining Israelites from taking the lands beyond the Jordan. Upon hearing their promise that they would leave their families and go to fight alongside them until the land was taken, and only then return home, Moses allowed it—by the way, without asking the Lord.

“So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. And Moses said to them, ‘If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the LORD, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.’” (Numbers 32:28–30, ESV)

We see that Moses was focused on fulfilling God's task—bringing Israel into the Promised Land. He showed this zeal from the beginning of the wilderness journey. This is well illustrated by the following episode: “And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, “I will give it to you.” Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel.’ But he said to him, ‘I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.’ And he said, ‘Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. And if you do go with us, whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same will we do to you.’” (Numbers 10:29–32, ESV) It sounds strange to make such an offer—to serve as eyes for a foreigner—considering that “the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night” (Exodus 13:21, ESV). Who knows the way better than the Lord Himself? Of course, traveling with the Lord was not always comfortable for the body—for example, they would arrive at places with no water, or unsuitable water to drink (Exodus 15 and 17; Numbers 20). If Hobab had led them, such incidents would likely not have occurred. But God did this to reveal His glory—to bring water from the rock, perform other miracles—so that the people's faith would grow and they would learn to trust God. Such communion with God is a more important thing than quickly achieving some goal. God did not care about getting them into the Promised Land as quickly as possible—He could have done it in a month. There are more important things. Technically speaking, traveling forty years instead of forty days looks like a failure, but it was the best period in Israel's history. This was Mary's period (meaning Martha's sister)—they were at the Lord's feet the whole time. That is the best portion. Not some external achievements. God was always near—leading them in pillars of cloud and fire. At any time, they could come and ask the Lord. They saw countless miracles; manna fell from heaven. What more could one need?

So, returning to Moses. He was focused on the goal—to cross the Jordan and take the land. Because of this, he agreed that two and a half tribes would not cross the Jordan into the Promised Land, as long as their warriors crossed and helped fight the Canaanites. Yet it does not take great insight to understand that this would distance those tribes from God—it would be harder every time to cross the Jordan to offer sacrifices (since sacrifices could only be made in one place). The Israelites who remained on the eastern side of the Jordan understood this themselves. Here is what they said when they returned and built an altar by the Jordan: “No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.’ So your children might make our children cease to fear the LORD. Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we might do service to the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children may not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the LORD.”’” (Joshua 22:24–27, ESV) The Ephraimites called the Gileadites fugitives: “Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ‘You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.’” (Judges 12:4, ESV)

Thus, Moses did not realize that by allowing part of Israel not to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land, he was taking away from them the best portion—Mary's portion—to always be at the Lord's feet. He was too focused on the goal. For this reason—indirectly, of course—God did not allow him to bring the people into the land of Canaan. Because he became irritated by the Israelites' grumbling when there was no water, and he and Aaron had to bring it from the rock. “Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ‘Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?’ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.’” (Numbers 20:10–12, ESV)

For Moses, this was an opportunity to once again witness God's miracle, to strengthen the people's faith before entering the Promised Land. But Moses did not rejoice in these moments. He was too focused on the goal and wanted to achieve it as quickly as possible. God entrusted this honorable task—bringing Israel into the Promised Land—to Joshua. Why to him? The answer is in this verse: “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.” (Exodus 33:11, ESV) Simply put, Joshua loved to be at the Lord's feet.

Of course, I in no way want to diminish Moses. He is one of the most prominent men of God in the entire Bible, even appearing with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration to strengthen Christ. This shows how highly God values him. I simply wanted to show that sometimes the goal can become more important than communion with God.

It is often seen among Christians who get so involved in various ministries that they do not even have time to pray longer or to learn His will. As the saying goes, one can serve Christ but without Christ.