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Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
Martha welcomed Jesus when he entered her village. She brought him into her home to provide him with hospitality and service. And yet, in spite of these efforts, it seemed that her sister Mary would be the one rewarded with the enjoyment of the fruits of this invitation and the ensuing hospitality.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
It's hard not to be sympathetic with Martha. It seemed to her both that her sister was not doing her part and that Jesus himself was enabling her in this omission by sitting and speaking with no regard for the apparent injustice, allowing Mary to fill herself with his words, while Martha struggled with the burdens of much serving. It seemed both Mary and Jesus were indifferent to her feelings.
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
We probably feel like Martha at times, busy with the myriad cares of daily life, preoccupied with important matters necessary for self, household, and society. Our concerns seem so pressing to us that those not preoccupied with them seem guilty of omission to us. Those who choose to sit in peace at the feet of Jesus, undisturbed by the cares of the world, appear to us to be shirking their responsibility.
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
What those sitting in stillness before the Lord have discovered a secret, something even more necessary than the many disparate things about which we are anxious and worried? Without this secret there is no way to relate to those many things without anxiety and worry. But the secret puts those things in their proper place under the one thing truly necessary, the better part. Choosing the one thing necessary allows us to have a new relation to the many things that once consumed us. It will no longer be our task to orchestrate everything perfectly and hopefully find room for Jesus in whatever time might be leftover. Rather, we will organize ourselves around Jesus as the center. There will be a time to sit at his feet and a time to serve. But only when we allow he himself to be the one to direct us will we be able to do either with peace. We can certainly imagine that even if Martha had chosen to sit at the feet of Jesus she could have still been preoccupied with the serving left undone. At a proper time Mary might have served with peace in her heart because she was not pulled in many different directions but still acting entirely for the sake of Jesus himself.
We could say that before Paul knew Jesus he was anxious and worried about many things in the category of progress in Judaism. His anxiety, if we can call it that, took the form of "breathing out murderous threats" (see Acts 9:1) against the disciples. It seemed as though there was a need to prove and validate himself, to earn the approval of his contemporaries and of God. But Jesus changed everything for him and gave him a new center and organizing principle, a perspective that changed everything.
But when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood
Paul's ministry was unquestionably authentic because from the moment he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus he organized everything (or, better, let himself be organized) around Jesus as the one thing necessary. He was beyond the influence of Judaizers and their propaganda, but neither did he shy away from proclaiming the entire Gospel, regardless of whether it was difficult or easy, both in and out of season. He did not need to consult flesh and blood about what he knew to be the truth revealed to him by Jesus himself.
Let us try to learn from Mary that the priority is to allow Jesus to be the center and then let whatever service issue from that place of peace seated in his presence. Like Paul, may the mission Jesus has for us help us to overcome our need tendency to poll flesh and blood at every step to make sure the world approves of us.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
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