KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 15 January
Unum necessarium
“One thing is needful,” Jesus says to Martha, “and Mary has chosen the better part.” What is that “better part”, “the one thing needful”? Perhaps it is another Mary, the Mary of the Christmas story, who shows us best what is most needed. She is, in the Christian understanding, the Theotokos, the God-bearer, the Mother of God, who embodies the highest dignity and truth of our humanity, “most highly favoured lady” as a carol puts it.
The Christmas story in all of its richness carries over into Epiphany. For Orthodox Christians following the Old Calendar, the Julian calendar, as Stanislav, a student from the Ukraine reminded me the other day, January 7th was Christmas. January 19th will be their Epiphany. The shepherds journey to Bethlehem to “see this thing that has come to pass,” literally, this saying that has happened; in short, “the word made flesh.” The shepherds “make known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child,” awakening wonder in all that heard it. “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” The one thing needful is to ponder the wonder of God.
Sometimes one story throws light upon another. The Christmas scene, quite frankly, is all a confusion of images, a great cluster of things seen and heard. At best we can only dance around it, looking in upon what is there and thinking about its meaning. In the story of Martha and Mary, sisters in Bethany, Jesus is a guest. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, “listening to his word.” Martha, on the other hand, is “distracted by much serving” and gets annoyed at Mary and complains to Jesus. Jesus’ response is a profound but gentle rebuke and one which speaks to the confusions and the busyness of our world and day. “Martha, Martha; thou art anxious and troubled about a multitude of things; one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen the better part.”
We so easily lose ourselves in our busyness as if being busy was the most important thing, as if we could justify ourselves by busyness alone. The problem is not that there aren’t things that have to be done, mouths to be fed, children and others to be cared for, and so on. No. It is more about our preoccupation with our busyness at the expense of the one thing needful. It is a question about ends and priorities. After all, our busyness can often be a form of sloth. Usually we think of sloth as being lazy but it is also about avoiding doing what is needed to be done, using our busyness as an excuse to avoid papers and assignments, studying and reading, for example. Jesus reminds us that contemplation, a kind of serious and thoughtful attention to what is wanted to be known and learned is the one thing needful. The Martha syndrome checked by the Mary solution.