Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But 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.’ But the Lord answered 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.’ Luke 10:38-42

There is a tendency to think that this gospel lesson is about “doing” versus “being”. At least, I have encountered many people who interpret it as such. I have heard preachers argue that we need Marthas and Marys in the church. I even heard a sermon on “Being a Martha”. It struck me profoundly. I think I mentioned this several times over the past 12 years in my reflections. It seemed to totally disregard what Jesus was saying. No doubt, there were good intentions in the preacher’s conclusion but, like Martha, he missed the point. Martha invited Jesus as a guest into her home. He wasn’t like any other guest. Jesus was special. Unfortunately, she failed to see this because she was too concerned doing things that did not really matter. The uniqueness of Jesus dissipated in her mind the moment He entered her house. She treated Him like any other guest. She concerned herself with things which would not have a permanent impact in her life, unlike Mary. Furthermore, it is unfair to assume that people like Mary don’t do any work. In fact, Mary Magdalene did extraordinary things. We cannot read the gospels without acknowledging her importance. Her presence is noted in all the significant events of the gospels. It can be argued that she was one of the greatest disciples according to Jesus’ standard. She was definitely a servant of all but the most important thing she did first was to sit and listen to our Lord.

In our experience both in the parish and our ministry now in the streets, we have encountered many “Marthas”. Their good intentions are never doubted. They usually plunge in head first into the ministry. Their enthusiasm is many times contagious. However, it doesn’t last long. They get frustrated and angry. Then we don’t see them anymore. They are like the seeds in the parable of the Sower that fall into rocky ground. They spring up fast but wither away just as quickly because they have no moisture.

Martha invited Jesus into her home. Obviously she saw something special in Jesus. However, the moment Jesus stepped into her household, He became a problem for her. It was not a bad problem but a problem. She wanted to get everything ready for her guest. Therefore, she busied herself trying to solve little problems to make her guest happy. There is nothing wrong with this. However, Jesus is not an ordinary guest. He was, well, Jesus!

The gospel text tells she got distracted. This is never a good thing. If I could put this in another way, she missed the point of having Jesus in her home. She invited Jesus the person and then treated His presence in her home as a problem to be solved. Whenever we deal with problems, we are obsessed with finding solutions. She got distracted from the real purpose of having Jesus in her home. Mary sat and listened to Jesus. This is really what Jesus wanted. Many times He has said so in the gospels. He wanted to share with the world the message of hope and love. If we don’t listen to Him, we won’t understand His message. If we don’t understand His message, then we won’t know how to serve Him. We might go about doing things which don’t really matter. Some might argue that someone needs to feed Jesus and Martha was doing something real and practical. However, Jesus was no ordinary guest. Martha failed to recognize Jesus was an unique individual and instead He became a generic guest when He stepped into Her home. Mary listened to Him. She wanted to hear what He has to say first before acting.

In my youth, I read a spiritual book called “Sit, Stand, and Walk”. I have forgotten the name of the author. Of course, I did an internet search and found out his name. However, it is not quite relevant to what I want to share. I don’t remember much of its content. The title alone spoke volumes to me. It is a good summary of the Christian spirituality. It transcends the theological arguments of “works” versus “grace” which is often times not very interesting for the person in the pews. Most people want to know how to live their faith in meaningful ways. This is the idea behind “Sit, Stand and Walk”.

In the Old and New Testament, we have countless of examples of prophets and disciples who began their spiritual vocation by sitting. When we sit, we wait expectedly for God to speak. It is not something easy. In the gospels, listening to Jesus requires a lot of work and reflection. Even the apostles, on many occasions, asked Jesus to clarify His teachings. Most importantly, when we sit and wait, we are acknowledging that God is a personal God. In other words, we believe that He will speak and reveal Himself to us. Many times, we feel like we are too busy to sit and wait and we outsource this part to others who end up doing the same. Unfortunately, these never hesitate to pretend that they are His spokespersons. In the end, we get distracted with the wrong things.

There was a time when I was a little conflicted with the idea of a personal God. I did not question His existence but rather the idea of a personal God portrayed by the churches. Unfortunately, it has been trivialized to such a point that the personal God seems very similar to the misconceived idea of Santa Claus. I looked to the Jewish tradition to gain a better understanding of a personal God especially Hasidic Judaism. After all, we inherited this concept from Judaism. I started reading Jewish mystics like Abraham Herschel and Martin Buber. The first thing which struck me was their uttermost reverence for God’s name. It is not mere religiosity but a profound understanding of having a personal relationship with God. We must not forget that even though the most sacred Being comes to our level to speak to us, we must not reduce God to our level. His Name is still sacred and must be treated with reverence. We must never forget that God wanting to communicate with us is the uttermost gracious act of God. Therefore, it would be disrespectful on our part to act in His Name without listening first to His voice. These Jewish mystics teach us that God is constantly speaking to us through people, things, and circumstances. However, we need to listen. Listening entails waiting. God cannot be rushed. He speaks when He is ready. His words always compel us to act.

Our spirituality begins with sitting and waiting to hear God’s voice. The New Testament helps us to discern God’s voice. The whole ministry of Jesus is about teaching us to discern God’s voice. Jesus taught some hard things. He taught us not to serve two gods. Neither one will be the true one when we try to do this. We must love our enemies. We must go and heal and restore lives. God’s voice will compel us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Anything contrary to this is not from God. God revealed His fulness in the person of Jesus. Therefore, He is our standard through whom we discern difference between what is of God and what is of our own sinful nature.

When we hear and listen to God’s voice, then we will have the courage to stand and walk in this world. Mary did some things which were extremely bold for her time. She anointed Jesus’ feet. We can imagine that, in the first century, this act would have been frowned upon. Mary did it knowing that she would receive criticism. Jesus commended her actions. She was at the foot of the Cross even though it was painful and uncomfortable for her. When all the disciples were thinking about throwing in the towel after Jesus’ death, Mary went to the tomb to anoint His body. Mary was a doer. She walked the talk but before she did anything, she sat and listened. Her actions had lasting effects on our faith. Jesus said she chose the right thing. Therefore let us follow in her footsteps and sit and listen with confidence. God will speak and then we can stand on His words and walk with boldness and confidence like Mary.