I love the Gospel story of Martha and Mary. Jesus is right in the middle of making his most interesting and profound point when Martha blows. She storms in from the kitchen and accosts, not her sister or her brother, but her company, her honored guest! "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"(Luke 10:40)

How many times have we asked that question, prayed that prayer? "Lord, don't you care? Don't you care about what we are trying to do here? Don't you care about what's happening to us? Aren't you impressed with how hard we're working? Won't you send us some help, or give us some rest?" Poor Martha, in her earnest effort to be the perfect host, she violates the first rule of hospitality: pay attention to the needs of your guest.

Who would blame her? Who hasn't felt that way before? I see her point. It isn't fair! I want Jesus to honor Martha's anger. I want him to correct the injustice. I want him to say, "Lazarus, get up and help your sister!" I want him to say, "Martha! I am sorry! We've all been insensitive to you. We'll all pitch in, and then you can join us, too."

But Jesus doesn't say any of that. He says, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42). What!? Instead of correcting the injustice, Jesus affirms Mary!? Mary obviously hasn't read any resolutions regarding a woman's place in relation to men. And neither has Jesus!

All of us Marthas need to remember our work is not God's only hope. We're not the most important thing in the world. The whole dominion of God in justice and mercy doesn't depend entirely on us. And we need to remember why we are doing this work in the first place, and it isn't so we can feel good about how good we are when others aren't.

Perhaps we need to stop long enough to sit quietly at the Lord's feet and listen, to be renewed, to be redirected. But we hard-working, idealistic, perfectionistic Marthas have a hard time stopping for anything, especially meditation or reflection or prayerful listening. It feels like wasted time. What we usually do is redouble our efforts, try to be more productive with our time, work harder until we collapse or become so bitter we quit altogether.

The words of Rabbi Tarfon have become a great comfort to the Martha in me: "It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it." Meaning: we aren't going to remove all suffering from the world. We aren't going to repair every oppressive system. We must do what we can, but trust the rest to God. And doing what we can means knowing our limits, getting our Sabbath rest, laying down our burdens from time to time to sit at Jesus' feet.

A good friend clued me into this lovely story from Anne Lamott. She writes:

Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

Just when you are feeling overwhelmed: that's when you need to stop and sit at Jesus' feet for a while. Let him put his arm around you and comfort you. Let him guide you into what needs to be done. Let him remind you that while the world needs fixin' something awful, it isn't hopeless. And it's not all up to you to fix. Do what you can. "Bird by bird" Buddy. "Just take it bird by bird." Tackle it one task at a time. Trust God to finish it. And don't lose touch with the One who came to bring you joy.

Dr. Quentin Madden

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