Martha, Mary, and New Year’s Resolutions: A Reflection on Luke 10
by Eric Rubio
Choices come in all configurations, some of which have entered the lexicon as cliches: “between a rock and a hard place,” “lesser of two evils,” “lose-lose situation,” “can’t live with it, can’t live without it” — and those are the configurations where there are only multiple negative outcomes. I know I’ve been there, whether it was having to choose which urgent deadline to meet or which household repair issue to handle and which to delay.
Sometimes it feels like choosing between multiple positive outcomes is less frequent than choosing between negative outcomes. Limited time, money, and other resources can lead me to believe this, but there is a dedicated time every year where we can choose to make better and healthier decisions for ourselves: The New Year.
Each year many of us make new year’s resolutions, and there are so many worthwhile options to choose from! We can choose to focus the new year on our physical health, our relationships, our spiritual practices, a professional goal, a financial goal, an educational goal, and more. I’m not here to tell you which of the many options should be your new year’s resolution(s), but rather to offer an approach to doing so based on the words of Jesus.
Jesus at the Home of Martha and Mary
Luke 10 includes the well-known story of Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary. While Martha is busy preparing dinner, Mary sits listening to Jesus. Martha, frustrated at not having her sister’s help, implores Jesus to send Mary to help (Luke 10:40), but Jesus instead gives Martha new perspective. We might assume the Lord does not fault Martha for wanting to provide the meal to the guests, but he notices she is worried and anxious (Luke 10:41), and shows her that Mary has chosen something better. (Different English translations render Luke 10:42 as Mary having chosen “the good portion,” “the good part,” “the better portion,” “what is better,” and the like.)
Luke doesn’t tell us if Jesus described in any further detail what Mary chose, but it’s obvious that it compares favorably to Martha’s worry and stress. And we can infer that if it wasn’t the specific lesson Jesus was teaching in that moment, it was something of or related to Jesus himself that Mary had chosen, perhaps as simple yet profound as being in his presence.
Luke clearly wants his readers to make choices analogous to Mary’s, and therein is the guidance for choosing how to spend the new year. By all means, choose — resolve — to prepare a meal, healthier meals for yourselves, or providing meals to others through increased charitable donations, or the metaphorical meal of increased knowledge through pursuing continuing education, and so on. But those meals — those resolutions — can’t be the end of 2021 in and of themselves. And they can’t be their own drivers, their own reason for being, their own sufficiency. If we let them be their own end, we open the door to that same worry and stress that took hold of Martha, and kept her from just being, like her sister, in the presence of Jesus.
I think it’s no accident that the civil holiday of New Year’s Day follows the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas. One of the core themes of Advent, traditionally ascribed to lighting the second purple candle, is peace. We might metaphorically say that Martha was overcorrecting for those who did not prepare room for Mary and Joseph on the first Christmas, by making sure all the arrangements for the adult Jesus’ visit were in order. But it was at the expense of not receiving the gift of the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Mary, however, like the shepherds, was singularly focused on receiving the gift of Jesus.
The Peace and Presence of Christ for 2021
Many of us have spent 2020 like Martha — running around trying to keep up, making sure we have enough toilet paper, sanitizing our groceries, and all the other strange and unusual things we’ve had to be worried and anxious about because of Covid-19. I think we all would at least like to spend 2021 more like Mary — and I think the choice is ours to make. The new year will find us still in the midst of a pandemic, but we can choose to approach it with our primary focus not exclusively on whatever strange and unusual practical considerations may come, but on caring for our health, including mentally and emotionally, and of our loved ones as well.
As we begin this New Year, will we choose to receive the peace of the presence of Christ and let that be our anchor in whatever the year may bring?
For the Christian, we must give the promise (or, to be frank, the uncertainty) of a new year wholly to Jesus, who will give back to us his unmerited, redeeming grace. 2021 will begin with the global coronavirus pandemic still raging, yet we worship a God who brings light out of darkness (John 1:5), as celebrated by the holiday that precedes New Year’s Day: Christmas Day.
By all means, dedicate the new year to improving your health or your finances, or pursuing new hobbies or other personal goals. Those things are truly well and good, and your commitment to make these resolutions, even before you work toward success, is meaningful and notable. Jesus didn’t fault Martha for her work to make the preparations for her guests, he just wanted her to see the bigger picture.
The bigger picture of 2021, and every year, must be Jesus, and resting in his holy, peaceful presence. Let the Advent message of peace stay with you into January. This coming new year, by the grace of God, is sacred ground, a gift of God for us to receive and use for redemptive purposes. Let us plant the seeds of redemption together by committing to seek the presence and peace of Christ in all things — before, during, and after we work through our chosen resolutions.
Questions for Reflection:
- How has the pandemic revealed our Martha-like tendencies? How does the start of a new year, mid-pandemic or not, reveal Martha-like tendencies?
- How can each of us adopt Mary’s posture as we begin a new year? What does “the good portion” look like in the midst of a pandemic?
- What New Year’s Resolutions have you made for yourself for 2021? How can they be made more meaningful to you as part of the “bigger picture” of Jesus?
Eric Joseph Rubio is a nonprofit and arts management professional originally from Chicago, and now based in Miami. He has served in staff and leadership roles with churches, schools, and arts organizations in both Illinois and Florida, is a proud alumnus of the Wheaton College (IL) Conservatory of Music, and is an occasional freelance writer across a variety of platforms. Follow Eric on Twitter and Instagram at @TheRubioRoom.
