Martha, Martha

[dreamer_easy]

I was looking up Martha in the Bible and found Luke 10:38-42. As a spiritual person, I totally get this. (There's a similar Buddhist story, about the herder who's in a panic over his lost sheep - the Buddha quips to his disciples, "Aren't you lucky you don't have any sheep?). As a feminist I'm like WAAGH! If Martha also sits at Jesus' feet, who's going to make his dinner?

ETA: Aha! I can post to LJ if I keep it short!

ETA: Have a look at this very readable essay on Interpretations of Luke 10:38-42.

Comments

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

As a feminist I'm like WAAGH! If Martha also sits at Jesus' feet, who's going to make his dinner?

This one bugged me like crazy when I was a kid, until I realized he wasn't actually telling Martha that was she was doing was wrong, or that what Mary was doing was necessarily better for anyone but Mary. I had this lightbulb of reading it as "Don't guilt-trip her for not doing what you think is most important."

Martha is flipping out in classic "Why do I have to do everything around here???" mode, and the answer is "Because you're the one who has the investment in its being done that way." Social mores dictate hospitality, and that hospitality = plenty of food, but Jesus can be read as saying "I promise I won't starve to death before your eyes if you slow down a little."

[mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com]

I had this lightbulb of reading it as "Don't guilt-trip her for not doing what you think is most important."

That's a very interesting interpretation of it - one that can relate to a million things in modern life.