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Unity Church of Castro Valley

Sunday Message for August 6, 2006

Mary or Martha?

From the biblical story of Martha and Mary we can learn an all-important truth about how to let all the spiritual potentials in us have greater expression with the least amount of human interference.

Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus lived in the small village of Bethany just outside Jerusalem.  They were especially close friends with Jesus.  Jesus hadn’t made many intimate friends during his ministry, and only a few persons understood Him.  But this one home where His three good friends lived was a place that He loved to go.

There is evidence that this was a family of means, and that they gave of their means, as well as of themselves.  Mary, for example, used her costly ointment on Jesus.  Their home undoubtedly was very comfortable and inviting.  Martha and Mary, however, were as different in temperament and in their approaches to spiritual awareness as two people could be.  Martha was likely the older.  She was practical, active, and solid.  She excelled as a “homemaker” and strove for perfection around the house.  She always took the lead and probably “mothered” Mary.

Mary was more pensive, quiet yet imaginative, sensitive, and spiritually impassioned.  Though their natures were poles apart, they were closely bound, and Jesus understood and loved them both.

It is at an increasingly difficult time in Jesus’ life that the Bible introduces us to Martha and Mary.  Jesus was constantly facing mounting opposition and the Cross.  It was at this favored house in Bethany, blessed with peace, faith, and love, that He could pause for a brief while and rest with His friends.  Here is where we see the contrast in Martha and Mary.  Martha immediately began to hustle and bustle, making preparations for an elaborate feast worthy of Jesus and doing everything to make Him comfortable and to honor His presence in their home.

In trying to do the best she could, she fussed, worried, and got herself into a tizzy.  Mary, on the other hand, sat at Jesus’ feet in a quiet spiritual rapture, drinking in every word, eager to learn the lessons He had to teach.  There is nothing really wrong with either attitude; both reflect loving concern.  But Martha thought something was wrong because Mary wasn’t helping her at all during this rush period.  She complained to Jesus (Luke 10:40) “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”  I’m sure most housewives would tend to sympathize with Martha.

But Jesus didn’t.  He corrected Martha, not Mary.  He said to her: (Luke 10:41-42) “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Martha’s shortcoming, besides resenting and grumbling, was a mistaken emphasis.  Martha’s activities and service were good but going in the wrong direction.  She was hustling, bustling, and becoming tense and anxious when Jesus very much wanted only peace, quiet, and spiritual support.  She was preparing a lavish feast when at the moment He wanted only a simple meal.  He had only one great need – food for the soul.  Mary had that one thing.  Through her loving attention to Jesus, she showed evidence of knowing not only His needs but probably more of the secrets of His truth and power and wisdom than even His disciples did.  Because of this, she was undoubtedly one of the most spiritually sensitive people in all of Jesus’ life.  It would have been far more important for Martha at that time to have ceased her busy work for Jesus and listen to Him that she might serve Him far better.  Martha’s kind of work makes us tired, exhausted, and it depletes the energies of mind and body.  Prayer infills us spiritually; it expands and strengthens the powers of our souls.

It is fairly common for new Unity students, where prayer is emphasized so strongly, to wonder about the place of active work in their religious outlook.  Unity leaves it strictly to each individual as to what he or she does and how to use Truth.  But it isn’t that we spend all our time in prayer and sit back and never do anything.  Good Unity students are constantly (Luke 2:49) “about their Father's business.''

The principle involved is contained in an old Quaker saying: “Pray and then move your feet.”  It means, of course, pray first and then take appropriate action.  Martha and Mary, you remember, were sisters.  They were very closely related.  Prayer and effective outer activity are also closely related.  They too are sisters.

There is a divine order for getting things done.  Jesus firmly instructed us to seek first the kingdom.  Prayer comes first, and right action follows; otherwise, our activities take over and lead us astray.  The contemplative, thoughtful, listening, and receptive way of Mary must ever predominate and provide its elevating, uplifting, and guiding influence.  One thing is needful – devotion to the Christ.

A teacher once said to a third-grader, “What keeps you from getting your homework done?”  With remarkable understanding, the youngster said, “Just me.”  There are all kinds of busy thoughts and feelings that go through our minds and emotions.  Our inner world gets overcrowded; it is hard for a new idea to get in and even more difficult for the “still small voice” to be heard.  That was the problem with the way of Martha.  She was so preoccupied with “trifles” and arrangements that she didn’t even have time to listen to Jesus Christ Himself!

We have to learn to eliminate non-essentials – not to be so “worried and distracted by many things.”  To take matters into our own hands is to delay the answer.  That is why Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part.  Her interest in spiritual values kept her absorbed in more important matters.  She was open and receptive to the treasures of Spirit.  Learning Truth, gaining spiritual insight, and preparing her inner life so that the Spirit could work remarkable transformations in her life made Mary capable of more effective service.  Jesus loved and respected Martha, but He treated Mary as a full-fledged disciple.

As we can learn from the third-grader, the thing that hinders our spiritual growth is just us.  Those who are always anxiously working with human concerns cannot pray effectively or keep their attention focused on the ultimate spiritual purposes of life.

Conversely, those who withdraw entirely into prayer and contemplation never fulfill their God-given spiritual potentials either.  The ideal person is a balanced combination of the traits of Martha and Mary – receptive and inspired first, which saves us a lot of anxiety, wasted time, and effort.  Then we are able to go ahead as a working channel through which God can work out His great plans and purposes, using all our human talents and abilities.

In Unity our approach is what Charles Fillmore called “practical mysticism” – we study and pray, establishing truth, order, peace, faith, and love in our inner world; then we “move our feet,” reinforced by the Father within who does the works.  This is an unfailing way to bring God into our lives, to live out our highest concept of what is Christlike, and to become partners with God in the creation of ourselves.

REFERENCES: Great Dramas of the Bible William Earle Cameron

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:38-42; Luke 2:49

Last updated August 5, 2006