I'm Martha

When I was a little nugget, I used to go over to my grandparents' house and get into all manner of shenanigans. I remember playing ping-pong and inevitably losing several balls in the process, building forts out of futon cushions, convincing my grandmother that my tummy hurt and the only solution was Jello. I was really, really cute when I was little, which is probably why I was able to get away with the Jello bit. One of my most vivid memories of those times involved modeling the various pretties in her jewelry box while she read me stories out of the children's Bible she had. For some reason, my favorite story was Mary and Martha. I know, it's not a classic child favorite like Adam & Eve or Noah or even Jonah for that matter, but it was the one I always wanted to hear.

It's super short, too, so I'll put it right here:

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Luke 10: 38-42

This is so funny to me now because it's always been clear to me that Mary is the one who is doing what's right in the story. Jesus says that she has chosen something that can't be taken away from her. She chose Him. Martha on the other hand has gotten so caught up in the work that needs to be done that she is missing time with the Lord and time with others. What's more than that, Martha has grown resentful of Mary not doing anything to help her, so not only did she miss time with company, but she's also upset with her family.

I really want Jesus to reprimand Mary, though. I want Him to tell her to stop sitting around and get to work. I want Him to say that if we all just sat around forever then nothing would ever get done. The reason I want these things is because I am Martha. I probably was as a kid, too, which may be why I liked hearing a story I related to so often.

The story of Mary and Martha came up in a study I'm doing with my discipler, and it was a fresh reminder of my Martha-ness. There are a lot of beautiful things about living and working in community with people. but sometimes it really sucks. All the after-school interns work in the basement together. Just the one, open room. Sometimes, even our older students come down here to hang out and talk. I wanna tell people that that makes for an environment that is not conducive for work in any way. One the one hand, I'm right: you can't get work done and be in constant conversation with others. On the other hand, I'm missing part of what makes this job not-so-job like. We have students who want to come and be with us. I get to work alongside six of my closest friends. We get to be a community in here, and I don't want to miss that.