(I'm curious now how the passage has been interpreted, traditionally and more recently.)
Me too! As an American Catholic kid in the 70s and early 80s, "there are more important things" was definitely pointed out to me as the message we were supposed to be taking away from it. I'm pretty sure I remember it being connected to the passages of calling disciples away from their practical pursuits -- "Come with me and be fishers of men," etc. Sort of in a similar vein to what murasaki_1966 says above.
IIRC, it still didn't sit well at the time, because the lessons were never very good at addressing the disconnect between "this is CCD, which they used to call catechism, which is where you learn the rules" and "Jesus keeps saying there are more important things than the rules, but we're not defining them all that well."
I actually went back to it long after leaving the Church. Lately it reminds me of one good friend in particular who used knock herself out making tons of food, or even try to clean my house, in order to feel that she "deserved" to be there, when I would have been perfectly happy to have her just sit and talk. It took her years and years to move past that. I should ask her thoughts on that passage; she was raised in a very conservative Church of Christ environment, and has some very strong opinions and interesting insights about what was useful and what was damaging in the way things were taught there.
no subject
Me too! As an American Catholic kid in the 70s and early 80s, "there are more important things" was definitely pointed out to me as the message we were supposed to be taking away from it. I'm pretty sure I remember it being connected to the passages of calling disciples away from their practical pursuits -- "Come with me and be fishers of men," etc. Sort of in a similar vein to what
IIRC, it still didn't sit well at the time, because the lessons were never very good at addressing the disconnect between "this is CCD, which they used to call catechism, which is where you learn the rules" and "Jesus keeps saying there are more important things than the rules, but we're not defining them all that well."
I actually went back to it long after leaving the Church. Lately it reminds me of one good friend in particular who used knock herself out making tons of food, or even try to clean my house, in order to feel that she "deserved" to be there, when I would have been perfectly happy to have her just sit and talk. It took her years and years to move past that. I should ask her thoughts on that passage; she was raised in a very conservative Church of Christ environment, and has some very strong opinions and interesting insights about what was useful and what was damaging in the way things were taught there.