Last week we heard of a lawyer who asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The lawyer knows the great commandments of Love, but he does not know how to put them into action. Jesus tells him a story about how to do love. Love of God and Love of neighbour. Whatever is created and stored up on the inside will flow effortlessly to the outside.
In today’s visit to the home of Mary and Martha this lesson is continued. Martha is the classic person who is stressed and distressed because, in her view, she has too much to do. She tells herself that her stress is made worse by the fact that her sister is not doing her bit. But the very situation she sees as a problem – Mary sitting at the Lords’ feet to absorb His teaching – turns out to be her only hope for peace. It is Martha who must join Mary because she has the one thing necessary – a growing heart, filling with love for God which will give her everything she needs to be effective in the world. This story of the integration of these two ‘sides’ of ourselves can be found in other religious traditions. There is a delicious story in the Sufi Wisdom literature. The disciple said to the master, ‘I just saw a man who can fly!’ The Master replied, ‘Big deal, a bird can do that’. So, his disciple said, ‘And I met a man who can live under water!’ ‘A fish can do that’, said the master. ‘Then I met someone who, in the twinkling of an eye, can travel from one town to another’. ‘The devil can do that’, said the master. “If you truly want to find someone really extraordinary, find someone who can be with people and keep their thoughts on God.’ The Master concluded.
Notice how the Master has no time for those who can only see God in the spectacular. The truly extraordinary life is the one that is lived in the ordinary world but is not of this world. But this is not a competition. It isn’t as if we have to divide our attention and our energy into separate lives. Our contemplative hearts see more clearly that God is the ground and the horizon of our lives. What Mary brings is the wisdom of knowing that the time we spend at the feet of Jesus is never wasted. This inner wisdom of Mary can connect Martha to the outer world in a new way. The lure of God is present in every situation and in every circumstance. God is inside and outside as a strength which sustains us in all our ways and which commands us to focus our energy on building a just world. When we wake up to this revelation, this truth, we have integrated the two energies that flow with and around us.
There is a prayer which, for some strange reason is positioned towards the end of the Lord’s Prayer, when it is prayed within the celebration of the Eucharist. “Deliver us Lord from every evil, and graciously grant us your Peace in our days. That by the help of your Mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all (stress) and distress. As we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. Martha is the precursor for all who have too much stress and distress in their lives, who feel it is all too much and they just cannot cope with the demands which are weighing on them. And she has a very simple and beautiful lesson to learn and to share with us. That when what we are doing on the outside does not flow from our contemplative hearts we will be in trouble. Resentment and anger will be the early warning signals that we have pulled the plug on our soul. Her desired solution, to turn Mary into another frantic multi-tasker is not accepted by Jesus. Mary has chosen the better or good way. As it is written in the Book of Wisdom, “Although she (Mary) is but one, she can do all things (Martha), and while remaining in herself (Mary) she renews all things. (Martha) (Wis 7,27)
