The Penn's Grove record., 1916-04-14
AND REFRESH
Well for All Christians That They
Shall Take Time to Sit at
the Feet of Jesus.

do not like many of the bold and
obtrusive contrasts which have been
built upon the wildly depicted and ia.
miliar scene revealed by st. Luke. l
think they have been unwise and I'm.
Justifiable contrasts, many of them
bearing hardly Upon Mary, and others
Of them bearing with equal hardship
upon Martha. The contrasts have
been too sharp and definite. We can
not separate the two characters like
two sharply opposed and glaringly an
tagonistic colors. They are not like
W strips of ribbon, one perfectly
white and the other perfectly black; /
think we should find that each ribbon
shades off into a gray where they both
become n Let us be careful that
in u exposition we are unjust to
neither.
Let me give an Interpretation. Mary
had chosen 'the good part" because
1t included Martha's. A pound is bet
ter han a penny because it includes
1t. Mary both sat and served, she
communed and labored, she had part
nership with her Lord and ministry
for her fellows. Where have we got
our assumption that Mary was always
sitting and reading and moping! There
was no buster woman in all Bethany
than Mary! Where have we got our
impression that the devout are the
indolent, and that the prayerful are the
inactive? Mary knew when sitting
would help the running. She was new
er afraid of seeming to waste time in
order to save it. Martha was so afraid
of wasting time that there was a con-
slant leakage of her power. Mary
knew that for all her competent activi-
ty 1t was needful to sit at the Masters
feet And so Mary's part included
Martha's; she chose the good part
which shall not be taken away from
her.
The Real Lesson.
; Now, what is the lesson of all this?
Surely we are taught that deep COM
munion with the Lord is the secret
OF all effective service of men. DO
ing" is comparatively easy, but eff
Gent doing demands the infinite.
Why, in the very instance before us
Martha's doing might have been much
better done! There are signs of nerv-
waste about her, Of hot intensity,
Of irritableness and irritation. The
woman is overweight. The Lord him
self describes her as distracted and
troubled" She bustles about her do
ing, and her very doing Is like the fir
ing of an ill-directed and feebly han
died gun. What does Martha need?
She needs to sit down! Ay, but she
must sit in the right place. AT Jesus
feet, to hear his word"
And there is a still further advan-
tage reaped from this retirement into
the presence of God. We get a truer
sense of the busting about amid the
manifold and claimant duties of the
day, giving ourselves no time for
thought, we are apt to lose the en-
phasls OF things, and mountains be-
come valleys, and valleys are lifted
up to the height of mountains.
Now, quiet withdrawal from the
busting scene gives us the quiet eye,'
and we see things as they are. They
that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles!"
All the best workers in the kingdom
lind time to sit at Jesus feet. We
get our fighting power in the green
pastures. The good part is not the
gracious prerogative of a few, some
thing apart, of which the majority
have been deprived. The Lords good
part is for everybody.-Rev. j.. H.
Jowett, DID.