Hospitality is an art, a quality that will make anyone make a guest feel welcomed and warmed. Mary and Martha used to welcome Jesus, but for Mary, hospitality meant giving more attention to the guest himself rather than to the needs he might have had. She would rather talk to him than cook for him. She was more interested in her guest’s words than in the cleanliness of her home or the timeliness of her meals. In the contrary, Martha cared for those details. My brother, my sister, Mary’s approach shows her to be mainly a “responder.” Yes, she did little preparation… because she was more interested in participating and being active by her guest, unlike her sister who had put housework in the first position compared to their guest. My friend, you need to reflect on the kind of hospitality Jesus receives from your life. Are you so busy planning and running your daily life that you neglect precious time with Him? We should learn to respond to Him by listening to His Word and finding ways to worship Him with our lives. Mary is so committed to Jesus that, at the first visit, she just sat at his feet to listen to Him; then another time we see her actively worshiping the Lord, washing Jesus’s feet with perfume and wiping them with her hair (Matthew 26:6-13)… and you know what Jesus said of her? That her act of worship was going to be told around the world, along with the gospel, as an example of a costly service. This alone should teach all of us that we should serve Jesus wholeheartedly for who we know He is and not merely to try and look good. Many people go to church to serve men, trying to please them by their actions while the very essence of their worship is lost in those actions. As Christians, we should serve our Master, Jesus, just like Mary did, not expecting anything in return. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.
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