Mary over Martha

Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE are familiar with that beautiful story of the two

sisters, Martha and Mary. (Lk 10,38-42) Together with their brother, Lazarus, they were close friends of Christ. The story of Martha and Mary offers us a precious lesson on the importance of keeping order and a sense of priority in our life.

While we have to imitate the industry of Martha, we should never sacrifice the piety of Mary. Without ever putting them in opposition, the latter always has priority over the former, since Martha’s work is only a means to be with God, while Mary’s prayer is directly worshipping and serving God, the source of all good things.

This proper sense of order and priority is somehow reflected in Christ’s words: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6,33) In another instance, Christ clearly said, “What does it a profit a man if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul?” (Mt 16,26)

It’s Mary’s piety that can give power, direction and true value to Martha’s industry. Just the same, we have to understand that Mary’s piety should not hinder Martha’s industry but should lead and enhance it. Otherwise, that piety would not be authentic piety. One would fall into pietism, spiritualism, sanctimony, etc.

Again this continuity between Mary and Martha, between piety and industry can have as basis these words of St. James: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2,26)

We need to exert special effort to comply with this sense of order and priority especially now when are somehow stirred and harassed by many absorbing issues and disturbing concerns that can tempt us to merely give a Pavlovian reflex reaction.

Yes, we may have to give some immediate stop-gap measures to some brewing problem, but we should never stop there but continue to address the more basic problem and the ultimate need of man.

It’s always God that we have to invoke for guidance and strength in the long and complicated process of resolving our problems and predicaments. This is something we should not forget, otherwise we can fall into some deceptive solutions that can give us some instant relief but actually create a graver problem later on.

We have to be wary of the culture and mentality that puts God irrelevant or a hindrance in our temporal and mundane affairs.

Sadly, this kind of mindset is the dominant attitude in the world today. We need to dismantle and correct it.

It will always be God who will show us the way of handling all kinds of situations—predicaments and crises included, as well as our successes and victories that can also be very harmful to us if not handled properly.

Only God, the living God, our Creator and Father, as well as our Savior and Sanctifier, can provide us with the real principle of unity in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we don’t go all the way to recognize this basic truth about us.

This, of course, is a truth of faith, not so much of science. And that’s where the problem lies. There is a crisis of faith in the world, especially involving those who rely more on their human abilities than on belief in God.

It’s a phenomenon that can call to mind two contrasting dramatic stories in the Bible. One is the story of the Tower of Babel, and the other is the story of Pentecost.

In the episode of the Tower of Babel, those who survived the flood have multiplied and have gotten so intoxicated by their powers and good fortune that they now want to reach heaven by their own efforts alone, by building a tower.

God intervenes, as he always does in our life, and confounds them by making them speak different languages so that they will not understand each other anymore. The project ends in total failure, and new troubles emerge for the people.

The story of Pentecost offers a counterpoint. We have different people speaking different languages. But since they believe, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. This is how they get to understand each other in spite of their differences.

They are not made into a uniformed mass. The differences are respected and even fostered. And yet there is unity among them, with a certain focus of attention that is a result of such unity.

For this happen, we need to respect the priority of Mary over Martha without putting them in opposition.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com