Devotion: Martha & Katie Luther
Martha & Katie Luther
Please read the scripture from the weekend: Luke 10:38-42
I have a lot of sympathy for Martha. When I entertain, it’s hard for me to relax and enjoy my guests until the meal is over and I have few remaining responsibilities.
While I can plan ahead, Jesus and the twelve and perhaps other disciples have arrived unannounced at Martha’s home. She’s figuring out what she can feed this large group of guests that honors them and can also be prepared on short notice. She could really use her sister Mary’s help.
I wonder what Martha did after Jesus said Mary had made the better choice in making listening to him her priority, and thus wouldn’t be helping in the kitchen. I’d like to think Martha immediately sat down with the others, but it seems more likely she retreated to the kitchen and served the meal as planned. But surely she reflected on what Jesus said, because she grew in faith and became a disciple.
Jesus’ message to Martha was that there’s a time to serve and a time to grow our relationship with God, and that that relationship should be our priority. We need to be intentional in how we plan our time.
Many centuries later, Katie, the wife of Martin Luther, supported his ministry through her work. She cooked for their household that included their children, miscellaneous other children, and Martin’s students, who he was always inviting for meals or to stay a while in the former monastery where they lived. Katie was essentially running a 40-room boarding house while rearing and educating the children, raising livestock and overseeing a brewery and a small farm. She was also an excellent nurse and tended to those in the household who were sick and others who were brought to her.
An anecdote from Martin Luther’s life has him saying, “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” I can’t image Katie saying or doing that, but we know that she also made time with God a priority, could discuss theology in Latin and loved Jesus with all her heart. On her deathbed she said, “I will stick to Christ as a burr to a topcoat.”
God wants to be first in our lives, so make him first each morning, spending time in prayer, reading scripture or engaging with a written or spoken devotion. Time with God gives us strength for the work of each day. And we can bring God into that work: pray for your family while folding their laundry; praise God for the natural world when work takes you outdoors; pray for the person in need when you hear an ambulance siren. God wants to connect with us each day – and throughout each day – so he can give us strength and guidance.
Thank you, God, for how you love and care for me. Help me make my relationship with you my top priority. Amen.
Written by Cheryl Stubbendieck
Cheryl Stubbendieck is a member of Sheridan’s Devotion Writing Team. She leads the Wednesday morning Women’s Bible Study and serves on the Sheridan Foundation board. She and her husband Jim are retired. Their family includes son Aaron and his wife Chaitra and grandson, Theo, of Houston, TX, and their son Reed of Stillwater, OK.