"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.' "

Martha is really saying, “Why doesn’t Mary mirror me?” She is saying, “Don’t you care that my sister is not like me?” Further, she is saying, “Why aren’t you, God, like me?” “Make your plan fit into my mirror, or else you don’t care like I do.” “Why aren’t you, God, created in my image?” That is why Martha is burdened. She sees everything slightly in reverse. She understands it through the filter of herself rather than the presence of God who is sitting right in front of her. If we drag our mirrors around long enough, we exhaust ourselves by trying to change other people and make them look like us. Somewhere along the line, Martha’s interests became her cares, and her cares became her troubles, and her troubles burdened her and wore her out. It can be very tiring to attempt to change everyone else in the world every day.

Fr. Bransfield, author of Meeting Jesus Christ, has a fantastic chapter on Martha and Mary. Has it ever happened to you that your interests became your cares, your cares became your troubles, and your troubles wore you out? What did you do to find refreshment and new life?

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