When I asked you all What would you like to think together about next?, one responder has always been puzzled by the Mary and Martha story in Luke 10:38-42. Jesus comes to the home of Martha. This by itself raises a host of questions, in a world where you’d speak of a house as belonging to a man. Was Martha widowed? Her sister Mary, we can assume, was younger. But don’t forget they had their famous brother, Lazarus. I am intrigued by Jean Vanier’s hypothesis that Lazarus suffered some disability.

The counter-cultural Oh my! in this story comes when Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” In those days, rabbis would often visit in homes and teach – the men! while the women prepared a meal. Martha’s playing her role to the hilt. Easy to admire her: somebody’s gotta fix lunch! You can’t just lounge around thinking spiritual thoughts all day. There are chores, tasks, responsibilities.

As Luke shrewdly narrates things, though, there’s a “but.” Always in Scripture, we read about what’s normal and expected – “but…” “But Martha was distracted with much serving.” Sarah Ruden translates is “Martha was bustling about.” And she files her complaint – not with her sister, but with Jesus! “Lord, do you not care my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”

Why so distracted? Why such bustling? Why not humbly serve your sister as well? Martha’s unsettled soul is peeking out. Her serving seems to be about herself, getting credit, or at least staying in her lane. Did she envy Mary a little? Or was she like many of us: we stay busy and don’t listen attentively to Jesus. And why? Is there security in being busy? Do we harbor a sneaking suspicion Jesus’ words might change things we’d prefer not be changed?

Jesus responds: “Martha, Martha” (why the repetition? Is he chiding? I imagine his tone to be gentle, plaintive). “You are anxious and troubled about many things. One thing is needful.” Our anxiety, like hers, bustles around in us because we pile on more to do and more to possess in order to allay our anxiety! Less is more. “‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free” (as the Shakers sing).

I love tracking little changes in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. Luke’s original said “one thing” (henos) is needful. Some copyist, in a monastery a couple of centuries later, substituted “a few things” (oligoi – which isn’t close to henos!). Why? My hunch is too many monks were shirking their duties by pointing to this verse, so the abbot tried to clarify what Jesus must have meant. Not just “one thing,” but a “few things,” including sweeping and carrying out the trash are necessary here!

I heard a preacher once declare “Some of us are Marthas, some are Marys. Be who you are.” Lovely – except Jesus invites his Martha to be a Mary! Us too.

Filling our shopping cart, and our calendars, we miss the one thing, the only thing that matters. Which is…? Listening to Jesus? Being close to Jesus? Living in peace, able to be still?

Jesus isn’t issuing a mandatory itinerary for how to spend your days. Mary had her chores too. We all have things to do, places to be. The story invites us to notice the distraction, the bustle, the anxiety within, and to commit to “be still and know that God is God.” Feel like time is hustling by too rapidly? The only way to slow things down is to slow down. The only way to be available to God (and others!) is not to be available all the time. Martha would have loved an iPhone…

I’m impressed, as you should be, with Luke’s dazzling artistry. Like pasting a collage together, he has stories about Jesus, and decisions to make about what goes where. In Luke 10:25-28, Jesus is quizzed about the greatest commandment. The answer? Love God, love your neighbor.

Then Luke picks up on the obvious question, Who is my neighbor? with that mind-boggling, society-inverting story of the Good Samaritan. He, the one you avoid and dislike, he’s the neighbor – and here’s how you love him, the way the Samaritan did. Having illustrated Love your neighbor, Luke picks up the loose thread of Love God, and shows us how in the person of Mary, sitting, listening, close, attentive. There’s also some of Martha’s serving lunch in loving God too.

   {P.S. Martha’s accusatory question of Jesus, “Do you not care?” is echoed (in John 11) by her and Mary when Lazarus has died when they in grief chide him: “Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died.”}