Over the last month or so, I keep returning to the story of Martha and Mary as I sit with people in spiritual direction. There are often uncanny synchronicities in what people share with me. It’s really quite fascinating, since the people I meet rarely know one another. Most of the time, they think they are the only ones having these experiences.
Mystics around the world, from diverse traditions, participate in the same spiritual realities. They are drinking from the same wells, swimming in the same currents. That’s why it’s so important we pay attention to these synchronicities and talk about them with one another.
Lately, many people have a growing awareness of the interconnectedness of all things. Their understanding of God and the world is expanding beyond their personal experience in time and space. While this shift in perspective is beautiful, it can also be overwhelming, especially if we’ve never heard anybody talk about it before.
So, I thought it might be helpful for me to share a little commentary on the famous story of Jesus’s visit with the two sisters found in Luke 10:38-42. Here is the passage itself from the NRSVUE followed by my reflection.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
There is an ancient teaching about the relationship between The One and The Many. The world as we know it is full of difference. You and I are separate people with separate lives and separate thoughts. Our experiences are unique and, in many ways, unrelated to one another. Yet, at the same time, everything is connected.
In this world of particularity, everything is always changing. That is the nature of the difference, rising and falling in endless cycles of birth and death. However, a universal thread of love is woven throughout, joining all things together in a single harmonious tapestry.
In the Christian contemplative tradition, Martha represents the active life, concerned as it is with the needs of the many. Mary, who sits at the feet of Jesus without speaking, represents the contemplative life, which has a singular focus. Martha is worried about many things, while Mary is only concerned with one.
The sisters of action and contemplation are both essential to the human experience. All of us are equal parts Martha and Mary. We realize our full potential by learning to live in this world of separation effectively, without losing our connection to the unity of all things.
It’s so easy to be distracted by the unending stream of tasks the world demands of us. When this happens, our inner Martha feels like Mary is selfishly wasting her time, even though there is so much work to be done – and there really is a lot of work that needs to be done. However, Mary does not argue back with her sister. Instead, she allows Jesus to speak on her behalf. The unity of our spirit is unaffected by the frantic complaints of our reasoning mind. It transcends and includes them.
The advice Jesus offers Martha is that she only focus on a few things, instead of the many tasks occupying her attention. Martha fulfills her role best when she narrows in on what is important, creating space for Mary to be herself. The more we simplify our lives, the greater capacity we have for contemplation. Without so many distractions, we begin to remember the unity of all things.
Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part, which throws a lot of people off. This is a metaphysical claim, not a statement of moral worth. The One is eternal, beyond time and space. While Martha’s tasks come and go with the changing seasons, Mary’s task is not subject to change. Even a momentary glimpse of eternity lasts forever and, therefore, can never be taken away from us.
The more we rest by the feet of Jesus in contemplative prayer, the more grounded and balanced we become. Unlike the many tasks Martha is engaged in, the singular task of contemplation has a cumulative effect. Every time we remember the One, we create peace in our hearts and in the world. We are all one in Christ Jesus, so the peace Mary cultivates is shared by all creation.
As our inner eyes perceive the unity of all things more clearly, the whole of human experience across time and space becomes available to us. That’s not to say we gain occult knowledge of the future or the capacity for remote viewing. It’s not like that. Rather, we awaken to the shared human experience, with all its beauty and its horror. There is so much suffering in the world, and the pain of it all comes rushing in.
Picking up our cross, we bear the weight of the world on our shoulders. We share in the suffering of all people and, just like Jesus, our suffering is an atonement for the sins of the world. Participating in universal human experience, this grief heals the tragedy of our shared human condition. We cry the tears others are unable to cry for themselves. We witness the silent suffering of those who never received the justice they deserved.
But the human experience isn’t all bad. Alongside this suffering, there is a peace that surpasses all understanding. In the contemplative vision of all things, there is an unsullied beauty which stands in stark contrast to, and yet, in perfect harmony with the pain of living. The contemplative’s vocation is to experience both, not separating the wheat from the tares. This is the atonement (to be at-one) of the cross which leads to resurrection. Holding joy and sorrow in a single tender embrace, we reconcile all people in our hearts.
Therefore, dear sisters and brothers, do not allow your chattering mind to distract you from your contemplation. Keep up with the few tasks that are necessary, then focus the rest of your attention on the one task that is truly needed. Clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
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