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Busy-ness and Many-ness and Much-ness

 The story of Mary and Martha lately gives me pause. Living where I live now, I have this great opportunity to play host to guests. And the extended period of this pandemic has made both Becky and me hungry for human interaction. I also love to cook. And one thing I notice sometimes is how I can get really focused on cooking and not necessarily on being our company. 

This obviously isn't a huge problem, when we are eating and afterwards I can be present to company that has come over, but the division of labor between Martha and Mary reminds me of how Becky and I complement each other well when hosting. Becky is a much better engaging conversationalist than me, and while I am cooking (or finishing cooking) she can easily keep guests entertained.

But what if someone came over that I wanted to spend a lot of time talking with? How would I feel if I still had to cook and got jealous of Becky's face time with a guest I would prefer to have more conversation with? Mary and Martha likely thought having Jesus over was a huge deal. For Martha, the space and time had to be ready. For Mary, the conversation and presence was paramount. Who is right?

I think both is right and I bet Jesus would have appreciated Martha's effort to make the space hospitable for his visit. But what if Martha was going overboard? What if Martha wasn't just busy, but was frantic with worry--placing upon Jesus an assumption that his expectations for perfection were exacting? I think that this isn't a lesson about how Mary's focus was right and Martha's wrong. I think this is a lesson for how we can be distracted by our own fear and our own business and manyness and muchness when it comes to relationships. 

We can get caught up in the transaction of a relationship, asking "what will this relationship gain for me, or what must I give to this relationship?" And in the asking we can forget the primary question, "how can I be with my friend today? How can I share in presence with this person who is important to me?" Maybe Martha was forgetting that Jesus wanted to be with her as WELL as Mary and in Martha's fretting about, Jesus missed out on the opportunity to BE with martha as well! 

I think God can feel this way when we start to focus on the things we must DO as christ followers, forgetting that we also can enjoy, celebrate, and be blessed by that relationship. Join us this Sunday as we explore being in relationship more deeply in our "Hello, Neighbor" worship series!

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