The Feast Day of Saint Martha

Today is the feast day of Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus.  Some traditions celebrate all siblings on this day.  We see Martha in two stories:  in the book of John, where Jesus raises her brother who has been dead for several days and in Luke, where she hustles and bustles with household chores and grows ever more exasperated with her sister Mary, who isn't helping.

The story in Luke is the one that upends our view of fairness for many of us. As a child first hearing this story, I expected Jesus to tell Mary to help her sister.  Or maybe Jesus would pitch in too!  Everyone could get the chores done, and then everyone could relax.

But Jesus has a different idea of priorities, and it's a message that many of us need to hear again and again.   Christ says, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10: 41-42).

I hear those words anew this morning. I, like Martha, am worried and distracted by many things.  To me, they make sense:  this pandemic, the storm that may or may not be forming in the Atlantic, the U.S. presidential election, the ruins of the economy, all my friends with special needs children who are suffering, all my friends with children who don't have special needs who are suffering, my family members who could die at any moment leaving me all alone, . . . on and on my brain goes on this hamster wheel.

Again and again, Jesus calls us to leave those worries behind.  Again and again, Jesus reminds us that all this worry doesn't add one more minute to the days we will live, and worse--the worrying keeps us from focusing on what's important.

The story about Lazarus shows us what this kind of worry can do to us:  it drives us to try to control every aspect of life.  Jesus shows up, and Martha comes out to greet him.  You can tell she's seething with anger that Jesus didn't get there in time to save her brother from dying. She doesn't hold back.

Jesus proceeds with the miracle anyway, even as Martha worries about the smell of her dead brother.

I recognize this control freak, micromanaging Martha. I see her every day in my own behavior.  I want to micromanage the miracles. I want to direct the Divine, not be open to new directions.

I love that Jesus doesn't get angry, doesn't send her away. I love that again and again, she doesn't quite realize the huge truth of Jesus, but he's patient. He doesn't bend himself into pretzel shapes so that she'll be comfortable, but neither does he reject her.

It's interesting to me to see in her behavior and in Peter's that we see that it takes time to grow into our role as disciples. Neither Peter nor Mary understand Jesus right away, but patient Jesus continues to work to shape them.

Today, let us think about the ways that our chores interfere with the time we have to spend with Jesus.  Let us think about our ideas of proper behavior and how those ideas keep us from what's truly important.  Today, let us try to cultivate hearts that will be open to Jesus.