Today’s gospel is moving, challenging and hopeful. Martha, known as a friend of Jesus’s, welcomes him into her house. She offers him and his companions hospitality, welcoming them with genuine love and affection. While we all recognise hospitality as an important Christian value Martha’s story reminds us that there is another side to it. The reality is that, valuable as it is, it is also demanding and hard work.
Martha soon finds herself overwhelmed by the practicalities of it all. Like so many of us, she snaps under the strain of this reality and complains to Jesus that her sister is doing nothing to help.
Jesus turns her complaint back to her own situation, saying to her:
“‘Martha, Martha,’ he said ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one.’”
There are many ways of interpreting his response. Often it is interpreted as a comparison between Martha and her sister Mary, who has made a different choice. Living, as we do in, times that can feel increasingly busy and overwhelming I’m finding a different message in his words to Martha.
They are a reminder that, valuable as work and service are, they are not the centre of our lives or our world. Jesus invites Martha not to over identify with her work and her “usefulness”. He calls her to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. It seems to me that he also invites us to step back from the busyness of our lives and to take time to be still and to reflect.
Where is Christ inviting you to take time to reflect today?