Happy New Year! As we make our way into 2023, I want to reflect on a New Testament story that speaks into our lives as a church. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus pays a visit to friends in the town of Bethany. Two sisters busy themselves in his presence. Martha busies herself with the activity of hospitality, filling drinks and clearing tables. Mary sits attentively at the feet of her guest, listening and growing in his teaching.
Martha protests to Jesus that Mary has left all the work to her, and Jesus corrects her with the famous response: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
The question is not whether this passage advises us to listen rather than serve, to be contemplative rather than active. The deeper question is: in the larger scheme of the kingdom, what do we learn about life under the reign of God from this passage?
This much is clear: service is important. Jesus deserved to be served and have a meal prepared for him. Service is lovely, and is in its own way a needful thing. But it is possible to sell out to busyness and set aside hearing and pondering the Word of God. When we do this, we’ve lost our way. It is so easy to substitute our actions for cultivating a deeper relationship to God in Jesus.
Consider the story of Grace Thomas. Grace was born in the early 1900s in modest circumstances. Later in life, she married and moved to Georgia, where she took a clerking job in Atlanta and enrolled in night school to study law—already a full-time mother and clerk. In 1954, Grace shocked her family by announcing she wanted to run for governor of Georgia. Her platform on questions of race and society earned her death threats. At one rally, Grace stood at the old slave market and said, “The old has passed away, the new has come. A new day has come when all Georgians, white and black, can join hands and work together.” When someone interrupted and asked, “Are you a communist!?” Grace replied quietly, “No. I learned these ideas over there, in Sunday school.” Grace had spent time listening intently to her Lord. What she heard changed her life.
Ultimately, I don’t think Jesus is calling us to choose between contemplation and service—between what works in our hearts and the work of our hands. Life with Jesus is about learning to listen and learning to respond. May we welcome his yes to us with a yes of our own.
Grace & Peace,