Martha On The Mary-Go-Round

As I write this, Barb is in the ER. She had really bad upper abdominal pain today, and as yet there are no answers. Morphine did take pain away.

She expects me to carry on, so here goes.

I kinda like Martha. She's got spirit, and isn't shy about saying what comes into her head. Barb thinks she's a lot like Simon Peter, and I think she's onto something there.

But still, you have to wonder how she felt when Jesus pushed back against her request that He tell Mary to for Pete's sake (!) give her a hand when He dropped by, and Martha wanted to make Him welcome according to custom.

To Martha, the request was reasonable. Men did the discipleship thing, women did the serving thing.

Jesus put that on its head. Mary sat at His feet, exactly as a man would.

Was Martha invited to join her? We don't know.

How did Martha take it? We don't know that either.

But I think we can imagine.

 It is the kind of story

that has the scope to break your heart.

'Twas Mary got the glory,

and Martha got the lesser part,

but she felt called to give her best

in an act of service,

and though she failed some kind of test,

she did not deserve this

sentence carried through the years,

a place further from the throne of grace.

I wonder if the bitter tears

rolled unseen upon her face

when she undertook to understand

the weight of Christ's soft reprimand.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is LEAVE.

Martha got reprimanded, yeah.

But she still had attitude.

She met Him on the road ahead,

and said, 'The news really ain't great;

Lazarus is buried, dead,

and why were You so late?

Three days past, his soul is gone

(and what, Lord, were you thinking?).

He is lost to us this dawn,

fed to worms and stinking.'

And then, perhaps, she turned to leave,

but Jesus Christ reached out His hand, and ask, 'Dear heart, do you believe,

and in believing, understand

that Lazarus will soon draw breath,

for I, the Lamb, have conquered death?'

Four minutes thirty and change.

Yesterday, August 9, was our anniversary, so here's music from Firefall, with You Are The Woman

Sylvia thinks ice cream is the best medicine.