“Martha & Mary: A Story of Worth”
I never liked this story because it didn’t seem just to me. However, Jesus is not condemning good deeds to praise contemplation. He has just finished telling last week’s story of the Good Samaritan’s good deeds, at the end of which he tells his disciples to “go and do the same.” He simply reminds Martha of the importance of listening to the Lord and why and for whom she labors. The story is meant to balance the story of the Good Samaritan, not to condemn Martha’s hard work. It’s not an either-or, but a both-and! It’s a matter of action and contemplation.
I suppose this story can be read on many levels. Every time I study this text, it has spoken to me from a variety of directions – depending on where I was in my own life and experience or in my ministry. But this time, it took on a new meaning! After I read it over several times this past week, I kept saying to myself, “This story is about self-worth! I know these two women! I have talked to these women; in the grocery, in my office, in my family and at a bedside in a Hospice Unit.
There are people like this in our society. Martha is that part of us that believes that we are not worth much unless we do a lot! Martha is that part of us that is always “anxious,” always lecturing that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for not being perfect. Martha is that part of us that believes that if we accomplish a lot, we can make up for all of our deficiencies or human imperfections! Martha is that side of us that believes our worth is directly connected to what we do. A “Martha in our head, can totally exhaust us with her “busyness about many things.”
The older I become, Mary makes much so more sense. Mary is that side of us that knows that we are already loved and so she doesn’t have to do anything but enjoy it! Mary is that side of us that wants to believe that God loves us, unconditionally, and we are worth more than we can ever imagine, just because we are, not because we are Doctors, Nurses, Electricians, Plumbers, Police Officers, Attorneys, Housewives; not because we have earned this degree or that degree! Martha makes us anxious and self-doubting! Mary, on the other hand, soothes us and encourages us, gives us rest and makes us proud to be just who we are. We all need to get to know Mary better! Martha is trying to get God to lover her! Through her hard work. Mary knows that God already does!
Many of us grew up believing that God’s love is conditional. Therefore, we had to do certain things and refrain from certain things in order to prove worthy of God’s love. We had to have the right membership, know the correct belief and perform the proper ritual in order for God to love us! This is poor theology! Don’t worry about it, God already loves you and me, end of story!
God may not approve of all our actions and may leave us to reap what we have sown and be accountable for our sins, but He never withholds His love!
Our world is crowded with people who are self-doubting and feel unloved, by their church and even by their God! Because they feel unloved, they desperately look for it, often in all the wrong places – sex, drugs, alcohol, eating, gambling, and more often than that, settle for pain-killers or even take their own lives. There is an African Proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child,” yet there are many who grow up without even one person to model love for them and teach them self-worth, while thousands model hate, discrimination and teach children to doubt their self-worth! Even the church has contributed to their self-doubt by going so far as to call even God’s love for them into question.
Hear this loud and clear, we are all worthy, not because church leaders grant it or say we are, but because of who we are! Recovering Alcoholics, those addicted to drugs, the divorced, women, homosexuals, ex-Catholics, and those who dare to ask questions are somehow seen as “defective” and therefore deserving of that “withholding of blessings” that makes some people in our society feel so righteous! We are worthy – all of us! We are loved – all of us! We can refuse that love, and sometimes we do, through sin. Others may cause us to doubt it at times. But neither they or you can stop it, no matter what! God has made up his mind on this and there is no changing it. God is love! This is the Gospel! This is what kept Mary spellbound in the living Room! This is what Jesus wanted, for Martha to come out of her busy kitchen to hear! The Good News of Jesus Christ is the message of Love! Let us all love one another!