I am Martha...

 I am Martha… Slow to believe, continually asking questions and trying to understand.  I am often unsympathetic and even bitter toward those who experience you differently than I do.

Would I have sat at your feet? And washed them with my hair?

Would I have publicly wept, and then wept again, unashamed? 

Would I have agreed to roll away the stone? 

Probably not.  Or perhaps, albeit with discomfort and embarrassment.

I’ve always been so self-conscious, rational, and skeptical of the hard-to-believe. 

But you love Martha.  

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

You patiently answered her questions and protests.  You showed her that she couldn’t put logical limits around your Divine Love.  You showed up and walked with her, even when she couldn’t understand your timing. 

You didn’t tell her to be more like Mary, which is how we often interpret the story.  (Ironic, considering the very thing you were pushing back against was the “do this, do that-mentality” to please God.)

No, you didn’t tell her to be more like her sister.  You simply told her to believe in you.  

You were not inviting her to imitate, but to enjoy.  You were not calling her to a different personality or set of gifts; you were reminding her of her inability to give any good gift, apart from you.  

Did Martha stop serving? 

Six days before the Passover… they gave a dinner for him there.  Martha served.  

AGAIN.  

At the end of your earthly life, there she is again, serving, while Mary is at your feet.  

Did Martha stop serving?  No, and I don’t think that was even your wish.

The Martha who welcomed you into her house, the Martha who came and met you while Mary remained seated, the Martha concerned about the stench of the tomb, the Martha who cooked you many-a warm meal… You formed her.  You instilled her personality. You loved her.  

And because of your love, she did change, over the years.  For as she listened and watched and believed her Lord, she began to resemble, not her sister… She began to resemble you.

 (John 11 and 12, Luke 10)