Sitting with the Sacred

For this week’s post, I’ve been sitting with Luke Chapter 10:38-42. In this passage, Martha “welcomes” Jesus into the home she shares with her brother and sister, Lazarus and Mary (Luke 10:38). When I imagine the scene, Mary invites in right behind Jesus the apostles, along with the women who have been “provid[ing] for [the men] out of their resources” (Luke 8:3). Joanna, Susanna, Mary from Magdala, and others join Martha in making what she had planned for the evening meal go further. Then they set about helping her bring all that food to the table. As they do so, Martha tells her guests she wishes she had richer fare and more of it, especially as she sees the most prominent villagers standing at her threshold in the wake of the initial visitors. The visiting women don’t respond with any reassuring words. Still, she doesn’t take the hint. She wonders out loud whom she should seat where. Finally, one of the women shushes poor, hospitable Martha. “We listen to the teacher while we do the chores,” she whispers, patting Martha on the arm. “We’ll have time to catch up when we recline to eat.”

Martha’s gaze finds the teacher’s in the opposite corner of the large room. Then it finds her sister sitting at his feet, like a guest, while the visiting women help with the serving. Her hands clench around a bowl as she makes eye contact with the teacher again.

At first, he looks as if he’s spotting her again after losing her in a crowd. But where one moment she reads joy, she soon finds pity. He doesn’t look down, even though he seems to continue speaking to her sister.

“Tell her to help me,” Martha interrupts the teacher. “Don’t the Scriptures teach us that we should welcome guests?”

“They do, but they also teach us to love the Lord ‘with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strength (Mark 12:30). Your sister is doing that, and you could be doing so just as well while you prepare a meal for us. Mary ‘has chosen the better part’ but not because of her posture or because of what she’s not doing (Luke 10:42). If she sat here and were worried about the things you are, she wouldn’t be choosing any differently than you.” Concern yourself with what concerns the Father. Do your best, and then trust Him to provide as you as you strive to serve as He does.”

Author’s note: With my physical limitations, I can’t do much to help with chores, so I often find the passage from Luke Chapter 10 reassuring. To be honest, I’ve used the passage to pat myself on the back in the past. However, when I imagined the scene as I drafted this post, I gained a different perspective.

The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.