Snapshot

Day 2 – A Month with M&M

My heart goes out to Martha, I admit. Her story could be mine many days. Here she was, faced with the Messiah on her doorstep. Oh, and his twelve disciples, too. Thirteen men showing up for supper? What sane homemaker wouldn’t freak out? What I find most unfortunate is that this is one day in the life of a wonderful woman. Think about it. What if your snapshot was taken on one of your most stressful days and that’s the profile picture that defined you for 2,000 years? How would you like it? Huh? Down through the annals of history, all the generations would ever know of you was how you came unraveled when trying to make a nice dinner for company. What would your Polaroid look like it if it captured you on your worst day?

When all four kids were little, I remember a day like that. I was in the kitchen making jam; up to my elbows in strawberries and sugar and Sure-Jel. I shooed the kiddos outside to play, but they kept coming in and out, slamming the screen door over and over. Someone ran in for a drink of water. SLAM. Someone needed a band-aid. SLAM. Someone tattled on someone else. SLAM. I warned them to stay outside and not to slam that door one more time. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. “Very funny,” I yelled. My voice rose, “If you come in here one more time….” Then I turned around to give the stink-eye to the smarty pants who dared to ring the bell, and behold, there was our next door neighbor, Adelaide, standing outside my screen door with a plate of cookies. The elderly woman had been enjoying watching the kids play in the yard and thought they might like a treat. Wince. Click. You’re on Candid Camera.

I’m not sure I’d appreciate being the topic of hundreds of sermons down through the ages based on that particular day. Know what I mean?

4 thoughts on “Snapshot”

I don’t think Jesus actually meant it as a rebuke to Martha, but it was the only way to give her permission to join in his conversation and leave some of the dishes until the next day. If he’d actually said, “it’s all good, it’s just choices” then I think Martha would have gotten everything cleaned up and tidy before she would have let herself join the discussion, and her viewpoint would have been missing. I think Jesus wanted Martha in the chat for everyone’s benefit, and the best way to do that was to say “the chat is where it’s at, babe”

Yeah, maybe “rebuke” isn’t the right word, even with the word “gentle” in front of it. Still, even if Jesus meant it to be more of an invitation to join them, it might have been received differently by Martha. When somebody like Martha (like me…) has a plan in her head and there isn’t cooperation, it doesn’t go over very well to say, “You’re upset. Settle down.”