“Where angels fear to tread”
Meditation – Friday, June 6, 2025
Luke 10: 38-42 (Forward, p. 39) CEV p. 1074
Some Scripture passages evoke a virtual firestorm of controversy and today’s passage is one of these. It is the old and very familiar story of Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary. Here the discussion becomes unduly complicated, complicated especially by the personal agendas or biases that readers ‘bring’ to it. Hence it has been interpreted as follows:
Martha, the Old Covenant of ‘works’ vs. Mary, the New Covenant
of ‘grace’.
Martha, action/ service/ hospitality vs. Mary, contemplation.
In each of these, the example of Mary is somehow generalized and described as being better or preferable to that of Martha. But then, this somehow overlooks the pervasive call throughout the Scriptures to exercise hospitality (see Abraham & Sarah and 1 John for eloquent examples of this.) And then, too, our present cultural understandings of Jesus’ day that Martha, as the senior woman in the household, was doing exactly as she was supposed to do, as she was expected to do.
Let us then, suppose that this narrative was not meant to be generalized and applied to all sorts of other situations. However, that, then, leaves us two other questions: ‘why did Jesus respond in the way that He did?’ and ‘why did Luke, the compiler of this gospel, see fit to include it, seeing as he is the only one of the four evangelists that does so?’
Here I am treading on much shakier and more speculative grounds. I would suggest that Martha has chosen to take on far more by household chores, mealtime preparations, hospitality, than is absolutely necessary. She has chosen to cumber herself with all sorts of extras, all sorts of additional preparations, and has worn her emotions to the bone with all this frantic fussing about. In other words, Jesus is simply saying to her, ‘sit
down, relax, take it easy, just leave everything else be, you’ve done enough for now.’ He is telling her to come and enjoy his company as her guest rather than always hovering and traipsing about. It is, then, a particular message for a particular set of people.
And maybe this is why Luke chooses to generalize it by including it in his gospel. It is so easy to get caught up in service, in serving a person, that you miss out on being with that person and nurturing and enjoying that relationship. Certainly, in ‘the old days’ it could be said that some men spent so much time and effort in providing for their families that they scarcely spent much time with them. Maybe that is the kind of thing that Jesus and Luke are alluding to.
I don’t think that either of them is suggesting that either thing, service or contemplation, is ultimately preferable to the other, but rather that both have their place, both are necessary. However, they need to be kept in balance and in their proper proportions. We need both Martha and Mary in our equations, and in fact, we need a bit of both in our own lives. Thanks be to God for both of them.
Forward notes: “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing” (verses 41-42a).
“Going into my third year of seminary studies, I had an opportunity to go on a silent retreat. And I had plans. I needed to complete a mountain of reading to prepare for the semester. I was weeks behind in journaling. And I had decided that what I really needed to do to be on top of work and school and my everyday activities was to colour code my planner. I packed books, coloured pens, and a variety of stickers I was sure would help me organize. I had a reading plan laid out. It was going to be perfect, and I was going to be so productive.
“And then…the Benedictine monk leading the retreat reminded us why we were there: to just be, with ourselves and with God. Feeling slightly called out, I pushed aside all my plans and went for a walk in the woods. Like Martha, I was worried and distracted and in need of only one thing. Suddenly, I came upon a small clearing. And there I sat and prayed. I found myself again, and more importantly, I found Jesus.”
Moving Forward: “When you are distracted by many things, what brings you back to the one thing you need?”