6 October 2015 - distracted

Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said

We have a lot of sympathy for Martha because we're all so busy all of the time. We can't take a break or find time to rest. We're burdened with much serving. But it needs to be done, right? Jesus needs to eat, whether Martha is feeding him directly, or we are feeding him in feeding the hungry, perhaps our own families. These chores don't do themselves. They accumulate and become unsustainable the more we leave them. We are absolutely ready to hold a grudge against those who are willing, apparently, to ignore these things to spend time on lofty spiritual pursuits.

Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? 

But perhaps the problem isn't what we are doing but the spirit in which we are doing it. Other translations render Martha's predicament as distracted rather than burdened.

But Martha was distracted with much serving.

And this is more likely the sense of it. Jesus says, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things." We work, but it is a distraction. Our bodies serve Jesus, but not our hearts. What if our service does not need to be a distraction? What if even in serving we can choose the better part? If our service is targeted and focused, not distracted, we can be near to Jesus and grow in our relationship of love with him. Our chores and our serving need to be centered. We need to do more than tacitly acknowledge that we are serving Jesus as an intellectual exercise. We need to take advantage of the opportunity our service gives us to genuinely encounter him.

Jonah serves the LORD but his heart is not in it. He's distracted. He does the thing, but he refuses to encounter God in it. He doesn't want the people of Nineveh to receive mercy. Because of this he misses the opportunity to encounter God's mercy at work. He misses the opportunity to grow in a relationship of love with God. His relationship remains antagonistic. God pulls one way and he pulls the other as much as he can. When he has to, he gives in. But he isn't happy about it. We are often like this. We miss the opportunity to encounter the one needful thing and the better part which can never ever be taken from us. We miss it because we're distracted by our own agendas. The narrowness of our own love defines our plans rather than "the breadth and length and height and depth" of the love of Christ (cf. Eph. 3:18-19).

Fortunately, even though we are often like Jonah, none of us have missed our chance. The LORD is rich in mercy. 

Let Israel wait for the LORD,
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.

He tells us to lay aside all that about which we are anxious, worried, burdened, and distracted.

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life (cf. Mat. 6:27)

He tells us how to find unshakable peace in the one needful thing.

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (cf. Phi. 4:6)

Even in the midst of our work we can know this peace.

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (cf. 1 Pet. 5:7)