NOTES for Luk 10:38-42
The traditional interpretation of this episode about Mary and Martha is a moral lesson about leaving earthly fuss over many things for the sake of attention to the one Truth, which will not be taken from us once we have entered this path. This meaning shines directly through the text, leaving no doubt about itself. And perhaps this is so.
But let us think about something else as well. If not for Martha, who would have given the Savior something to eat? Let us think once more about these two sisters. To understand their images fully, let us remember that we meet them again on the pages of the Gospel according to John, when their brother Lazarus dies. It is Martha who then proves able to overcome grief and go out to meet the Savior with such remarkable words of confession of faith, while Mary remains at home weeping. Perhaps Martha, busy Martha, turns out to be spiritually stronger than her sister, because her busyness is not empty.
How can these two irreconcilable meanings be joined? Perhaps there are different types of people: there are the somewhat detached, people of prayer; there are people who radiate the joy of being from far away; there are those immersed in themselves; there are extroverts... We are all very different, but if the center of our thoughts is Christ, we choose the good portion, and it will not be taken from us.