Martha

The Gospel today at Mass tells the story of Martha and Mary. They were sisters, and they and their brother Lazarus were good friends of Jesus. The story in todays Gospel tells of a time when Jesus came to visit. Many friends had been invited over. The two sisters behaved quite differently. Mary sat at Jesus' feet to hear what He had to say, while Martha ran around the house getting things ready, cleaning, and being a good host. She quickly got angry that Mary was not doing the same;

“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.”

We all can relate to Martha. We spend our days and nights so busy...we work towards our goals, we try to reach our dreams, and we look at other people who are just sitting there, not doing anything, and victory seems to be theirs. Even Jesus tells Martha, "Mary has chosen the better part." Jesus sides with the lazy one, the one who just sits there and success comes to her. He favors the one who just seems to ride wave of life, and the good fortune that fate seems to have dealt her. Yes, Martha is "worried about many things", much like you and I. Life is not easy is it? In fact it's damn hard. We have our dreams, and hopes, and everyday smacking us in the face is reality. We have bills to pay, jobs to maintain and excel at, relationships to foster, lovers to satisfy, and friendships to hold on to. On top of that we have the surprises that come along; car problems, broken phones, banking mistakes, leaky roofs, flooded basements, and everything in between. Parents have children who get sick, it seems to be just endless.

So why does Jesus side with Mary, who seemingly has nothing to worry about. He is making a statement, that to sit at His feet is the better part. Mary has chosen to sit and hear the words of the Savior rather then run around the house trying to be hospitable. At the end of the day, to hear the words of life from the mouth of the Lord is much more meaningful then the petty worldly concerns that Martha has committed herself to.

When I was in Seminary this message is exactly what I would have proclaimed from the pulpit. That we allow ourselves to become slaves to the world, when what matters is the life to come with the Lord. Today however that message is different. Now that I live in the real world, I think that any man who trys to tell me that from a pulpit has alot of nerve, because frankly...life is not that easy.

What the story does not tell however is what Mary did in the background. I presume that she did her share before Jesus arrived, and then just put the rest in His hands. You see, there comes a point where we have done all that we can. There's a point when we just can't do anymore. We have worked as hard as we can to reach our goals, we do the best we can at work, we deal with each challenge that comes along with as much dignity and strength as we possibly can. . . and we have to put the rest in the hands of something bigger then ourselves. I call it God, some call it fate, some call it hope.

We have to draw strength from the areas we have gotten right. We have to lean on our partners who we love more then anything, on our friends who we are proud to have in our lives, and on the successes that we have managed to get under our belts. You see, in the story Martha went wrong because she stopped working. Jesus didn't tell Martha to settle down, or call her out on her business. She stopped. She stopped what she was doing and tried to get Jesus to see her frustration. She stopped working so she could point the finger at someone else who seemingly wasn't pulling her load.

Mary chose the better part, because she did the best she could, and then let it rest. May we all take the lesson from the story of Martha and Mary. We need to stop worrying about everybody else. We can't compare ourselves to other people. We can only do our very best, armed with the love of those who support us, and the lessons we have already learned, once we do our very best, we will be amazed at the fruits of our labor.