F.O.C-FIXED ON CHRIST

[7-minute read]

Have you ever opened your home to a visitor, offered your guest a comfortable seat with a commanding  view of your life, and then promptly excused yourself to get busy with the exigencies of life, returning only to ask your guest for more time, more resources and greater patience with you? If this sounds preposterous, consider Christians who, after inviting Jesus to make their hearts His home, prefer Him to sit quietly as a sponsor and spectator. Instead of paying attention to the things He nudges us towards, we go on with life pretty much our own way – with little change inside.

We can find a biblical parallel of this analogy in Luke 10:38-42 (NIV). “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!”

It was a happy occasion. Two sisters heartily opened their home to Jesus and His disciples. But things quickly came to a head between the sisters over the order of hosting. What triggered it?

Martha hosted Jesus in the usual way she knew how – the guest would sit patiently while she busied herself in the kitchen. She followed a culturally prescribed role and it was no different when Jesus was there. Contrastingly, Mary left the kitchen and sat by Jesus. Exasperated by her sister’s lack of involvement, Martha approached Jesus to weigh in on the matter and to restore sense to her.

Instead, Jesus called her out for missing the point: “Martha, Martha, …you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

We do not know if Mary spoke much or little with the Lord, if she excitedly filled Him in about her life, or if she asked Him deep soul-searching questions. But we know she sat up close, at the Lord’s feet, listening to what He said. Comparing that place and the kitchen, Jesus declared that ‘Mary has chosen what is better’.

FIXED ON CHRIST MUST BE OUR WAY OF LIFE

When Jesus commented that “Mary has chosen what is better”, what He meant was that she was able to see that He was not just a guest but the Lord, the Head of her life who was in the house. She accepted that a change of order had taken place when Jesus entered her home. In His presence, no pre-existing norms could tell her how to run her life. When Jesus changed the order, it required Mary to take the risk of setting aside familial duties and societal expectations to do what is better.

Often, when we see people busy serving in the church, getting things done for others, or juggling many roles, we conclude that they are doing exactly what God wants them to do. We assume that being needed is better. Being important is better. When, in fact, our chronic busyness will produce three casualties: increasing loneliness, estrangement from people and pushing God to the sidelines.

Stressed and stretched, Martha did not have time for relationship-building conversations with Mary. Busyness is a relationship-killer. Her busyness reflected a chaotic inner life she was trying to hide. She failed to catch the subtle change of order that Jesus brought into her domestic life when He entered her home. In order to please her guest, she auto-piloted in what she believed suited Him best. She wanted Him to see her life from her perspective, and all that needed to be done. Naturally, her request to Jesus was for more understanding, more time, and more help.

ACCEPT THE CHANGE OF ORDER

While Martha kept herself busy, Mary took her cue from Jesus and remained at the Lord’s feet. She undoubtedly also had to do many things in the home but the day that Jesus visited was a very important day to her. She knew instinctively that all busyness could wait and she adapted to the change of order that Jesus brought into her life that day. Nothing was more important than her facetime with the Lord that day and being at Jesus’ feet mattered more than her time cooking for Him.

Today, we may not have Jesus physically with us, but we have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible all the time. While we cannot take busyness, life demands, responsibilities, duty, relational and functional roles out of our lives, we can put them in their rightful place. Our identity is not in what we do but who we are becoming in all that we do. Our plate may be full but if there is a God order in it, our facetime with Jesus will always be important to us.

 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him …(not on) hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition…rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:6-10). In other words, we can say that just because we moralize to make something we do sound right does not necessarily mean it is Christ-centred. For those who are habitual worriers, it is time to put those justifiable concerns at the feet of Jesus and follow the new order He has for your life.

ADAPT TO THE CHANGE OF ORDER

Yielding to God’s change of order is not necessarily easy. Mary set aside her usual routine to sit with Jesus and listen to Him. Whereas she used to help Martha whenever they had guests and her sister relied on her as an indispensable right-hand person, now it was all she could do to just sit and resist doing whatever Martha wanted for the sake of maintaining peace between them.

Following God’s order will require us to step out of our comfort zone because His order does not necessarily follow the expected or preferred order of things. There is no knowledge on Google or ChatGPT that will reveal to us how God works.

Mary didn’t try to explain to her sister why she wasn’t helping with the chores. She knew things were different in that time the Lord was present but she didn’t have the words to describe what changed. She just listened to what He said, and felt deeply assured of who she was in His presence even if it offended her sister. She might have wished in her heart that her sister would also join her to sit at Jesus’ feet. But she likely knew that Jesus’ visit meant so much to Martha that things must be done just right – her way.

To listen is to yield, hear and take action. Listening to a Christ-centred online teaching like this goes beyond responding with an emoji, a ‘like’ or a comment because all these actions do nothing to change us inside. Only prayer and deeper reflections can help us learn to adapt to God’s order at different times of our lives. Importantly, it is not about doing more or less of anything but about doing the right thing in any given time.

Mary caught a new order of things from that day by listening to Jesus. Later on, at another dinner, she found a place at His feet and poured an expensive perfume over them before wiping them with her hair. ‘And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.’ (John 12:1-8). Once again, she did something out of the norm because she was following the flow of a new order. Only Jesus knew what her act meant: “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.”

If believers were to pause in their day-to-day hustle and find time to pray and listen to God, many will likely find that they desperately need God’s change of order in their minds, hearts, homes, relationships and work. 

Mary accepted God’s order for her life, and adapted to its requirements. She risked being unconventional. She endured social embarrassment. All because she only had one thought: she was focused on Christ.

Indeed, Matthew 6:33 tells us, ‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’

This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 18 March 2023 with guest speaker, Pastor Marilyn Chew.