There are interesting points one can observe about Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus.

In Luke 10, she is attempting to pull Mary away from Jesus, demanding that He instruct her to help serve, yet there is nothing more important than sitting at Jesus’ feet in simple devotion.

In John 11, she is attempting to keep Jesus from raising the dead, her own brother, even though she called Him into what was a desperate situation.  A word to the wise: when you call Jesus into a situation to raise the dead (physical or spiritual), don’t attempt to tell Him how to do His business.  The best course of action is to get out of His way and do what He tells you to do.

In either case, Martha represents the religious.  The religious attempt to pull people away from their simple devotion to Jesus, demanding they “get busy”, or they attempt to obstruct Jesus from getting to those who need Him the most, with their rational and worldly arguments as to why certain things can’t be or shouldn’t be done.  For the religious it’s far better to simply let the dead remain dead, because those that are alive may have to be ministered to.  The religious don’t seem to have the time to minister to people because they are focused on keeping the gears of religion turning.  The stone that must be rolled away is deep in the heart of the religious where the decision must be made to be open floodgates of the Holy Spirit.

The funny thing about those who are steeped in religion is that they tend to think they know what’s best when it comes to revival.  They want control of the Lord and the people who need Him; they want revival their way.

The dangerous issue about Martha is not that she was so busy, “worried and bothered about so many things”, as the Lord points out (Luke 10:41), but that she attempted to keep people away from the Lord.  Well-meaning Martha’s are praying for revival in many churches, but they will never see it if they don’t decide to allow the Lord to be exactly who He is in His Church.

Mark Biteler