“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)
Today’s gospel reading always makes me want to defend Martha. Jesus came to her home for dinner, Jesus, the Messiah! Of course she wants everything to be perfect. I have always been an introvert and having people over for dinner takes me out of my comfort zone. It has gotten much better over the years and now I can relax and enjoy our company instead of worry about everything being perfect. But just as Martha was missing the opportunity to be with the Lord and enjoy his presence, in my eagerness to serve my company, I almost missed the opportunity to enjoy the companionship of my friends. And that is why they were invited in the first place, to spend some intimate time together in our ever busy world.
I think for most of us, a part of us is Mary and we want to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to him speak to us. But there is a lot of Martha in us as well. There is always so much to do. There is so much need in the world. I find this especially true at work. Yesterday I had a new family to meet whose child had a bone tumor that was possibly cancer. I had a family whose baby girl is on hospice and having some difficulties, a child who was sick with fever and needing to be admitted to the hospital and a child who had relapsed. And these are just the ones that required a lot of time and compassion. I have to take a step back and offer up a prayer before I go see each family otherwise it is too overwhelming. We can’t just focus on the tasks that need to be done because what we do is so much more than that.
Our world today applauds achievement but our Lord desires companionship and intimacy. The world is telling us to do more, obtain more, show everyone how successful you are. But our Father whispers, “Be still and know that I am God.” The closer we draw to the heart of Christ, the more we see his heart for the world. And so we serve, we minister, and we love, knowing that when we do it for “the least of these” we are doing it for Christ. But we have to constantly draw him close, allow him to guide us so that what we are doing is for our brother, not for ourselves. We need to sit at the feet of Jesus with an open heart and ready to receive.
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