Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Contemplative
What’s The Point Behind Mary and Martha?

What’s The Point Behind Mary and Martha?

Last updated on: August 22, 2018 at 5:25 pm by Carl "Skye" McColman

What’s The Point Behind Mary and Martha? 2018-08-22T17:25:54-04:00 Carl "Skye" McColman

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bernardino Luini, Martha and Mary (ca. 1520), San Diego Museum of Art, California

When I lead retreats, I often offer up a disclaimer: I am not an academic theologian, or a Biblical scholar, or any other kind of scholar for that matter. Which I don’t see as a handicap, since you don’t need a college degree to do the work of silent prayer. I try to be honest that I am a layperson, writing (or speaking) for other laypersons or for anyone interested in contemplative practice.

Most of the time this is not an issue, but once in a while I get reminded of how much I don’t know. Which is good for my humility!

Recently I directed a retreat for an ecumenical group of Third Order and Ecumenical Franciscans, and during the retreat I gave what I thought was a fairly non-controversial interpretation of the Mary and Martha story (Luke 10:38-42). You know the story: Martha is bustling about in the kitchen, while her sister is hanging out with Jesus (and the disciples, whom we may assume were all or mostly men). Martha, annoyed with her sisters, asks Jesus to tell her to get into the kitchen, but instead Jesus basically tells Martha to chill out since “Mary has chosen the good (or better, or generous) part.”

Many contemplative writers over the centuries have interpreted Mary to be a symbol of the contemplative life, which historically meant consecrated religious life; while Martha represents the active life, committed to the responsibilities of marriage, family, and career. Clearly, these interpreters (who we may assume were all themselves consecrated religious) saw in this story a ringing endorsement from Jesus himself that the contemplative life was higher or “better” than the active life. One well known example of this is found in The Cloud of Unknowing, where we read this complaint: “And just as Martha complained about her sister Mary, so to this very day all actives criticize contemplatives.”

I may not be a scholar, but even I can see that this is a case of reading something into the text that wasn’t originally there. Jesus lived centuries before the first monastery was founded, so he is not endorsing monastic life or any other kind of formal, consecrated, religious life. I think, if anything, Jesus was simply trying to praise Mary for enjoying the company of her friends (and spiritual teacher) and gently encouraging Martha not to fret so much.

Sisters in Contemplation (and Action)

But still, the Mary and Martha story has carried this “contemplative” interpretation for so long, that it has become an archetype for comparing those two approaches to spirituality (active versus contemplative). Now, fast forward to the present, where consecrated religious life is not part of m0st peoples’ experience, but many Christians (and others) are looking for ways to integrate contemplative practice into otherwise very busy live

My take on Mary and Martha: that if Mary is the archetype of contemplation, and Martha the archetype of activism, then let’s not lose sight of the fact that they are sisters. In other words, they might squabble, and activist Martha might get annoyed at contemplative Mary, but at the end of the day they are sisters, and they need each other. Likewise, we all need to cultivate both an activist and contemplative dimension to our spiritual lives. This is something I’ve been saying for years now.

Like I said, I thought this was pretty non-controversial. But after the retreat, I received a thought-provoking email from one of the retreatants who is a New Testament scholar (and who also happens to be a good friend of mine), David Rensberger, who is the author of Johannine Faith and Liberating Community among other books.

David offered me this perspective on Luke 10:38-42:

In my opinion there is just no way to get “balance” out of that story… this is because we are so attached to our busyness and hoped-for results that we simply cannot accept this story for what it is. It offends us; and we manipulate it in any way we can to make it be about “balance.” … But what happens when we make this story about balance, at least in Protestant churches, is that “We must have both Mary and Martha” becomes “It’s good to be Martha,” which becomes “Let’s all be Martha,” and then Mary disappears entirely — and so once again we dispense ourselves from actually following Jesus’ teaching by turning it neatly on its head…

What I think this story is about at bottom: discipleship, rather than contemplation and action (both of which are ways of discipleship). Jesus’ call to discipleship was to a single-minded devotion to God in spite of all social pressures, conventions, and conveniences. So I think the story of Martha and Mary parallels, in the world of women as ancient society understood things, the story of James and John in the world of men, who left their father behind in the family fishing business, abandoning their work to follow Jesus. It’s not that Jesus had nothing for Martha to do; it just wasn’t the socially acceptable work of entertaining guests and keeping house. It was the work of discipleship, just as Luke shows Mary Magdalene and other women following Jesus around a couple of chapters earlier (8:1-3); and of course they show up at the cross and are first at the empty tomb. I think the story is fundamentally about discipleship, and particularly about its equally radical claim on women as on men.

I must admit — this is much food for thought.

Discipleship First

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I agree with David — the story is not, fundamentally, about balance. Since I spend so much of my time hanging out with monks and nuns and Jesuits and spiritual directors, I’m rather shielded from that tendency in our culture to erase Mary because we all identify much more with Martha (and I should point out, I don’t think that is just a Protestant problem!).

But it is a problem, and I do see it. I see it among many Christian activists, whose energetic engagement with ministries of social justice always seem to carry an unspoken assumption that spirituality or contemplation have no value except to help activists recharge their batteries.

And then I also see it among many rank and file Christians — those that The Cloud of Unknowing identify as living “the active life” — who simply do not get why anyone would want to pray in silence to begin with. And in its more toxic form, this anti-Mary bias results in some conservative Christians insisting that contemplation is “dangerous” — usually because they misinterpret it as a form of syncretism, since contemplative prayer is so similar to non-Christian forms of meditation.

But if we accept that the Mary and Martha story is fundamentally about discipleship especially for women, does that mean it has nothing whatsoever to tell us about contemplation?

I don’t think we have to go that far. And I think David would agree. He said that this story could be something “for contemplatives to appeal to when they are criticized for their withdrawal and seeming indolence. Defense against such criticisms shows up everywhere, from The Cloud of Unknowing to Thomas Merton’s reports of Buddhist monks facing the same thing. ‘My sister has left me to do the serving alone.’ ‘She has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.’ This is the encouragement that we need to hear from Jesus when our vocation is called into question as useless and uncaring.”

Put another way: Biblical spirituality, covering both Testaments, clearly makes room for silence, for waiting, for wondering and pondering, and for stillness as essential dimensions of a mature spirituality. Discipleship, naturally, includes not only learning from Christ, but being in relationship with Christ — and, for Christians, “relationship with Christ” is virtually a synonym for “spirituality.” So if we want to be disciples, we need to cultivate a meaningful and daily spiritual practice, which at its most mature includes a contemplative dimension.

Jesus tells Martha, “don’t criticize your sister for taking her discipleship seriously.” That serious discipleship includes taking the time to learn from Jesus. But it also includes taking the time to be silent and still in adoring prayer to Christ as well.

Enjoy reading this blog?
Click here to become a patron.

Previous Post

August 17, 2018

Three Forthcoming Books On Silence You Won't Want to Miss

Next Post

August 24, 2018 Getting to Know A Dangerous Mystic

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Activism Announcements Art Books Catholicism Celtic Christianity Christian mysticism Christianity Contemplation Current events Etc. Family humor interfaith dialogue Interfaith Wisdom Interspirituality Lay Cistercians Living the Faith Meditation movies Mysticism Mystics nature Poetry Reviews Scripture silence Spirituality Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 August 2023 June 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 May 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 March 2012 December 2011 September 2011 October 2010 August 2010 March 2010 September 2009 July 2008 January 2008 December 2007 September 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What biblical figure was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac on an altar?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Isaiah Noah Moses Abraham

Support this
Column