Action vs. Contemplation

Jesus is resting comfortably in his newly acquired friends’ home. In it is bookoos of people. And as always, people are gleaning as much information from Jesus as humanly possible.

Except Martha.

She’s working. She’s serving. She’s playing the role of host and is on her feet serving drinks, appetizers, entrées, brewing coffee, cleaning up spills, and doing it all with a smile on her face.

Until she sees her sister Mary.

This is Mary’s house too. Martha shouldn’t be the only one breaking her neck for her guests and she knows it. Half of this labor is Mary’s to do. The trash is piling up and the guests are going through cups like babies do with diapers. And there is clearly not going to be enough brochette to serve everyone. And all she can witness is her sister sit out there in the living room as if she were one of the guys.

So in a fit of panic Martha bumps her way to the coffee table, puts down another round of drinks for the boys, and bent over she catches Jesus’ attention and says, “Do you not care that my sister is making me do all of this? Tell her she is supposed to be helping me!”

In all honesty, Martha’s right. Not that it was Mary’s job as a woman to serve the men, I’m not saying that (although as unfortunate as it was, women in first century Palestine served the men), but there is a real problem on our hands.

The guests are too many to serve and the workers are too few.

If I’m completely honest, I’d say I know exactly how Martha feels. I have all of “this” to do and there is simply not enough help. I can’t do it alone. I feel overwhelmed.

And deep down you too know what its like to give all you have to give, never feeling like its enough, always realizing you have to do more. We see this in our jobs, we see this in our families, relationships, and you may even see this as you attempt to parent your kids. We get overwhelmed. We get down. We feel as if the entire world is waiting on us to move faster, work harder, and yet in the midst of it all we find ourselves feeling ashamed, lonely . . . overwhelmed.

When you serve the Lord – in whatever capacity– church community, work communities, etc. you will undoubtedly feel at some point like Martha – underappreciated, understaffed, overworked, lonely, ashamed, and overwhelmed.

So what do you do? Do you stop working? Do you quit? Do you continue on serving the Lord despite the uphill climb?

Luke 10:38-42 helps us with our conundrum. When the work becomes too much and we begin to feel overwhelmed, we are reminded that it is perfectly fine to stop (for however long it takes) being Martha and start being Mary. Feeling overwhelmed happens because of a loss of balance. The best counter is resting at the feet of Jesus. In other words, contemplating.

Action without contemplation, focus, desire, understanding, or love is what causes Martha and perhaps all of us to become overwhelmed.