Color By Numbers Jesus

Scripture Reading: Luke 10:38-42

This was a meditative reflection practice given at the 2025 Missio Awakenings Conference.

“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.”

(v. 38-39) Martha made the decision to open up her home to Jesus and serve him. 

Without her doing this, Mary would have never been exposed to Jesus and eventually anointed him and Lazarus would have never been raised from the dead. 

What Martha was doing was good and necessary in the grand scheme of things. Plus, Food immediately had to be made, dirty sandals taken, and sleeping arrangements prepared. She was doing what any good Jewish women in this 1st century society would have done. 

“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!”

(v.40) But the tension we find in the passage is found in verse 40. 

Martha became ‘distracted”. How is it that we can become distracted serving goodness?

Martha over-identified with her role. So much so, that she colored in her service with resentment. She identified her heart of service more with obligation (doing) rather than looking to the attributes of Christ in her (being). 

Often we can become stuck in the reality of obligation without realizing the deeper reality of what is already in us. 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “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.”

(v.41-42) Jesus loving addresses Martha by saying her name twice. He isn’t just addressing her physically, but calling to her deepest self.

“Few things are needed-or indeed only one” Jesus is recentering her here.

“Mary has chosen what is better, and what will not be taken from her.”

Mary had been focused to what Jesus was saying and not the chaos of what was surrounding her. Mary was tuned into being and not doing. 

What Martha was doing wasn’t bad. In fact, the manifestation of her being is serving as we see in other passages. But she was coloring in the attributes of Christ in her with resentment and that always leads to an incomplete picture. She was coloring her image with one color.

Coloring your reality with being always gives you a wholistic and more complex image. Jesus is inviting you to come near and bring your worries and upsets. 

Radically, Jesus is telling Martha that she is more than her role in a patriarchal society. He’s inviting her to sit with the men and listen in as well. Jesus sees us whole and complete. 

Pause and breathe. Allow for the Spirit to help you answer this question.

“What attributes of Christ do I possess and how does that lead me in wholeness and beauty?”