Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
Martha's hospitality was admirable. Her desire to welcome Jesus stemmed from a good motivation. Yet there was something problematic about how she proceeded with her serving, something that made it seem burdensome. Jesus observed that she was anxious and worried about many things. This was like the seed choked by the thorns of "the cares of the world" in the Parable of the Sower (see Matthew 13:22). Jesus was meant to be a unifying influence that gave definitive direction and purpose to her actions. But she was being pulled away from attentiveness to Jesus by the nuanced details of many things she did in fact need to do. She could, perhaps, have continued to do them, but with more awareness of Jesus as the unifying central focus of her actions. And then perhaps she would have experienced something more like exhilaration than anxiety.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
Because Martha experienced her serving as burdensome she couldn't help but compare herself to Mary, who appeared to her to be slacking on her obligations to be a hospitable host. But was it really desirable to take away from another person the possibility of being near Jesus and sitting at his feet? Wouldn't it be part of the value of her work that it enabled other people to do precisely this? Martha did not suggest that perhaps she too might sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. She didn't seem to consider this possibility, or that the apparently reckless freedom demonstrated by Mary might be something that she could share. Would not a better request have been that she too have time when she could sit and listen to Jesus, rather than trying to sabotage that for someone else?
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.
To Martha's eyes, the pressing needs of the world were always going to outweigh the utility of sitting unproductively near Jesus. But Jesus wanted her to learn that this posture was by no means a lesser part. It was only by giving central attention to Jesus that everything else could have meaning. It was by seeking first the Kingdom that one could receive everything else.
When the crowds were hungry in the desert it was suggested that Jesus send them away in many different directions in order that their needs might be met. But Jesus always desired to unify people around him. At that time he multiplied the bread and fish to ensure that their would be enough for all. Might not something like this have also happened in the home of Martha if she attentively placed her meager gifts in the hands of Jesus? Who can say.
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