Jesus didn’t come into this world to inaugurate a system of order and power that demands duty. He came to bring a relationship with Him that brings God’s real presence into our inner being and, in time, through us into the world at large. As we experience this “God-life” within we find we begin to be changed, from the inside out … one day at a time.
Let’s look at a conversation with two people, where one chooses to taste and experience Jesus’ teaching, and the other becomes angry because there was too much to do to just sit and listen to Jesus.
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha’, the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38-42)
The question Jesus raises to Martha and us is: What is better than duty?
The invitation to come and listen to Jesus’ teaching opens our minds and moves our hearts to comprehend something greater than duty that can guide our life choices.
In this narrative, Mary had moved beyond wanting to serve from a worried and anxious heart of duty to wanting to be present with Jesus to listen to his teaching. Jesus says something important to Mary which we need to ponder – God’s way is choosing Jesus over ongoing acts of duty.
Jesus gives Martha a strong word, “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.” Can we move in this direction by taking time to see who Jesus is, choosing to sit at His feet, hearing, receiving, and embracing who He is?
Duty is where we choose to do what is right or noble within our own human mind/heart. Duty is rooted in the self – from our own understanding of what should be done.
I want to flesh out the differences between duty and relationship so we might better understand what was going on when Jesus affirmed Mary. And what can we learn from Jesus’ words to Martha, “you are worried and upset about many things but only one thing is needed”?
1. Jesus did not say duty was bad. This is important! Duty has an important place in our lives. But, what Jesus did say to Martha is there are times (like that day and moment) when Jesus wants us to hear the invitation to come and listen, putting other duties aside. The duties we need to put aside may be important ones that allow us to feel good about ourselves but get in the way of our receiving what Jesus wants to give us! Learning to know the difference is what Jesus was showing to Martha.
2. Duty helps order our lives, but on that day Jesus was interrupting Martha’s order so she could receive more of Jesus. Martha would have been satisfied to provide food and not hear or interact with Jesus. Like Martha, we can be blind to Jesus’ presence, that He’s offering more of Himself to us. In these moments, duty may shut our lives off from something greater Jesus wants to give.
3. Engagement with Jesus, wherever it takes place, bumps up against our ordered world. We can point to our duty and say, “See, I am doing my part. No more for me. I don’t want to change my rhythm, let Jesus in, hear more, or understand more.”
It’s here that duty becomes a wall, even a fortress, to keep God out. Like Martha, we may not even know we have shut down the greater work of Jesus within us.
Being in relationship with Jesus, allowing the Father’s presence to enter more and more into our inner being, brings God-directed transformation of how we see our life and world. In truth, we may choose to know Jesus, one day at a time, allowing Him to usher the Father’s presence into our inner being. It is this ongoing relational choice that moves us away from our lives of duty, rooted in the self, into a God directed life, a life that changes us and, in time, the world around us!
I invite you to take a look at your world. It may be a wonderful world full of faith and order, but, like Martha and without knowing it, is it possible you may have stopped receiving and growing in your relationship with Jesus? Here is where Mary challenges all of us. Turn and seek Jesus. Let Him guide you. Let Him know you more. Then let Him love you, keep and grow you, conforming you more and more into His image.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:28-29)
I invite you, if you are hungry to let Jesus continue his deeper work in your life, to look at the Spiritual Formation Institute, which is designed to assist you in going deeper with God. Visit spiritualformationinstitute.com.
The Renewing Life Center desires to meet you where you’re at, with whatever need you bring. We have many different clinicians for you to choose from, servicing the greater Las Vegas community. We look forward to you coming!
Pat Meye, Spiritual Formation Institute Director