We often make December a month of frantic activity, as we wrestle with time and energy, trying to make everything perfect for a media- imposed “perfect Christmas”
Yet deep within my soul, there is a yearning to slow down; to do less and embrace the calm which calls to my life. There is a profound longing to move away from all that exhausts, to seek sanctuary and hide- far from the frantic, the too much. I long to be a Mary…and yet, at heart I am a Martha, distracted by the tyranny of the perceived urgent; the self-imposed deadlines; the self-sabotage of endless work, rather than a life of quiet worship, self-care and a commitment to community.
Martha & Mary were two sisters, very different in character, yet both deeply desiring to serve the Lord in the way they thought best.
The story of Martha and Mary is about choice. Both women are offered the same opportunity. Yet each approaches their time with Jesus differently. One scurries around, with the desire to make Jesus welcome in her home. The other stops, kneels and welcomes Jesus into her heart. I so want to be like Mary, but sadly often reflect Martha.
When Jesus came to their village, Martha opened her home, yet Mary opened her heart. Jesus is always with us but never enters our lives uninvited. I am left wondering if, in hankering after hospitality, a perceived perfection and the work that inevitably goes with that, I am missing Jesus’ invitation to open my heart as well as my home…
We are told that Martha is distracted by all the preparations that had to be made, and I imagine her dashing this way and that, trying to make things perfect for Jesus’ stay. Conversely, Mary is trying to focus, listening intently at the feet of the Lord. I often need the reminder that Jesus calls us simply to believe in Him, be with him and learn from him, as true disciples do.
When Martha does come to Jesus, it is not to listen as Mary does, but to demand that Mary helps her. “Don’t you care, Jesus?” How often do I put forward this same sentiment? Yet Jesus gently listens, and I am reminded of the times when I, too, come to Jesus, full of demands rather than listening to all the Lord has to tell me. I consider his patience with me and all that I am missing…
Mary, at the feet of Jesus, is content and at peace yet Martha is “worried and upset about many things.” I recognise these feelings in myself and consider what makes me anxious and concerned. Could I not simply let go of everything that I consider important or urgent, leaving all at the feet of Jesus to sit and listen and learn from him? Could I experience the same contentment that Mary feels?
Jesus tells Martha that only one thing is needed. I think he is gently chastising her, encouraging her worship before working; advocating working from rest, not resting from work. This reminds me again to consider what one thing Jesus is asking of me right now in this season…
We know that worship and work both need to be present in our lives. Jesus never says that working is wrong. He simply points at the need to sit at his feet first and listen, so that our work time flows from our worship. In this way, we will know what is required of us, and what is to be left alone.
He calls us, as ever, to transformation throughout our whole lives- including our work and worship- so that there’s a natural rhythm and balance to the whole, with the Holy Spirit creating cohesion between the two sides of our nature. Jesus asks us to encompass both the Martha and the Mary in our lives allowing him to transform us as we follow wherever he leads.
We are encouraged to nourish our lives by drinking from the water of life that Jesus provides, for in nourishing our lives with Christ’s Living Water, we bring both joyful energy and quiet calm to both our own lives and the lives of those we encounter.
These are the ways in which we can transform our hospitality from frantic activity, wrestling with time & energy to create our false ideals of a “perfect Christmas” to a Holy hospitality of calm welcome that listens to our guests, ensuring our focus is on them rather than our own busy activity.
So, here’s to putting Jesus at the centre of our Christmas, for in being present with Him we are a present of presence for others.
This is an updated adaptation of my blogpost from 2018
