Last week, in Week 5, we focused on giving (the Simple Table challenge). But during Week 6 we need to approach the Cross to learn from Christ. This week is about focusing on us as the individual to receive. Let us have a read of Luke 10:38-42:
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.’
Here Martha was doing a “good thing” by serving. She is doing things that are useful and important, but she recognises that she is being distracted and talks to Jesus about it. She is bringing her solution to Jesus. Here Jesus teaches her (and us) about doing the “best thing” by simply sitting at Jesus’ feet listening.
Wendell Berry writes a beautiful line in the poem, “The Peace of Wild Things”, which we can read here:
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The poem reminds us that the world “taxes” us with worry about things we cannot control. Often, our “service” can become a way to avoid being still with God. Reflect on, “Are you serving God to avoid looking Him in the eye? “
Take some time to sit with the lyrics and performance of Jason Upton, resting in the moment, drawing closer to God, despite the busyness of life. Before we can walk the Way of the Cross, we must be able to sit quietly at His feet. We move from the “doing” of the hands to the “being” of the soul.
The challenge this week is to find 24 hours (or from sundown one day to sundown the next day) to turn off all non-essential screens. No social media, no streaming, no gaming, no TV / YouTube or streaming media watching. Use the reclaimed time to sit, read, or walk in nature. Notice the things and people round about you. Pray for them. The goal is to “un-tax” your life from the noise of the world before entering the gravity of Holy Week.
Let us pray:
Lord of the Stillness, forgive us for being “worried and upset about many things” when only one thing is needed. As we stand on the threshold of Holy Week, help us to lay down our lists, our achievements, and our distractions. Like Mary, we want to choose what is better: to simply be with You. Thank You for the “peace of wild things” and the grace that requires nothing from us but our presence. Prepare our hearts to walk with You to Jerusalem. Amen.
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