Two sides of the one coin – the sacrament of the Present Moment

… there is need of only one thing.…’ (Luke 10:42)

Luke 10:38-42 (Year C: Trinity+8)

Was Martha given a raw deal?

Was Martha given a raw deal in the gospel of Luke (the story is unique to this gospel)?  She had a very special guest in ‘her home’. Here she was under stress, busy, busy and ….. her (younger?) sister was googly eyed and besotted at the feet of this wise and amazing man listening attentively  and drinking in every word.  ‘Worried and distracted by many things’, Martha confronts Jesus with a question “‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’”  Clearly, Martha was cross and not unreasonably so at least from the sketchy account we have.

Since the Garden of Eden, it has been a universal law in all families, community organisations, churches and, especially, workplaces that someone, somewhere feels that others are slacking or doing too little while they, themselves, are taking an undue burden of some collective task. That task may be as profound as caring and parenting including minding an elderly parent, on the one hand, to the relatively trivial matter of filling the dishwasher on the other. In between there are a lot of other things including serving in a retail store, overseeing a project or working in a manufacturing plant and providing a key service in the community.

The Martha-Mary story is played out in millions of ways today. Teenagers argue over whose job it is to clean up.  So-and-so is forever on computer games and does not help out.  Brothers and sisters argue over how often someone should visit their elderly parents in a nursing home.  Brothers and sisters argue over wills and probate. Spouses and partners argue over minding the home, minding the children, sharing money and tasks. People on church committees and in religious congregations mutter about someone not pulling their weight or missing meetings, etc. And they find time to argue over the colour of the church fabric or the manners of the pastor!

And the story goes on and on.

Where workplaces are concerned it is said ‘why can’t the ‘boss’ do something about so-and-so who is not pulling his or her way on the work to be done. Why am I the one to stay behind to get the job finished? Why am I the one who gets asked because he will not do it? Why do others take me for granted?  Why does she leave a professional mess which I, then, have to clean up on?

Conflict may happen ‘under the surface’ via gestures, looks and pauses without a word being said directly in relation to the grievance to hand.

If anyone reading this has found an organisation or community setting where this sort of thing does not happen at least occasionally they are, indeed, blessed and exceptional! 

But, the Martha-Mary story is not a story about the relative merits of ‘contemplation’ (which gets a strong affirmation, here, from Jesus) and ‘apostolic action’ to borrow ‘churchy’ language.  Martha got a ticking off not because she was busy or because caring and being busy are not necessary and good (busy, caring people make a better, safer and happier world possible). Martha got a ticking off because she misunderstood the situation. The story has a wider resonance today among disciples of Jesus.  We may very frequently misunderstand and, therefore, misjudge others – their actions, their motives and their reasons.  Each has a vital role to play in the work of caring, serving, building and restoring.  Each is very different by virtue of background, talent, limitations and what some call ‘baggage’ that we all bring around with us and of which we are only half conscious. The amazing aspect of any human gathering or joint undertaking is that it brings together difference. The whole can be much greater than the sum of individual parts and talents – if do not stand in the way.

To read this story, as some have, for a justification of the primacy and superiority of ‘contemplation’ over ‘action’ misses the point.  ‘Contemplation’ and ‘action’ are two sides of the one coin. We attain to a mindfulness of God and a disposition of profound listening through the gateway of loving service to one another. Worrying and fretting about this and about that gets in the way. Yet, worry and fretting are a natural part of the human condition and particularly so when people might be sick, down, poor, vulnerable or otherwise disposed that way by temperament and circumstances. Even in worry we can look out and look around and look up.

Love is the point

and is the one thing essential and we chose the better part in putting it first and above all else. 

Listen and love.
Flip over
Love and listen
And flip over again
Two sides of the same coin.

These are the rocks with which we fill our daily jar. Once we have these in place the sand and water of daily life can fill the rest of the jar.  We will be surprised how much that is essential can be packed into a prayerful and action-filled day.

And we attain to loving service through abandonment to the real and living God in the here and now of prayerful attentiveness in the sacrament of the Present Moment.

Postscript

Like Martha we may be hosts of Jesus in our own ‘homes’ and souls but that can open up possibilities for others like Mary to hear and to be conquered by the message of love.