I have gotten to that point in life where I don’t really like mirrors. They may be helpful for checking what little hair I have left is in place, that there’s no spinach stuck between my front teeth, and that my shirt is properly tucked in. It’s just the truth telling aspect that’s a challenge to my ego: the extra weight, the aging skin…
But looking-glass aren’t the only kind of mirrors we have. Several months ago, our youngest son wrote a Facebook post about watching his cousin’s young children for a few hours. He wrote that he suddenly heard “my father’s words coming out of MY mouth.” Oh NO! This is a mirror from his childhood – some statement I made about expected behavior. More than a few of us older folk have mirrored our parent’s voices and realized it afterwards.
I wonder if Martha – the dutiful and hospitable sister who is busying herself with putting a meal together for Jesus and his disciples – heard her mother’s voice when she came to Jesus to complain about her sister, Mary, choosing not to help with this work. Martha’s words are: “Lord, do you not care that MY sister has left ME to do all the work by MYSELF? Tell her then to help ME.” Martha is completely filled with Martha – her needs and feelings at the moment.
I am reminded of a time we were traveling across Canada by train – arriving in Jasper at 7pm, five hours late. We had arranged to travel to our Bampf by a one-way sight-seeing tour. Promised on this tour was a trip to a glacier – the first time we had ever seen one let alone walked on one – along with amazing Rocky Mountain views. It was lovely – except for the couple in the front seats. They had arrived on the same train and were completely miffed that they had spent an extra five hours on the train the day before. They were loud, rude and demanding – trying to push the tour driver to go faster – spend less time at the glacier. There was no consideration of the other passengers. It was all about them. They announced they were psychologists who were trying to have some “leisure time” before they got to a conference.
This couple and Martha were, as Jesus names it, “worried and distracted.” I’ve been in that same spot – and likely most of us have been, too. There are uncomfortable ways in which Martha’s situation and response is mirrored in each of us.
Jesus responds by tells her, “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.” Jesus knows Martha is providing a welcome meal for Jesus and his disciples Why react that way?
Mary is described as sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening. It’s the end of the day, and Jesus may be reviewing the teachings & experiences of this day – this passage follows the telling of the story of the Good Samaritan. Imagine Mary is “soaking it all in.” She is focused, she is likely in the midst of a conversation about God and neighbor and expected and unexpected behavior. This is the core “stuff” of the Jesus’ concerns and life. I imagine Mary so focused on Jesus that she has lost sight of her sister; is completely unaware of the setting sun and approaching night. She is fully alive to her Lord, her faith, herself. It is her focus AND what she is focused on that Jesus is protecting from Martha’s chastisement.
Martha’s worries are real & mundane, and as the focus of her attention they only compound and deepen her misery. She frets that Mary & then Jesus won’t join her in her worries. To worry is one thing, but to feel alone with no one to help with your worries is worse.
Martha’s dilemma reminds me of the many in our society who want others to join in their worry and distraction. They want us to engage their worry and they become incensed when we refuse to be distracted and pulled into THEIR worries. Yet, most often their worries and their proposed solutions are of little help. It reminds me of the quote: “we were too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.”
Martha is MY, ME, MY, ME all the way. She is feeling left alone and put upon. She feel she is owed her sister’s help. She tries to triangulate Jesus into forcing Mary to join her in frenetic fretting. She is in a world of distraction, demand and worry.
This is never an easy or good place to be. It’s a downright challenge at times. Family pressures, work pressures, building issues, illness, car trouble, the grocery list left at home, traffic – & frustration piles up, and before we know it we are in a world of ME & MY – why does everything “happens” to “me”?
Jesus says (insert your name here)”…you are worried and distracted… Choose the better part.” Are we asked to sit at Jesus’ feet in the midst of traffic or a bad day at work? Not exactly, but yes, in a way we are. We are being invited to get out of a “MY, ME, MY, ME” attitude. Traffic is not about ME – it could be an accident, road work, or just plain heavy traffic. A bad day is not the universe conspiring against ME. These all distract us from paying attention to the presence of God around us. Choosing the better part is an invitation to see the opportunities to drive more courteously, connect with coworkers, give a smile to a worker or fellow shopper… do whatever is life giving and connects us with God and Gods people & creation..
To do this is not a natural response. It requires that we practice shifting our focus from the distractions, in order to be aware of the presence of God in and through nature and other people we meet and interact with.
We need to practice being mindful of Jesus advice to Martha to choose the better part and to practice it daily until it becomes our second nature…
It is all too easy to “mirror” worried, distracted, self-focused, everything is against me “Martha” type behavior. It takes greater attention, more focus and awareness to be like Mary. “Mary” behavior pays attention to relationships: with God, with neighbor, with self. But to do it makes all the difference to us and to others.
As Jesus notes, “choose the better part.”
And I should add, this better part makes looking in the mirror much more tolerable.
