Chicken Scratches

Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

The next most obvious contrast between Mary and Martha is the contrast in their mental states. Two statements are made as to Martha’s mental state. In verse 41 Jesus says that she is “anxious and troubled.” Martha is full of worry. She is trying to make dinner, but she is getting no help. The tasks are piling up. There is so much to be done that she cannot see how she can accomplish it all within a reasonable amount of time. She is becoming more and more stressed out.

Mary’s mental state is not directly described in the text. We can only make inferences from other details. We see that she is sitting at the feet listening to the teaching of Jesus. She is certainly not worried, anxious or troubled. In fact, Martha draws attention to Mary’s apparent lack of concern for practical matters. Mary gives the impression of being at peace.

Verse 40 also describes Martha as distracted with all of the serving she has to do. She is going five or six different directions trying to get everything done. Her mind is scattered, and her thoughts are divided. Mary, on the other hand, appears to be very focused. And this is one of the differences highlighted by Jesus. Martha is worried about many things, but Mary has chosen the one good thing.

The one necessary thing is what I shall look at next.

Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

There are two very obvious contrasts between Mary and Martha. First, there is the difference in activity. Martha was preparing and serving dinner. She was working hard. She was probably moving around and was spending a lot of time on her feet. Mary, on the other hand, was sitting down and listening. She was not very active at all. She was at rest. She was most certainly not helping her sister Martha.

The second major contrast is in Jesus’ evaluation of both Mary and Martha. Jesus is clear that what Mary is doing is better than what Martha is doing. It is almost as if he rebukes Martha for what she is doing.

These two contrasts raise a question in our minds: why did Jesus praise Mary over Martha? This runs counter to our expectations. On the surface, we would have the tendency to think that what Martha was doing was better. Somebody has to get dinner, or else they would go hungry. Somebody has to make the necessary preparations for their honored guest. Martha is the servant-hearted, diligent, responsible one. Mary is just being lazy.

Luke purposefully does not provide much in the way of explanation. His account of this event is very minimalistic. Did Martha ask more questions? Did Jesus say more than what is recorded? What is Luke’s take on this event?

Luke is not trying to provide us with easy answers. He has given us a conundrum. It is a problem that we must wrestle with, and as we wrestle with it, we learn much more than Luke would have had space to lay out for us in detail.

So I’d like you to join me in the mental arena as we wrestle with this problem together. I’ll be posting more on this story. Feel free to reply with your own thoughts.

In Proverbs 8-9 Wisdom is personified as a woman. This makes for a beautiful poetic device, but the metaphor is so extensive that it appears to also carry some kind of meaning. In the context Wisdom is compared to the virtuous woman, whereas Folly is compared to the adulteress. So perhaps part of the intent is to further describe the Proverbs 31-type woman, but I think there could some further meaning to draw from the personification of Wisdom. Here are my ideas. See what you think.

First, Wisdom is something to be loved, not just learned. She is to be an old friend, an adored and esteemed wife. She is not just the principle of practicality. She is not just boring common sense. She is a thing of beauty.

So, second, Wisdom can be inviting and attractive. She is approachable. She is appealing. We do not go after Wisdom simply because we have to or need to. We go after Wisdom because we want to. There is something about her that draws us.

Therefore, third, Wisdom is to be pursued. You don’t just read a book and instantly acquire Wisdom. We aren’t born with Wisdom built in. You have to chase her. It’s not a mechanical process, or a guaranteed one-size-fits-all 7-step plan. It takes personalized finesse. You have to court Wisdom, and you must court her daily.

Fourth, thinking of Wisdom as a woman keeps you from imagining you have exhausted her mystery. No matter how well you think you know her, she will still surprise you. She may appear different in different circumstances. She will change over time. She will meet you where you are in your life circumstances, but your relationship with her can ever deepen and grow.

Anyway, I feel like I had some more thoughts on the subject, but they escape me now.

There is a strain in Christian thought that I have resisted for a long time: that doubt is a good thing. How can doubt possibly be a good thing? Verses like James 1:6 seem to imply that doubt is a bad thing.

Well, there is doubt, and then there is doubt.

There are pure skeptics who start from the position that nothing is true unless they can prove it. There are lesser skeptics who are willing to eject any idea as soon as there is the first indication that it might be untrue. For example, people so often believe in the existence of a good and loving God until they experience deep, personal pain, and then they quickly toss away their faith.

But on the other hand, there are people like the psalmists who ask God “Why?” and “How long?” whenever things go wrong. And there are people like Job, who struggled to reconcile his personal experience of terrible suffering with his understanding of God and the world.

How can the psalmists and Job be OK, but the skeptic be on thin ice? I can think of a few possible reasons.

First, the psalmists and Job did not question an idea. They questioned a Person, and they questioned this personal God within the context of their relationship with him. Suppose you have a good friend who has spent a lifetime earning your trust. All of a sudden, your friend does something that disappoints you. After all of those years if you are at all a good friend yourself, you will not rush to judgment. You will give your friend the chance to explain. This is a sign of love and respect.

Second, along with providing a Person an opportunity to explain, there is the assumption that the questioner could simply have misunderstood. This can be seen throughout the book of Job. Job and his friends are constantly exploring the belief that an individual’s circumstances are a reflection of their moral standing before God. Good people are blessed, but the wicked suffer. Job is confident in his own righteous life, and yet he has been cursed rather than blessed. He is beginning to see that maybe what is at fault is his understanding of how God works in the world. This is a sign of humility.

Third, questioning one’s own understanding is based on the assumption that one’s beliefs should line up with one’s experience in the world. In our example of the issue of suffering, I might find that some bad circumstance in my life leads me to question whether or not God is good. This demonstrates that I expect the goodness of God to be evident in my life. I expect the goodness and love of God to have some impact on reality.

This expectation is actually faith. I believe in the goodness and love of God so strongly that I actually am expecting to see evidence of it. When I do not see evidence of it, or when I see evidence that appears to contradict it, I am disappointed and shaken. This leads me to turn to God with questions – hopefully questions with love, respect and humility.

This means that doubt can be a sign of faith.

Certainly there are people who have such great faith that it can never be ruffled by anything. Certainly there are people who are humble enough that they automatically assume they have misunderstood. Certainly there are people who love God so much that their love for and trust in him are not bothered by their experiences.

But for the rest of us, there is the wisdom literature of the Bible. There are psalms. There are the books like Job and Ecclesiastes. It is not about having the quick answers. It is about grappling with the questions.

This process is part of what strengthens our relationship with God as we interact with him. It brings us to a deeper understanding by correcting the flaws in our thinking. And it is an expression of the kind of faith that expects what we believe to be actually, truly real.