URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 25th August 2026

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named 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!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
 
Reflection

In this passage, we get a glimpse of the interaction between Jesus and his friends, Mary and Martha. This clearly wasn’t the first time Jesus had visited Martha’s home. There is a real sense of intimacy…I’m not sure anyone would be at ease sitting at the feet of a guest invited for dinner for the first time!  We join the story amid a difference of opinion about roles and responsibilities – a disagreement with which Jesus seems to be at ease. Maybe this isn’t the first time Jesus is hearing the same arguments being aired.  Maybe he is behaving like any friend might while listening to equally loved friends share a small spat – he doesn’t get involved! That is, until Martha turns to Jesus for help, asking ‘Don’t you care?’  For Martha to go down that road reveals just how open and honest these friends are with each other, and what they can get away with. They were just friends being friends.
 
I know, I know – there will be those who read this and say I’m being far too simplistic. I, like Martha, would disagree.  We need those people who know us, and who we know. People we can be ourselves with; people we can accept exactly for who they are. I give God thanks for those relationships which have shaped our faith journeys; the people who we’ve laughed and cried with, prayed and fallen out with; those who are still in our lives who we couldn’t be without, and those who have gone but are not forgotten.
 
Jesus visits his friends – but in this passage, we get to understand why they are his friends; two ordinary women who sit and disagree, eat and encounter Jesus – not in a way that’s confrontational, but lovingly. This is why it’s one of my favourite passages – the very ordinariness of it. Jesus’ enjoying being with his friends. His friends enjoying being with Jesus. Friends simply being friends.
 
Let us pray…

Jesus, your readiness to visit us is as true today as we read in this passage. 
Thank you for your invitation to share today, tomorrow and the rest of our lives with you. 
May your friendship shape the way we see others, and transform our loving.
May our gazing and our service be grounded in love and rooted in the ordinary. 
And may your words nourish us and draw us to be your friends, now and forever. Amen.