Sisters...

Martha's most famous moment.  Regardless of the many times that she had been a delightful hostess in the past, or how often she had managed on her own without her sister's help, this one moment when she lost her composure and demanded the Savior's attention, this is the one moment captured in time for women in future generations to contemplate.

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparation that had to be made [sound familiar?]. She came to him and ask, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!"

If Martha had been asked to submit a snapshot for these pages of Scripture, i doubt she would have chosen the moment captured by Luke in these verses.  It is clear that she has gotten off on the wrong foot right away.  Having spent hours at the market, in the garden, and over hot coals preparing for their guests, Martha comes out of the kitchen wiping the sweat from her furrowed brow.  As she makes eye contact with sister Mary, she sighs heavily.  While she has been furiously working in the kitchen, Mary is seated comfortably at the feet of the Savior...hanging on to His every word.

Having reached the end of her hospitable rope, and clearly unable to guilt her sister into doing her share of the work by giving her "the look", Martha has had enough.  i wonder what did it, don't you?  i can imagine Martha bringing in the placemats to set on the table, and Mary --- just at that moment, sighing with content.  Martha snapped.

And this is the photo that we've placed on the mantle of busy womanhood.  Martha giving Jesus a "dressing down".

i can empathize.  i have sisters, too,.  My older sister had an aversion to doing dishes.  Almost nightly, as we were excused from the dinner table to begin the chore of cleaning the kitchen, Leslie would declare an urgent need to go to the bathroom.  Just as the soap bubbled up in the sink, she would disappear --- only to return as the last dish was dried and put away.  (i suspect Leslie would tell the story differently...but it's my blog.)

The story is not told in great detail, but as we look at this one photograph, our imagination assumes that Martha was confidently brash and bold.  Mary was quiet and unobtrusive.  Martha was obssessed with preparations and busy-ness.  Mary was a sanguine, reflective sister given to long hours of reading and daydreaming.  Martha had a high standard of perfection.  Mary was casual and laid back.  Martha was so consumed with duty and details that she ignored her guests.  Mary enjoyed the guests so much that she did not want to leave the gathering to help with the preparations.

Maybe.  But that's alot of "concluding" from one snapshot.

To be continued.