Spiritual Practice: Serving Others

“Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

Usually when this story is preached, Mary is praised because she chose to take advantage of Jesus being in her presence and just to sit and listen and learn. At the same time Martha is often chided, “don’t be like Martha being so busy you miss Jesus”. I get that. It is the obvious lesson to be taken and certainly we can get too busy doing things for Jesus that we miss just being with Jesus. But some people feel most alive, closest to God, when they are serving other people. Not doing busy work for the sake of being noticed or looking busy, but because serving others in the name of their Lord is how they worship and pray and express their love for Jesus.

We do not know what Martha’s motives were in this case, maybe she was an exacting perfectionist, maybe she felt she had no worth unless she could prove her worth by demonstrating her abilities, maybe she was afraid if she stopped she would never getting going again, maybe it was instilled in her to work hard because that is what people expect. Or maybe, just maybe, she genuinely loved to serve other people.

We are all part of the body of Christ. Some have a mind to develop new ideas, others the eyes to see how those ideas could actually work and others are the hands and the feet getting the thing done. In the same way God has made us all different in how we relate to him and grow in our love for and of the Trinity. Some do this by studying and creating new ways of comprehending, others grow by sharing ideas and prayers with others, and still others by getting their hands and feet dirty. They serve. Serving is saying, “Jesus I love you”. When washing other’s feet, they feel Jesus hands alongside theirs and he whispers, “let me show you and help you”.

In the church we all love having the “serving doer” types around, but they can be a bit much at times too, making you feel bad for just sitting there and sometimes doing things that did not actually need to be done. But when they are in their element and the Spirit is moving through them, there is beauty to behold. I think Mother Teresa was such a person, Dorothy Day too. They worship and love by serving those Jesus loves.

If you are this type of person, if singing hymns or sitting in silence or studying theology or going to a prayer group does not draw you closer to God, but serving others does, then may the Lord bless you and keep you. In these COVID days you might feel a little out of sorts because as much as you want to get out there and serve you have been told to sit down and stay put. I invite you to think of things you could do to serve people and God. Making phone calls and writing notes can work. Offering to go shopping or pickup prescriptions for people at greater risk with COVID is a beautiful thing. Cooking meals or having food delivered to a single parent who is trying to work a little and teach two grades is another foot washing activity.

Whatever you think of “doing” to serve know that you are needed by the rest of us, that you are loved and that we learn so much by watching you love Jesus with your hands and feet.

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