Where's your focus?
Jesus Visits Martha and Mary: Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing.* Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
As we continue our Daily Office walk through the Gospel of Luke, we come to this familiar story about Martha and Mary. I think many people get hung up on Jesus' words toward the end of the passage, "Mary has chosen the better part," as though Jesus is judging Martha to be somehow inferior or misguided. I think that misses Jesus' point. He is intimate friends with both of them, and with their brother Lazarus. He knows they are both faithful followers.
The more important point, I think, is one of focus, and remembering to keep our hearts in the right place. Martha was diligently playing the role of hostess, attending to the details of putting on a meal. Jesus' point is not that these things aren't important, but that it is all-too-- easy for us humans -- who live in liminal time and space -- to get bogged down in the "stuff" of every day life and miss the bigger picture, the context in which that life takes place.
What does that look like in daily life? It can be our failure to make time in a busy day to pray, even if it is "on the fly". It is in forgetting to find the little -- or even the big -- blessing in our everyday lives. In these challenging economic times, it can mean paying more attention to what we have lost, or what we don't have, than to the many blessings we do have in our lives. In our parish life, it can mean focusing our attention on budget numbers rather than the process of how we arrive at the budget. It can mean worrying about how we balance dollars and cents without first praying about who we are and who we are called to be. As with the case of Martha and Mary, it isn't that all of these things aren't important and have their place in our lives. It's a question of focus.
Where is your focus today?
Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing.* Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
As we continue our Daily Office walk through the Gospel of Luke, we come to this familiar story about Martha and Mary. I think many people get hung up on Jesus' words toward the end of the passage, "Mary has chosen the better part," as though Jesus is judging Martha to be somehow inferior or misguided. I think that misses Jesus' point. He is intimate friends with both of them, and with their brother Lazarus. He knows they are both faithful followers.
The more important point, I think, is one of focus, and remembering to keep our hearts in the right place. Martha was diligently playing the role of hostess, attending to the details of putting on a meal. Jesus' point is not that these things aren't important, but that it is all-too-- easy for us humans -- who live in liminal time and space -- to get bogged down in the "stuff" of every day life and miss the bigger picture, the context in which that life takes place.
What does that look like in daily life? It can be our failure to make time in a busy day to pray, even if it is "on the fly". It is in forgetting to find the little -- or even the big -- blessing in our everyday lives. In these challenging economic times, it can mean paying more attention to what we have lost, or what we don't have, than to the many blessings we do have in our lives. In our parish life, it can mean focusing our attention on budget numbers rather than the process of how we arrive at the budget. It can mean worrying about how we balance dollars and cents without first praying about who we are and who we are called to be. As with the case of Martha and Mary, it isn't that all of these things aren't important and have their place in our lives. It's a question of focus.
Where is your focus today?
Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+
posted by Don+ @ 7:56 AM
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