Some might look at this story and say we have a study of some not so uncommon family dynamics. The scriptures are full of stories of siblings who experience conflict: from Cain and Abel on down the line. And the different temperaments and preferences of Martha-types and Mary-types will probably be played out in quite a few homes later this afternoon.
But this story is about more than just different temperaments and preferences between the two sisters. The story, like the whole of the Gospel, is about Jesus.
10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.
Mary is for us a model of the beginning of discipleship: she sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to what he is saying. We don’t know whether there were others present, but this much we do know: that Mary decides that listening to Jesus is more important than tasks which might need to be done, that listening to Jesus is more important than being “out of place” as a woman sitting at the feet of a rabbi, that it is, in fact, the most important thing for her to be doing at that moment. When Jesus is in the house, and he has something to say, it’s our task to listen attentively.
10:40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
Now it is after all Martha’s house, and she has welcomed Jesus in. There are several things happening in what Martha says, and in the description of her.
First is that she is distracted by many tasks. Perhaps she is making a meal in accordance with the customs of hospitality. The house has been described as “her house”, so perhaps she has some household affairs to run and manage. But whatever it is that she thinks is her duty to her guest, surely the first duty is to pay attention to his presence.
And then she makes a request of Jesus: “Lord, look at how busy I am, doing all these urgent things, working away by myself. Get my sister up and get her to help me!” Martha is probably doing things that need doing, it’s just that now is not the time to be doing them. It is a matter of priorities: when Jesus draws near, pay attention to Him.
But Martha does what many of us do: Her request is basically something like this: “Lord, make that person do what I think they should be doing.” We sometimes learn slowly that Jesus is not really into granting those kinds of requests.
10:41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
[42] there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
Jesus gives Martha an answer to her question: you are worried and distracted by many things, but there is need of only one thing. Jesus does not tell her that what she is doing is “wrong” or “Bad”; he simply points out to her that Mary has chosen something “better”. It’s as if Jesus is turning a phrase on its head and saying: “Don’t just do something, sit there!”. Much like what the psalmist means when he writes “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Jesus knows that we want many things, that we are distracted people. Yet what we want is not always what we need. There is need of only one thing: listen to Jesus, and then act. Listen to Jesus, and then set the priorities in our lives. Listen to Jesus, and then the tasks of our daily lives can be lived out with more purpose, more grace, more love.
[All those other things about which we busy ourselves, versus Jesus, who cannot be taken away from us.]
Mary has not spoken a word through this entire story, and yet in some way we sense that she is the heroine – the model of discipleship being held up before us as an example. What is she doing? She is listening to Jesus.
And why is she listening to Jesus?
Because , as the letter to the Colossians reminds us,
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1:16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
1:20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
