My dear sisters in Christ,

I greet you all in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May the Lord bring you peace and joy in the family.

A woman always plays a multifaceted role in the society and shares more burden in the family in silence. God has bestowed the womenfolk with patience, endurance,  compassion and a praying heart which is reflected in our everyday family life where she sustains the family in any crisis. But the chaos of everyday life so much that, at least on some occasion, we sit back and ponder  “ Do my God truly cares ?” If He is a loving God, then why don’t He resolve this crisis which is burdening me so much ? Questions galore !

It happened even to the disciples who were with Jesus all along. We read about the boat journey in which Jesus and His disciples were riding a boat. Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the boat. There was a great storm and the boat was rocking. But Jesus continued to be asleep. The terrified disciples after some time, lost their patience and woke Him and said whether Jesus has any concern at all about their lives ? :

 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish  ?      ( Mark 4 : 38)

This kind of questions haunt us quite often amidst our seemingly unanswered prayers…Is my Lord God up there,  listening at all ?  ….

In the above incident after commanding the sea to be silent, Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith.This message is about a simple woman who accepted Jesus when He entered her village and invited Him home. Many others gathered in the home were listening to Jesus. This lady even though wanted to be with Jesus, had the obligation of preparing the food and also attending on to their needs. She had a sister who chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and deeply engrossed in the teaching of the Lord, forgetting about the need to give a helping hand. The story of Martha and Mary whose brother Lazarus, the Lord rose from the dead is legendary. Today also we have a divided house about whether to choose the Martha way or Mary way ? Or a sympathy wave for Martha who was any way dutifully obligated to serve her invited guests. As she was doing her work, she must have definitely struggled to listen to what Jesus is saying, which may be  the reason for the outburst.   

“ But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said : “ Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve      alone ? Therefore tell her to help me”. (Luke 10:40)

This sudden outburst at the master in the open forum , I am sure would have shaken everyone and made them wonder as to how Jesus is going to  respond. For apparently she not only questioned the Teacher but also almost directed Him to send Mary. The Jewish society of ester years was a conservative society with lots of restrictions on the women either to be in a group of men or to have an emotional outburst to the Rabbi (Teacher).

We see the response of Jesus :

“And Jesus answered and said to her: Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her”.                                                                            ( Luke 10: 41-42)

The response of Jesus has profound meaning. The very start of calling her name twice is the compassion of the Father who is comforting His child in anguish. It is not reprimanding her about her insolence of public outcry. Jesus wants Martha to understand that life is full of many priorities but we always have to discern and make a good choice. For He has said “ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness (Mathew 6:33). It is important to serve on the guests, but it is more important to be with the Lord and hear Him. A village grown, simple and good hearted Martha had her struggles of life and felt left alone, which made her question. Jesus conveys without any ambiguity that  Mary has chosen that good part, which is the one thing needed (unum necessarium). If we could only have God as our centre of life, then all these issues and priorities will be aligned by the Lord himself into a neat array and things will happen smoothly and well. When you have such a heart, even while you feel you are left alone like Martha felt, you will not have remorse but only Joy in fulfilling everything. Martha was again the first to receive Jesus after the death of her brother Lazarus and she  proclaims that “Jesus is Christ” the Son of God and is capable of doing any act to reverse the misery.

Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him. She anointed Him with a rare and costly oil. As some of the gathering  resented the act, Jesus said this incident will be spoken without fail wherever the Gospel is preached.

So it is not the Martha way or Mary way, but it is important  to choose Jesus as the focus of life and centre of our priorities and move forward and do your work with joy :  Either listening to the Teacher or doing your daily chores. Then the Lord will move things and relieve your burdens.

There was one man of God who knew this clearly :

Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever   ( Psalm 131 )

Prayer :

Dear Lord Jesus,

Please help us to keep You as the only  focus  of our life and align our priorities in spirit so as to make out life joyful in whatever we do.

We ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.