For those of us who grew up in the 1970s watching the television show The Brady Bunch, we can hear Jan, in her frustration of being the middle sister vocalize, “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!” With Jan’s voice so ingrained in my head, I must admit that every time I read the Biblical story of Mary and Martha, I hear Jesus saying, “Martha, Martha, Martha!” Although He only speaks her name twice, this is what comes to mind. It seems as if this story is appearing quite often in my reading lately, and it always hits a sensitive spot because all you have to do is replace a name and the Lord is saying, “Julie, Julie, Julie!”

Having read the book entitled Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World around 20 years ago, I decided to peruse the content again in order to compare it against the current readings. Around the same time this book was suggested to me, I was also completing personality assessments where the trait of being task-oriented repeatedly emerged. Sharing this tendency to hyper-focus on tasks instead of people in the earlier posts of Give Me a Minute and Awh Man, Missed Moments, it may appear that the Lord is still trying to teach this slow learner about the importance of developing a Habit of Awareness, especially on the Others rather than the Self.

Hearing the lesson again from one of my favorite authors in the book God Is Closer Than You Think, John Ortberg describes Martha as being “distracted -a word sometimes used as meaning to be physically pulled or dragged away from something. The implication is that Martha had wanted to be with Jesus; that was her initial intent. But she allowed herself to be prevented from doing that by the pressure of providing hospitality.” This explanation resonates more with me than just the often-discussed aspect of differing personalities because you need Julies and Marthas in the world, or the to-do list would never be completed! There would be no food to eat or clean cutlery for Jesus without Martha.

Understanding that the story is about living in a place where we are in the presence of Jesus and valuing that relationship more than the to-do list, I smile at Ortberg’s concept of being covered in the Dust of the Rabbi (more on that in a later post). Recognizing the tension that was occurring in the house, Ortberg shares, “No wonder there was conflict—Martha is trying to get rid of the dust, and Mary is wallowing in it!”

“So, what is it that keeps us from sitting at Jesus’ feet, from being covered with the Dust of the Rabbi?” It’s likely the distractions of the current age in which we live and work. As we work to develop the Habits of Margin and Deep Work, we open our lives up to opportunities to sit as Jesus’ feet and live in His presence. “Sitting at Jesus’ feet does not mean passively waiting. Often Jesus’ desire for us is that we will be active, choosing, risking, stretching, and doing…Part of life we may spend, as Mary did, in the living room during times of quiet and peace. But much of life will be spent ‘in the kitchen with Martha’—in our place of work.”

Might you be covered in the Dust of the Rabbi when being a good neighbor or serving hospitably in other ways? My desire is for emerging adults to find their God-given purpose so that through living out their calling, they are serving in their vocation. I want them to be covered in the dust of the rabbi, to decide “to live so continually in Jesus’ presence as to be always covered with the dust.”

Although it’s a challenge for me to actively decide to follow Mary’s example rather than Martha’s, it’s what I am being called to do-to live continually in His presence while teaching my classes, advising students, or serving in missions. How do you manage to follow Mary’s example? Please feel free to share in the comments below.

References:

Ortberg, J. (2014). God is closer than you think. Zondervan.

Weaver, J. (2000). Having a Mary heart in a Martha world. Waterbook.