Thursday of Lent 2 - Mary and Martha
Read: Luke 10:38-42
"But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will notbe taken away from her." (Lk. 10:42)
It sounds like so many stories of siblings: one does the work while the other
goofs off. It's the sister Martha who invites Jesus home for a meal, and there's
plenty of work to do. For such an important guest, Martha plans to put on an
appropriate meal, so she has many things to occupy her mind and time. Many
hands make light work, and it sure would be helpful if sister Mary got busy.
But Mary's not working. Ever since Jesus arrived, she's been sitting at His
feet like good students do, listening to every word of His teaching. For a “workbefore-
play” girl like Martha, Mary's behavior is exasperating—so much so that
she actually complains to the Guest! “Lord, do You not care that my sister has
left me to serve alone?” she demands. “Therefore tell her to help me.” Martha's
probably concluded that Mary isn't going to listen to her; but when this Jesus
tells her.... He's just talking to her, after all.
Except that Jesus doesn't admonish Mary. He admonishes Martha instead:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one
thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken
away from her.” Martha's wrong for doing all the work? Mary's right to just sit
there? This is not a Bible story parents count on to teach siblings that they
should both pitch in to clean up the basement. There's a good reason for this:
this story is not about working together. In fact, it's about Christian worship.
Why?
Because there He is. The Son of God is present, teaching His Word. As He
speaks His Word, He is freely giving out mercy and grace, faith and eternal life.
Martha can cook up a ten-course meal and make sure that the visit is as perfect
as possible; but none of her works of hustling and bustling, worrying and
cooking will get her a bit of forgiveness. On the other hand, Mary knows the
one thing needful: her Savior is present, speaking His life-giving Word, and
she's going to soak up every syllable while He's there.
Note, by the way, that Jesus doesn't forbid Martha from sitting down, too.
She's more than welcome to join them. I somehow suspect that, when their
Guest has fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, dinner isn't going to be a
problem.
In the Church today, there are two prevailing ideas about worship. One says
that the purpose of worship is for people to get together and offer their worship
and praise to God. Music speaks of their acts and intentions of love for Jesus,
and participation in worship is about doing something—a testimony, a skit, a
dance, etc. This is what Martha does when Jesus is near.
The other idea of worship is Divine Service, which says that worship is not
about what we do. Rather, what matters is that Jesus is present in His means of
grace—as present now as He was with Mary and Martha. In that case, we have
the privilege of doing what Mary did: we hear, we take and eat, we drink. We
receive from Jesus Himself the one thing needful.