Feeling Martha?

Feeling Martha?

            In Luke 10:38-42 we read:

            ‘As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?

            “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”’

            I’d like to think that I’m not the only one who would immediately shift into passive-aggressive mode and plop right down leaving dinner to fix itself, thinking ‘Ha, just wait until they are all hungry and looking for something to eat!  Then I’ll be vindicated.’

            My husband reacts in disgust whenever I want to discuss this reading, usually on the day that it is read at Sunday Mass.  He correctly points out that it is Jesus speaking and Jesus is never wrong.  My husband is right, but I wrestle with it.

            My husband doesn’t understand the logistics of providing a meal for a large number of guests.  We can make the assumption that a good portion of the apostles were with him on his travels.  She would have to round up couches for them, plates, cups, bowls, and utensils for the lot of them.  She might even have to borrow from the neighbors.

            Water would have to be drawn, especially so that Jesus and his followers could wash their feet.  Towels would have to be provided so they could dry them. 

            She would have to run to the marketplace to purchase the necessary foodstuffs.  Only the freshest of food would do for our Lord.  Once she carried everything home, there would be the chopping, cutting, kneading, stirring, and baking to do.  In between, she might have dug out the lace tablecloth from her mother’s linens and placed it over the table.

            She was well aware of Jesus’ awesomeness and wanted to put forth her best efforts.   Would two courses be enough?  She might have laid the table and adorned it with some kind of flowers in an earthenware vase.

            She would watched the shadows and as they grew longer, she would have known she wouldn’t have everything prepared by dinnertime.  That is why she went in exasperation to Jesus.  She knew He could get Mary to help her.

            But that’s not what happened.  At first glance, it appears that Martha gets a gentle rebuke.  We don’t know the rest of the story.  We can assume everyone ate dinner because they did not die of starvation and continued on in Jesus’s ministry.

            Let’s take another look at those particular verses in Luke’s gospel.   

            If you count the three years of Jesus’s public ministry and multiply them by 365, we come up with over a thousand instances where Jesus would have been invited into various charitable family’s home for a meal.

            Of all these meals, only Zachaeus the short tax collector and Simon the inhospitable are mentioned by name in the bible.  Martha, Mary, and Lazarus are mentioned twice and not just mentioned but declared to be loved by Jesus.

            Knowing how much Jesus loved Martha, we realize it was not so much a scolding as a reminder that she didn’t need to work so hard.  He gave her permission to let go of the heavy burden she had placed upon herself in her desire to set an impressive banquet.  “Only one thing was needed.” A simple meal!  He was inviting her to sit down, relax, and enjoy her company.

            Wow!  And through Martha, Jesus is giving all of us hardworking providers of hospitality permission to let go of the distractions and provide simple care to our families and guests.

            At this point, I am reminded of an example from my own past.  Some of my husband’s school friends were visiting and they were making the rounds from acquaintance to acquaintance for meals.  We had three small children, so I was worn out and felt guilty because all I provided was a simple meal of sloppy joes, chips, pickles and Jello.  One of the guests commented on what a great meal it was because it wasn’t heavy and filling.  The others all agreed, and I felt a whole lot better about myself.  Lesson learned.

            The other mention of Lazarus and his sisters is when Lazarus dies and is related in John 11:20-27:

            “When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, BUT MARY STAYED AT HOME (my emphasis).  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give it to You.”

            Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.”

            Martha said to Him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.”

            Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.  And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.  Do you believe this?”

            She said to him, “Yes Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who is coming into the world.”

            Martha is the first nonapostle to make the full declaration of faith!  Imagine how happy this must have made Jesus and how much He loved her in return!

            So, the next time you are feeling bad because you feel like Martha, rejoice!  She was WELL-LOVED by JESUS and this love has been proclaimed through the ages, written down in black and white in the Gospels of Jesus’ life.