Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
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.”
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.”
(Luke 10:38-42)
If I'm being honest, this is probably one of my least favorite Gospel passages. Every time I hear this passage proclaimed, it's like a knife twist to the heart. I think we can all picture ourselves as Martha in many ways - anxious, worried, preoccupied - but stopping there would just be scratching the surface. Our reaction to this passage is to immediately boil it down to the message to 'Be less busy. Spend more time with Christ.' It's an oversimplification.
We never get a retort from Martha. We don't know if she gives one. We don't get a facial reaction or body language to suggest a reaction to Jesus' comments. We tend to automatically assume that she stops whatever she is doing to go sit at the feet of Jesus with her sister. And maybe that is what happens. But I know that if I were Martha, I would probably be livid.
From this short passage, it would seem that Martha expresses her love through doing - through service. Mary expresses her love through being - through sitting at the feet of Christ. Is Mary wrong to express her love this way? I don't think so, but the message is clear: being is greater than doing. And this is where I wish we had a full, detailed chapter on Martha. Because assumably Martha took great pride in her service. Martha expressed her love through doing and by fulfilling others' needs. She was caring. She was hospitable. She was sacrificial. And then she was told that this was not the ideal way to express her love.
I can't helping thinking if in that moment she thought 'But this is how I know how to love.' I'm sure Martha wanted to greatly to be appreciated for all that she was doing. She would want to be recognized and valued. She would want those around her to acknowledge the way in which she showed her love. Maybe she feared that she would never be as readily able to open herself up to Christ's presence - or the presence of anyone around her - like her sister. Maybe she feared that she herself was not enough.
And this is where I think we really get to the heart of what it means to be Martha - to not just be busy, but to not have the conviction that we ourselves (sans our actions, accomplishments, merits, sacrifices) are a worthy expression of love. I have no doubt that Martha loved Christ, but it's a love rooted in tangible, measurable expressions. And isn't that the way we also love? It's so tempting to quantify expressions of love. It's also just as tempting, and much more dangerous, to base the anticipated reciprocity of love on our actions, accomplishments, merits, sacrifice - to say 'You will love me to X degree, if I do or sacrifice X for you.'
This is not to say the tangible expressions of love rooted in action, accomplishments, merits, and sacrifices are wrong. But they don't get to the heart of who we are created to be. Mary sits at the feet of Christ, opening herself up to His presence. How often have I failed to to be present to Christ - or present to the presence of Christ within others - because I was too busy trying to demonstrate (or even worse - prove) my love for Him or those around me.
It's food for thought...and kindling for prayer.
