Luke Ch. 10, verses 38-42 in my International Inductive Study Bible, the New American Standard Bible goes like this:

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord's word, seated at His feet.

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."

But the Lord answered and said to her; "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

When I first learned what scriptures designated for this CWO posting are, my first reaction was to just skip this one. Like countless other women, I've heard the Mary/Martha story so many times, and thought, what else can possibly be said about these women's encounter with Jesus that would help Christian women have a closer relationship with Him?

Deciding that not much else could be said about those Bible verses, I looked a little closer, beginning with how the Book of Luke started. My Bible points out that Matthew presents Jesus as King of the Jews, and in Mark, He is offered as the Servant who came to give His life for many. But the Book of Luke takes us consecutively through the days of His being here.

Before he ended up at Martha's house, it points out that He was about thirty when He began His ministry, and over and over numerous situations and encounters people had with Him, He used to point us to Him going to the Cross for us, and trying again and again to tell us how to live.

The scriptures immediately after those that have become the Matha/Mary story point out that He was in a particular place, praying, and when he was done, a disciple asked Him to teach them how to pray, and He did, using words we proclaim throughout our lives.

In chapter ten, a lawyer seems to want to argue only for argument's sake, and asks what to do to inherit eternal life, as if he were already entitled to it, Jesus gives him the Great Commandment, at which the lawyer quibbles even more, asking who his neighbor is, and He tells him about the Good Samaritan.

Those are the scriptures just before the Martha/Mary story. Our Lord is talking about things eternal, and while we understand Martha wanting to be a good hostess while He's her guest, she is about to miss the most important reason for Him being there.

Throughout Luke, horribly sick people are being healed. Ego-centered situations like "which one of us is the greatest?" rear their ugly jealous or selfish heads. But our Saviour used every occasion of those, to open their minds to loving and being loved. Nowhere in all of these parables and examples can you find that the way to know our Lord, and be with Him in Heaven, is by having a spotless house.

If you can tolerate a little Southern, next time company's on the way to your house, start the kettle cooking, and maybe bake some really good cornbread, And after you put the welcome mat out, comb your hair a little, and make sure the coffee's fresh. You never know, when a visitor comes it might just be an unexpected angel, or even our Lord.

Come to think about it, there's something else I've never seen: burial headstones engraved "She was the finest housekeeper in the world." Maybe when we eventually return to the dust we came from, it will be alright if some of it comes from the house.