\u201cMartha, Martha,\u201d the Lord answered, \u201cyou are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed\u2014or indeed only one.\u00a0 Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.\u201d Luke 10:38-42<\/em><\/p>\n Have you ever felt like Martha, where you are the one doing all the work?<\/p>\n I think there are a lot of us who would love to put everything down and just sit at Jesus\u2019 feet, but we feel like we can\u2019t.\u00a0 When we imagine pressing pause on our obligations, there\u2019s a voice within us that might say something like:<\/p>\n Have you ever felt that way?\u00a0 That seems to be what Martha is carrying.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that she isn\u2019t doing a good job, Jesus says she\u2019s literally doing too many jobs, and less is needed, in fact, only one thing is needed.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t get to hear Martha\u2019s response, but as a mom who feels like I have lots of jobs and obligations, I wonder how she responded.\u00a0 I have compassion for Martha.\u00a0 We don\u2019t hear the end of the story, but my sincere hope for her is that she joins in.\u00a0 I hope she received Jesus\u2019s words as an invitation to make a different choice.\u00a0 It\u2019s not too late for Martha, she too could have the freedom to put down her worries and sit at his feet.<\/p>\n One gift that scripture gives to us is that each story shines a little light on the stories around it.\u00a0 So we learn a little about Mary and Martha when we remember the lesson that comes before it, which is the Good Samaritan<\/a>.\u00a0 Jesus is asked \u201cwhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d, and he answers that you love God and love your neighbor.<\/p>\n This answer is not a to-do list that has two things on it, it\u2019s the good news of the Gospel.\u00a0 When we open ourselves to the love of God it transforms everything, and it reconciles us both to God and neighbor.\u00a0 In response to his answer, the person asks Jesus, \u201cand who is my neighbor?\u201d, or what am I specifically obligated to do?<\/p>\n Jesus then tells the story about a Good Samaritan who helps a stranger without the obligation to do so.<\/p>\n Both of these stories from Jesus (the Good Samaritan and Mary & Martha) are side-by-side examples of the same lesson.\u00a0 The lesson is the contrast between law and Gospel.\u00a0 Between being ruled over by obligations, and being set free to be transformed, set free to be more fully present, more fully loving, more fully reconciled to God and neighbor.<\/p>\n I think we experience both things.\u00a0 We all carry the weight of obligations, and we are all invited to experience the freedom to stop and let Jesus transform our lives.<\/p>\n Jesus was right in front of Mary and Martha.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have him for very long and they didn\u2019t know that, so this was precious time.\u00a0 Mary instinctively knew that the better choice was to stop what she\u2019s doing and choose him.<\/p>\n I wonder how she found that freedom to say yes to Jesus even when it meant saying no to her sister.\u00a0 We can do lot of hard work, and we can do a lot for other people without ever saying no, without ever stopping to listen to Jesus.<\/p>\n This seems to be what happens to Martha.\u00a0 She\u2019s working so hard, and her anxious plea is so relatable: \u201cLord, don\u2019t you care that my sister isn\u2019t helping me?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We\u2019ve all probably been in a place like that at some point.\u00a0 When you\u2019re feeling anxious or angry or afraid, and you wonder: \u201cLord, don\u2019t you care<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n We hear this question in another Bible story, when Jesus calms the storm<\/a>. \u00a0He was sleeping in the boat, and the disciples wake him up when the storm gets really bad.\u00a0 Their words to him reveal a lot about being in relationship with God.\u00a0 They don\u2019t say, \u201cLord, please save us!\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0 They ask, \u201cLord, don\u2019t you care if we die?\u201d, <\/em>because that\u2019s what they fear more than the storm, the idea that he doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a brutally honest theological question: Lord, don\u2019t you care?<\/em><\/p>\n We are all weighed down by obligations, anxieties, and fears.\u00a0 \u00a0Lord, don\u2019t you care?<\/em><\/p>\n I have a lot of respect for Martha, because she\u2019s totally and completely honest with Jesus.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t hide her feelings, and maybe this is why Jesus is so direct with her.\u00a0 He does not tell Martha a parable; he gives it to her straight.<\/p>\n The invitation is not to work harder, it\u2019s to be in relationship with Jesus.\u00a0 It\u2019s to spend time with him, to listen and learn from him, even when we\u2019re anxious or afraid.\u00a0 Even if you think you\u2019re not allowed to stop what you\u2019re doing, because Mary is told that she\u2019s not allowed to.<\/p>\n Spending time with Jesus helps us to return to a place of union with God, where we can be formed and changed by his presence.\u00a0 This is literally the point and purpose of discipleship: we spend time with Jesus in order to become like him.\u00a0 \u00a0Mary is being an active disciple in this story.\u00a0 She\u2019s learning to stop and choose Jesus, even when she\u2019s not obligated to, and even when it requires her to say no to something else.<\/p>\n This is what happened to the Good Samaritan.\u00a0 He had something to do or somewhere to go; therefore, he said no to something in order to be present with the injured man.\u00a0 By stopping to be present with the injured man, the Good Samaritan was also stopping to be present with Jesus.<\/p>\n By loving his neighbor, he was embodying the gospel in that man\u2019s life.\u00a0 When we love and serve each other, we are answering that question, \u201cLord, do you care?\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0 When we choose to stop and help our neighbor, we are affirming that yes, God does care.\u00a0 God does see what you\u2019re going through and what you are weighed down by.<\/p>\n When we see people suffering and we feel the weight of that on our heart, it is affirming that yes, God does care.\u00a0 We are challenged to be like Mary and the Good Samaritan.\u00a0 We are invited to stop what we are doing in order to be present to Jesus, even if we think we\u2019re not allowed to, even if listening to Jesus gets us in trouble.<\/p>\n Jesus sets us free, but we also get to exercise that muscle of that spiritual freedom.\u00a0 \u00a0The more we choose Jesus, the easier it is to stop what we\u2019re doing and listen to him.\u00a0 The more we learn to trust his voice, the more of our lives we submit to his teaching.\u00a0 We learn to recognize him in unexpected places, and just like the Good Samaritan we become more willing to stop and be present.<\/p>\n Like Mary, we learn to press pause in order listen and be discipled by Jesus.\u00a0 It might be prompted by anything, it might be when you\u2019re coming forward to receive the Eucharist, or when you\u2019re reading scripture, or when you\u2019re out in the beauty of nature and you feel that invitation to press pause.\u00a0 Let\u2019s honor that moment and say yes, spending time with Jesus when he comes to the door of our heart, believing that he wants to spend time with us.<\/p>\n It might come when you see someone in need, and you remember how Jesus would treat that person.\u00a0 This is a time to press pause in order to listen to that invitation, recognizing that Jesus is teaching and discipling you in that moment.<\/p>\n What happens when we don\u2019t exercise that freedom like Mary did?\u00a0 What happens when we don\u2019t stop to choose Jesus?\u00a0 We end up choosing and being formed by something else, whether or not we recognize that\u2019s what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n What happens when we don\u2019t press pause?\u00a0 We ignore the spiritual invitations in our lives which help us to learn, grow, serve, and rest.<\/p>\n Jesus\u2019s words to Martha apply to everybody, he said, \u201c<\/em>you are worried and distracted by many things,\u00a0but few things are needed\u2014indeed only one.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n That one thing is Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus is the one thing; and that\u2019s the Gospel, that\u2019s the good news: freedom in Jesus is what Mary chose and nothing can take that away.<\/p>\n May we also choose Jesus, and may we press pause when he comes to the door of our heart.<\/p>\n To read more posts, visit my column here<\/a>.\u00a0 Check out my published writing in \u201cSoul Food: Nourishing Essays on Contemplative Living and Leadership<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 If you are interested in contemplative leadership and are between the ages of 25-40, visit Shalem.org<\/a> to learn about Crossing the Threshold: Contemplative Foundations for Emerging Leaders.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mary and Martha As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha\u00a0opened her home to him.\u00a0She had a sister called Mary,\u00a0who sat at the Lord\u2019s feet\u00a0listening to what he said.\u00a0But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5444,"featured_media":395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
The Good Samaritan<\/h3>\n
Spiritual Freedom to Choose<\/h3>\n
Lord, Don\u2019t You Care?<\/h3>\n
Stopping to be an Active Disciple<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Learning to Press Pause<\/h3>\n
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