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Once they'd identified the problem, they were able to deal with it. Arriving home from retreat he would take her out to dinner or the cinema or the theatre. Just being together, doing something enjoyable, solved their problem.
If your life is more like Martha's than Mary's you will understand just how she felt. But did Jesus? It's a bit infuriating to hear him say that Mary had chosen the better part whilst she was slaving away in the kitchen cooking him supper. Maybe because my life is often more like Martha's than Mary's, I've always had a soft spot for her. Consequently, I have always had difficulty with what I see as a 'hard' saying of Jesus.
Of course, I recognise the truth of what Jesus is saying. Activity which isn't rooted in prayer can often become frantic and pointless. But when you are busy and being depended on by people it's hard to be told that you should pray more; be still more; sit at Jesus' feet. Busy mums, for example, might find that advice rather hollow. You can imagine the reaction if the husband and children burst through the door asking 'What's for tea?' only to find mum sitting leafing through the Bible and drifting dreamily somewhere on clouds nine. Perhaps you should try it and see what happens!
Many commentators on this passage major on the contrast between Martha's distraction with many things and Mary's single-minded devotion to God. They have drawn out from this passage the importance of keeping a spiritual dimension in our lives. There is a clear implication that distractions prevent us from the true purpose of loving God and of listening attentively to his Word as it is communicated to us in and through Jesus.
I am sure that Retreat conductors have used this passage many times to get their retreatants to still their minds. One of my favourite prayers that I have used at the beginning of retreats or quiet days I have led, begins:
O
Spirit of God,
set at rest the crowded, hurrying, anxious thoughts
within our minds and hearts
Let the peace and quiet of thy presence
take possession of us.
In the
context of a spiritual quiet time it has much to say but it is, perhaps
less useful in the hurly burly business of life in the world.
There, it might be more appropriate to take comfort from a saying of
one of the Church's greatest teachers of prayer, st Teresa of Avila,
who insisted that God walks amongst
the pots and pans. set at rest the crowded, hurrying, anxious thoughts
within our minds and hearts
Let the peace and quiet of thy presence
take possession of us.
But there is no doubt that this text about Martha and Mary has been quarried to point out the spiritual superiority of Mary's chosen role contrasting it with the spiritual poverty of Martha's. And along with that there is an encouragement towards guilt ,and guilt is one of the most discouraging and destructive things that can happen to the human soul.
How refreshing, therefore, is St Aelred of Rievaulx,. You may not know much about St Aelred but he was a Cistercian monk who lived in the 12th century and who became abbot of one of England's greatest monasteries, that of Rievaulx in North Yorkshire. Aelred was not only its Abbot, he was also a learned man who wrote, amongst other things, probably the most important book about spiritual friendship that has ever been written. It has never been surpassed.
Aelred was also a great preacher and one of the sermons which survives is based on our Gospel today. Of the two sisters, he said:
The
one was busy, the other at leisure ... The one was anxious to serve,
the other nourished her affections. She did not walk about or run
hither or thither, was not concerned with the reception of guests, nor
distracted by household worries, nor busy with answering cries of the
poor. She just sat at Jesus' feet and listened to what he had to
say.
Now the tone
of those words suggests that Aelred is on the side of Mary, but he goes
on to say that both these women live
in the house of your soul. They represent two aspects of
what Jesus needs from us. One the one hand he needs us to sit and
listen to his words. On the other hand, he needs us to serve him
through practical deeds. Aelred says: If
Mary alone is in that house there would be no one to feed the
Lord. Therefore, Martha signifies that action by which we
labour for Christ, which is a
call to ministry.
On the other
hand, says Aelred,Mary
signifies that rest by which we are freed from activity in
order to delight in the sweetness of
God through reading, prayer and contemplation. We need
both because, he says, if you
neglect Martha, who will feed Jesus? If you neglect Mary,
what does it matter that Jesus entered your house, when you taste
nothing of his sweetness?
These sisters
are not enemies. They complement each other and Jesus needed them
both. He needs us to be active in our Christian service to others
which is part of our Mission to bring his love to those parts of his
world where we have some influence. But he also needs us to be
still so he can whisper his Gospel into our hearts and remind us why we
are serving and who we are serving - but also because he needs to tell
us how much he loves and cares for us.Of course, it is harder in our society, with all its demands on us, to carve out any stillness than it was in our Lord's day. Our world is travelling at a frantic pace and we are caught up in its movement without seemingly having nay effective brakes to slow things down. We might feel sometimes like shouting the title of a popular musical of the 60s - Stop the world, I want to get off! That in itself can become like a prayer because we know in our heart of hearts that life is much more meaningful than the headlong rush it often seems to be. Few of us really enjoy being over-busy and the strain on our bodies from over-activity is also a strain on our mental state as well as on our spiritual need. Taken to its extreme it can lead to a disintegration of our personality and our spiritual well-being.
We might envy those Marys who have actually stopped the world and got off - those who throughout the Church's history have chosen to leave everything behind and seek a quieter, more peaceful and prayerful life. The popularity of the old television series The Good Life owed much of its popularity to the fact that Tom and Barbara Good left the rat race behind and courageously sought an alternative, less frantic lifestyle. Of course there were many problems, and the show's comedy hinges on how these are dealt with, not least their more acquisitive neighbours Jerry and Margot. But its central message is that there is an alternative - the Mary alternative if you like, from the mindless busyness that drains our lives of their real joyful purpose of just being. It speaks of that truth that we Are before we do.
Who are you? I'm a vicar or a teacher, or a roadsweeper, or a shop assistant. No, but who ARE you? It's never an easy question to answer.
Yet if we can hold in tension the Martha and Mary in our lives then there is a chance that we will discover something truly wonderful about ourselves. We are made to be loved by God before he asks us to love in return. We receive from God before we can give to others. If we are to serve Him in the world, then we must know whom we are serving. We have to attend to Mary if we are to be effective Marthas.
Cardinal Basil Hume said that
When
we are busy in the market place, we must have a nostalgia for the
desert.
By this he
meant that though we are busy in the world, our hearts must constantly
be longing for God. Longing for God is but a short step away from
being with him, sitting as Mary did, at his feet. We have to
accept that sometimes we are too busy to think much of the spiritual
side of our lives but we must also be attentive to our needs to be fed
by Jesus in order to keep futile busyness in check.One of the real purposes for our gathering together here on Sunday mornings isn't just the fellowship it brings as we share a little more of each others' lives - it is much more about being drawn by God out of the world in which we are live and into a time of putting all that aside as we are gathered by God into his loving arms - into a relationship with Him in which he touches our souls. This is our Mary time.
There is a text in Hosea which speaks of God luring people into the desert - away from the city, so he can speak to their hearts. That is what he is doing this morning and every Sunday. He calls us for a brief space, to sit, with Mary, at his feet. But Martha is also present in what He is doing because He is the one who is Martha. He waits on us. He prepares a spiritual meal of Word and Sacrament, the secret ingredients of a recipe that feeds our souls. When we come to Church what God is doing is directing all his energies, his grace, his love, into our minds. He is re-creating us from within and, of course, re-creation is the root of recreation. We can be at leisure with God and let him just BE with us. In that way the Martha and Mary of our lives are united in a real friendship and we are strengthened for whatever life throws at us and whatever we throw at life.
What God most wants us to throw at life is healing, transforming Love - a love which is about working for God's justice, freedom and mercy in all the lives we meet and are involved in - and we learn that transforming love best when we allow Him to hold us and care for us in this all too brief time. At least in this hour or so that we set aside to be with God, he can minister to the Mary in us, as he reveals the joy of the Gospel. If we let Him do that it will make a huge difference to how we are Martha in the world beyond these doors.
Be still and know that I am God the Psalmist tells u in Psalm 46. Her are some words of a guide of souls, Simon Tugwell:
Enter
into the chamber of your heart.
There is the Kingdom of God
In the utter stillness within
From that depth comes human joy;
Human love; human activity.
Relax into the assurance of His Love, His care.
He has provided for every moment.
Be still and know that I am God.
There is the Kingdom of God
In the utter stillness within
From that depth comes human joy;
Human love; human activity.
Relax into the assurance of His Love, His care.
He has provided for every moment.
Be still and know that I am God.
It is an invitation we should take up eagerly. It will change the focus of our lives and refresh our souls.