Feeding Our Insecurities

Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42

This account of Martha and Mary has received a lot of ink over the centuries and the various interpretations are well known.  Can anything more be said about it?  Consider this point: what if Martha had said nothing at all about her sister Mary not helping her?  Had Martha just gone about her work in silence while Mary sat with Jesus, we would never know this event or conversation ever took place.

Martha was anxious about many things, and this anxiety was rooted in being anxious about things she had no business being anxious about.  She looked to what her sister was or was not doing; she was judging her sister, using herself as the measuring stick by which all others are measured.  Herein lies the fault, and Jesus is quick to act in this regard.  

When we set ourselves up as the standard and measure, we will always be anxious about many things, for we will have countless people to judge over and against ourselves.  But if we do our duty in silence and humility, leaving everything else to God's providence, then we are at peace.  We are not anxious; we are not a measure we cannot measure up to, and our neighbor is not an object to be judged but a subject to be in relationship with, a fellow pilgrim on the way to the reign of God.