KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 21 November
One thing needful
Martha and Mary represent action and contemplation respectively and belong to a long and rich tradition about the forms of spiritual life. Following Plato and Aristotle, contemplation is the highest form of human activity, an inner activity of spiritual and intellectual reflection, but that is not at the expense of outward activity which belongs to our lives physically and with one another. There is, after all, something spiritual, intellectual, and ethical about our interactions with one another, even necessary. At issue is the interplay between action and contemplation; in short, between Martha and Mary.
I am often struck with the ‘counter-culture’ aspects of our School in such things as Chapel, especially with such things like the story of Mary and Martha. It challenges the assumptions and attitudes of our culture. That is an important feature of religious philosophy. There is no greater contrast than between ‘being distracted’ and ‘being collected.’ That is the challenge of the story of Mary and Martha which connects powerfully to the theme which we have been exploring in Chapel about our recognition of a need for an ethical principle that shapes and governs our lives and that is alive in us.
The story of Mary and Martha follows directly upon the parable of the Good Samaritan. That is intriguing and suggestive. Is the story of Mary and Martha the counter or the complement to the concluding injunction of the parable to “go and do thou likewise” towards those in need? We are, it seems, to act with compassion rather than indifference towards those who are suffering. That might seem to imply the priority of action over contemplation.