I’ve always liked the stories about Mary and Martha. They told us in Sunday School that Martha was
too involved with worldly things (like making sure a houseful of people got
something to eat) and Mary was more interested in listening to Jesus. Mary, we were told was right. After all, Jesus said she had chosen “the
Better Part.” (Luke 10:42)
Unfortunately, I never thought to use this as Biblical justification
for my preferring sitting around and talking to cooking and cleaning up, even
though the things I wanted to sit around and talk about (everybody’s love life,
workplace drama, what was going on with Friends,
The Sopranos, The Big Bang Theory) wouldn’t have qualified for “the Better
Part.”
The story of Mary and Martha has something for
everyone: sibling rivalry, the
philosophical tension between being and doing, maybe even some romance. I still wonder if there was some romantic tension
between Jesus and Martha. She complains
to him that he should tell Mary to help her.
("Lord, do you not care that my sister
has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Luke 10:40)
He then basically tells her to chill. Later
when Jesus is about resurrect Lazarus, Martha points out the he has been dead
for four days and smells. Jesus rebukes
her “"Did I not tell you that if you would
believe you would see the glory of God?"
(John 11:40) Maybe
Martha missed that when she was in the kitchen.
Does this remind you of Tracey and Hepburn or any Meg Ryan movie?
And maybe Mary was interested in Him, too. Isn’t there something kind of steamy about
her pouring perfume on Jesus’s feet and drying them with her hair? Let’s face it, in that story, Mary is no
longer a slacker but a hottie.
And I’ve wondered why Mary and Martha were single and living
with their brother. Were they waiting
for husbands? Instead of the young women
I’ve always pictured, maybe they were confirmed spinsters like those found in
English “cozy” mysteries or the novels of writers like Barbara Pym. I can picture a modern Martha in good tweeds
and sensible shoes running the church bazaar, while Mary had earnest
discussions with the unmarried vicar.
But we never find out what happened to them. Did they ever get married? Did they become leaders in the new church? I’m a romantic and a feminist. I hope they did both.
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