ACT OR BE STILL?

Martha and Mary must have been remarkable ladies. They were followers of Jesus, their brother Lazarus was raised from the dead and they frequently provided hospitality to Jesus. In Luke 10:38-42 we are given an insider view into the domestic life of these two women. We are told that Martha was distracted (literally 'to be pulled or dragged') by much service while Mary sat at the Lord's feet. The story has often been used to advocate the virtue of a contemplative life over frantic activism. It seems to me that the truth is more complex. After all, hospitality is demanding and guests need to be served. And did not Jesus himself characterise his own ministry in terms of service? The real challenge of this story is the perennial need of knowing what to do when. The following story illustrates this well.

In the pre-refrigerator days people used ice houses to preserve their food. Ice houses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the ice houses, and covered with sawdust.  Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an ice house.  He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it.  His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile.  A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the ice house during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still.  Soon I heard the watch ticking"                                                                                           

The boys method was not frantic activity but focused stillness. Similarly, the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are still enough, and quiet enough, to hear. Yet, having heard (the ticking watch) the boy joined the others and, we may assume, got back to work again. Knowing when to be still and when to act is a good antidote against developing a frantic, distracted and annoyed temper. The Lord challenges us to be discerning disciples who know when to be like Martha and when it is needful to be like Mary.