Sometimes it can be more frightening climbing down a tree than climbing up a tree. And yes, some are more difficult than others. For example, tree climbing enthusiasts mention oaks and maples, but very few talk about the non-deciduous miff tree. They are one of the easiest trees to climb, but the descent is particularly challenging. Much intestinal fortitude is required, but interestingly, miff tree climbers report a similar experience when they complete their descent and hit the ground – much relief!
This Bible Bite was shared a few years ago, but maybe someone today needs to be reminded of the Miff Tree. Perhaps it’s me.
Martha and Mary were busy preparing a meal for the Lord. Mary left the kitchen to sit at Jesus’ feet to enjoy the richness of His presence. But Martha was frantically working. The broccoli could never be mushy for her Lord. Napkins had to be folded. The cutlery had to be polished. And the pots should be washed and out of sight before the dining begins. Martha was scurrying around while her sister was crouched at His feet doing nothing! While Mary crouched, Martha climbed.
Higher up the miff tree, Martha climbed. “I do everything around here! Everybody thinks she’s so great. Doesn’t anybody see the work I do? Not even the Master cares about my work. Mary gets all the attention!”
And maybe with such thoughts, Martha stormed into the room. Did she have her hands on her hips and her feet firmly planted on the floor when she said, ‘ Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me in the kitchen alone to prepare all this meal? Tell her to get up off the floor and make herself useful!’
Very gently, Jesus rebuked Martha and encouraged her to come down the miff tree. She was up dangerously high and perilously out on a limb—such a precarious perch.
Jesus said:
Martha, Martha you are careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
If that was the end of the story, we might wonder if Martha ever made the descent. Did she have the stomach to come down from the dizzying heights of her miff tree perch? Sadly, some believers have been known to die on that miff tree limb after spending many years there. But Martha’s story ends beautifully.
Sometime later, Jesus and his disciples gathered for another meal. Quite a crowd was waiting to be fed. Where’s Martha? Where would I be? Was she hiding upstairs with the door closed, sitting on her hands, swinging her legs with that pouty look, muttering to herself? “No one appreciates me. Their stomachs can growl and howl, but I’m not budging. This time, I’ll make them kiss my toes and beg me to come down and get them some food.”
Martha was no longer miffed, and she wasn’t nursing an old wound. Martha was no longer up the old miff tree whatsoever! The Lord and the disciples gathered for a meal, and John recorded this absolutely beautiful stand-alone phrase:
And Martha served.” John 12:2
John later said that if everything was written that should be written he supposed not even the world could contain all the books. (John 21:25) If that’s the case and space was so valuable, and some things were left out, why was it so essential to make room for these three words: “And Martha served?”
There may be more than one correct answer to the above question. Maybe it was because serving others is very important to the Lord. In the very next chapter, John 13, we see Jesus kneeling to wash the dirty feet of the disciples and to wipe them with a towel. He was teaching them how they should treat and serve each other.
But could there be another reason why the phrase “And Martha served” was important enough to include in the Scriptures? It’s the rest of the story! Without that phrase, we might think Martha never extricated herself from branches of the miff tree. Many don’t; but Martha did. And we see her happily serving the Lord again in the kitchen.
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If you’re up the miff tree, swallow hard, make haste and come down quickly. You’ll never be happy or useful again until you climb down from the miff tree with its branches filled with bitter sap.
Christian, let it go. See your own wrong and get on with serving. Will someone write later about you – “And __________ served?” Check out Psalm 100:2.
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ,
Peter Ramsay
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