As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I wonder if Mary was ADHD.
Have you ever lived with someone who has the condition we now call "attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder"? I think ADHD, like autism and Asperger's, are not mental illnesses to be cured. They are descriptive of people's brains, and because these brains tend to lack some of the skills for successful people in American culture, we have identified them and seek to "help." In truth, we all need help. We need nurture and guidance and discipline. Our culture finds it useful to identify these particular groups. It would be funny to me if a culture diagnosed it's Type A people as the disturbed ones.
"The Type A's in my class have me so concerned! They just can't relax," one frustrated teacher expresses in the teacher's lounge to her colleagues.
"I know," another answers. "It's so unhealthy."
So let's pretend Mary is ADHD. She grows up never really doing the chores assigned to her, while her older sister, a true Type A, faithfully carries out her duties as well as often picking up the slack for little Mary. Mary daydreams. Mary forgets things. Mary is irresponsible. Of course, Martha is eventually placed in charge of the household, and her reputation as a good and industrious woman spreads for miles. But her sister...hm.
You would think, just this once, when someone as important as JESUS, the possible Messiah sent from GOD, comes to their home, that Mary could once, just once, actually focus and help.
But Mary is focused. She is focused on Jesus.
This time, she's not lost in thought while standing over a sink full of dishes. She's not sitting with the trash bag next to her, scratching in the dirt, forgetting that she's supposed to be taking it to the neighborhood incinerator and then hurrying home. She's sitting with Jesus. Mary has heard all her life about how she's not doing things right. This time, this fragile, unrespected soul is doing the right thing.
Martha knows that finally an authority is here to correct her flighty sister.
But Jesus corrects Martha instead.
Mary was the gift to the family. Mary, at this crucial visit, made the best choice.
And the warning in this story is like the warning Jesus gave so many of us: So you think you're doing everything right? Come and sit down.
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