Two wrongs and a right

i have a vivid memory this morning as i ponder this installment on Martha's story.  i was in the car with Hannah...she was probably in middle school...and i was recounting for her all of my duties and responsibilities for the day.  Without missing a beat (and not meaning to be disrespectful) she responded:  "Don't you ever relax, mom?  Don't you ever get tired of having a list of things to do?"

i wonder if Mary ever asked Martha something similar?

Just to recap my meanderings about her story...

• Martha was distracted.  i feel sure she would have loved to have been sitting with Jesus, savoring His every Word.
• By all of things that had to be done.  i suspect, if she had a "to do" list, hers would trump mine on my busiest day.
• She finally lost it.  Her frustration got the best of her and she reprimanded the Savior.  Wow.
• And Jesus didn't yell at her.  He was more worried about her soul than about her attitude. 

i know it may seem as if i'm dragging this out...but trust me when i say that i'm just getting started :-).  i love this stuff.  i'll move on before too long, but this is too good to pass up.

Looking again as if at a snapshot from Martha's life with Jesus, it's curious to me that He did not chastise Martha for being busy.  Over the years, as i've heard this story in the context of "busy-is-bad", somehow i've assumed that Jesus wanted Martha to stop being busy.  

But Jesus didn't say, 

         "Stop working.  Stop preparing.  Never mind the dinner."  

                  He really didn't even tell Martha what to do.  

                          Am i the only one who thought that was in there somewhere?????

Jesus was a pretty busy man.  Perusing his personal photo album, i'm hard-pressed to find Him relaxing.  His days were filled with meaningful interactions and activity. Check out the snapshots included just on the Matthew 14 page of the scrapbook...exhausting day.  No rest for the weary.  Literally.  

Contrary to my own mis-interpretation, it's not Martha's busy-ness that caused Jesus' gentle reprimand.  His response to her impertinent demand has little to do with her schedule.  Isn't that good news?

And one more erroneous conclusion, while we're at it.  This is a pet peeve....so skip the next few paragraphs if you think i've already beaten a dead horse.  Please notice that Jesus did not say:  "Why can't you be more like Mary?"  Go ahead.  Admit it.  You've looked at this snapshot and assumed that --- even if He didn't say it --- that's what Jesus thought.  (Picture the little bubble above His head with those words...ugh.)  

Jesus never minced words.

        As you flip through the pages of His story, if Jesus had something to say,

              He said it.

                      And He never said:  "Why can't you be more like your sister?"

Jesus did not want Martha to be like Mary.  Jesus wanted Martha to be Martha.  After all, and this is important, He created her.  She was His "work of art"*.  He had designed her, calculated and planned her deliberate creation long before the foundation of the world.  If Jesus wanted Martha to be more like Mary, He would have made her so.  Martha was special and unique (if a bit bossy).  And Jesus liked her that way.

Isn't that intriguing????

This is why i love this snapshot of Martha.  i feel sad that it is so often dismissed, as if it's an embarrassment. We either skip the picture...because we've already seen it...or we look at it with disdain and hope not to be like poor Martha.

But what if we refused to turn the page?  What if we considered this really as one snapshot in the context of a whole album of pictures from Martha's life?  What if we took the time to see what really happened here?

This is not a picture of Jesus chastising Martha for her impertinence.

     It's not a picture of the Savior telling her to stop being busy.

          It's not a picture of Him wishing that Martha was more like Mary.

It's a snapshot of an invitation.  An invitation that Martha could not refuse.   

*check out Ephesians 2:10