While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “Not one family can put a sign outside their home with the words: No Problems Here.”
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Even the Holy Family had their share of drama.
In the Gospel, Jesus is preaching inside someone’s home, when all of a sudden Mary and other family members appear wanting to speak with him.
They’re not there to ask Jesus if he’s coming home for dinner; they’re looking to silence him. As it’s written a few verses before, some think Jesus is, “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).
I’m sure some of his family’s concern was driven by the desire to protect him from being harmed. But the truth is, even some of those closest to Jesus struggled to accept him for who he said he was: the Son of God.
Being doubted or misunderstood must’ve been quite painful for Jesus.
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Not one family – not even the Holy Family – can say, “No problems here.”
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What problems or concerns do I face in my own family?
And how might I work to resolve them?
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Often, the first step is listening with an open and humble heart.
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Image credits: (1) Jordan B. Richards (2) Duccio (3) The Peanut Gallery, WordPress
Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I’m so glad that Martha lost her cool.
Her frustration allows us to learn a timeless lesson in discipleship.
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We can imagine the scene.
Perhaps Martha was moving around the kitchen for an hour or two, banging pots and pans, cutting vegetables while mumbling under her breath.
Finally, she storms into the dining room to confront her sister, Mary, who’s listening attentively to Jesus.
Interrupting their conversation, Martha bursts out, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?”
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Martha just made several mistakes.
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First, she accuses the Lord of not caring about her burdens. “Lord, do you not care?”
The disciples say the same thing to Jesus while caught in the middle of a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Waking Jesus up, who was asleep on a cushion, they holler at him, “Lord, do you not care that we’re drowning??”
After accusing the Lord of not caring about her, Martha then blames someone else for causing her anxiety. It’s Mary’s fault! “My sister has left me by myself to do the serving!”
Then Martha polishes off this cocktail of complaints by telling Jesus exactly how to solve her problems. “Lord, tell her to help me!”
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Have we ever sounded like Martha? Have we ever complained to Jesus, accusing him of not caring about us? Have we told him how to solve our problems?
What might Martha have done differently? What is the cause of her anxiety, and at times our own?
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She lost her focus. At least today, she’s motivated more by duty than by love.
“Martha, Martha,” Jesus says. “You are anxious and worried about many things.” Her focus is off; she’s distracted by mundane chores.
The root of the word “worry” means, “to strangle.” To be “distracted” means, “to drag apart or to separate something that should be whole.”
Martha has separated her love of the Lord from her work. In that kitchen, she sees a mess: water boiling on the stove; vegetables half cut on the counter; flour on the floor; an absentee sister; and a whole lot of “work” to be done.
What she could’ve seen was the Lord’s face behind that boiling water; his empty stomach filled with those vegetables; his impending gratitude for a meal well served.
But Jesus wasn’t the focus of her labor; she was.
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?”
Me, me, me.
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At times, we can feel the same way.
Think about how quickly attending another sports event for your child can feel like another “thing to do,” another demand placed on your time.
Or maybe you do more housework than other members of your family; you tote the kids around town; you do more dishes.
Or maybe you care for an ailing spouse or parent. Another day of phone calls, doctor visits, and pharmacy runs can feel like an imposition on our freedom.
If we focus solely on the tasks that we’re doing – driving, cleaning, childcare – then naturally we can end up tired and frustrated when our focus turns to “me,” instead of to Christ.
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The same is true in prayer. If we spend an hour thinking, then we’ll end up exhausted. We just run around in circles in our head, because the focus is on “me.”
But if we spend an hour sharing our heart with the Lord – even if our circumstances in life haven’t changed – then we can feel a deeper sense of peace, knowing the Lord has heard us.
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“You are anxious and worried about many things.”
In the midst of an often full and crazy schedule, what blessings in my life have begun feeling like burdens? Like Martha, where do I need to re-focus my attention on Christ?
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“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her,” Jesus says.
The better part isn’t necessarily prayer; it’s recognizing Christ behind whatever we do.
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Image credits: (1) Cross Encounters Ministries (2) Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Vermeer (3) St. Bede, Twitter
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Some say America’s legal system has a few backward, or inconvenient, laws that need to be updated. In particular, certain laws that restrict work and commerce on Sundays.
For example, on a Sunday in New Jersey it’s illegal to purchase a car. In Massachusetts, it’s illegal to hunt. In many states, it’s illegal to purchase alcohol before noon.
These laws are known as “blue laws,” which were originally written to protect the Sabbath, allowing all Americans to attend church.
But these days, only one-third of Americans find themselves in a church pew on Sunday morning. Many are too busy attending sports games, running errands, cleaning the house, or sleeping in.
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But this idea of “blue laws,” which may seem ridiculous to us today, reminds us of the importance of time, the importance of rest, and the importance of worshiping God.
In this context, we can see why the Pharisees are so angry in today’s Gospel. They interpret the disciples’ actions to be contrary to the Sabbath, much like a person trying to illegally purchase a car or go hunting on a Sunday.
While the Pharisees are overly legalistic, they never conclude a week without acknowledging the Lord.
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Perhaps there’s a word in that for us.
Many of us lead very busy lives; time passes quickly. But can we take a moment at the beginning of each day to acknowledge the Lord?
This is why I post the “God minute” daily; not only remind myself to pray, but also to encourage others to do the same.
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While “blue laws” may go out of style, our need to recognize the Lord, especially on Sundays, should never change.
So, when the sun rises on Sunday morning, where will you be?
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Image credits: (1) Wide Open Eats (2) Let’s Talk About Sunday, WordPress (3) The Stylus, WordPress
