She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Are we able to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him speak? Certainly he affords us the opportunity, even those of us who are very busy. Assuredly we will never grow in having an intimate personal relationship with Jesus if we always remain in the next room over, no matter what tasks we perform there, however essential they might be. We need to experience stillness and quiet in the presence of the Lord as Mary readily chose to do. There will be time enough for what remains.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; (see Psalm 46:10).
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still (see Exodus 14:14).
but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice (see First Kings 19:11-12).
Most of us, for a variety of reasons, have difficulty sitting still. We think of the quote attributed to Blaise Pascal that, "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone" and we add our own mea culpa to this indictment.
But Martha was distracted with much serving.
Our important worldly tasks, our genuinely necessary service becomes problematic when it becomes a burden in the sense of being a distraction. This happens when our tasks overwhelm us to the degree that we forget the nearness of the Lord to us. Our thoughts become all about ourselves, our obligations, and become dominated by anxiety. It is then that we begin to compare ourselves with others and to manifest an attitude both of self-pity and entitlement.
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
Rather than serving so as to ensure that the greater good of fellowship with the Lord might take place we become so distracted and anxious that we would implicitly choose that no one sit at the Lord's feet so that everyone could all experience what we feel is our unfair lot. Martha was burdened by her serving, and that burden would enlist as many others as could be rather than allow anyone to sit in peace.
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
We might suggest, however, that it was not the serving itself that was inherently problematic. It was the way in which Martha was pulled in many different directions that was the true source of her frustration. Work, not just contemplation, can be unified by being directed to the one thing necessary. If she remembered why and whom she served she could perhaps have done so with delight.
But perhaps Martha was simply less comfortable sitting before the Lord in stillness, in the same way that many of us are also uncomfortable. Maybe her serving served to distract her from the fact that she found precisely this to be difficult. But eventually all service is meant to be in the service of relationship. The six days of creation are ultimately ordered to the Sabbath rest. Because of this we should listen to the tenderness in the voice of Jesus as he calls our name and reminds of the one needful thing.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.
He calls our own names not to condemn us but to show us where we can find the good soil, free from the thorns of distraction and anxiety, in which we can grow and bear fruit. It is in his presence and in relationship with him, experiencing the love that he first gives us, that we become able to simply be, knowing that we are accepted before any merit on our part. When we truly know this we will become able to do our work not as a distraction or a burden but as true service to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment