Martha Martha Martha

            I have no idea whether Martha or Mary was older. But I always have imagined Martha as the big sister, and Mary as younger. Since I am a self-confessed “Martha”, I usually see things from her perspective, and haven’t given much thought to how it all looked to Mary. Bear in mind how Martha is in my imagination. (Check out my posts Confessions of a Martha from September and the more recent Mare-eeeee! for a peek into my mental picture.) So with a (presumably) big sister like that, how would Mary think? I’m not sure, but I would imagine she’d be pretty tired of being nagged by Martha to help. I picture an image of Martha wiping her hands and hollering, and Mary turning her head and rolling her eyes, as if to say “Here we go again.” Again, I am speculating. But I get the impression that Martha is usually touted as being responsible, and therefore right. So Mary would be very “over it” by now.

                I love The Brady Bunch. It was a great show. (If you’ve never seen it, go watch it.) I love the interactions between the siblings. Sometimes they get along unrealistically well, but sometimes they act more like real brothers and sisters. Especially Jan. Admittedly, I view it from an oldest sister perspective, but I’ve always thought they wrote her very believably as a middle daughter. I love the episode where she is so over people saying how great Marcia is, and she explodes, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”  

                Similarly, I can see Mary being annoyed with her sister. So I would imagine she loved it when Jesus reprimanded her “perfect” big sister. I can see a smug little look as Mary thinks, “See Martha? You’re not always right. I did the better thing here.” And I’m not discounting that she did the better thing there. (Go read “Mare-eee!” if you haven’t.) But the big sister in me screams for justice, and then balance, which I don’t see in Mary. Yes, Mary, you focused on Jesus, which is always the better thing. But if you always leave Martha with the brunt of the work, she will always see you as Lazy Mary, even when you are doing the better thing. We all need balance in our life.

 Things need to get done (Martha), but we also need to take a break from the to-do list and stop and acknowledge the more important things in life (Mary). I think that was Jesus’ point. But taking a break is only effective if the to-do list exists and is followed. So to all the Marys out there: We Marthas are glad you have your priorities straight. But please help with the other stuff, too, so we can more easily notice the difference between the important things and just not helping.

                Ok, I am done. Rant over. Whether you are a Mary or a Martha, I hope you find peace and balance in the craziness of the Holiday season. And of course, don’t forget to focus on the important things while that never-ending to-do list gets checked off!

 Merry Christmas!