April 25, 1999
The Biblical View of Mary and
Martha
We will continue with our reading from St. John Cassian's
"Conferences." As you will remember from the previous reading, St. John Cassian
and his travelling companion, the monk Germanus, were visiting Abba Moses in Scetis. The
subject of their conversation? The goal of the ascetic life. Let’s listen in as Abba
Moses continues his explanation:
BEGIN: "To cling always to God and to the things of God –
this must be our major effort, this must be the road that the heart follows unswervingly.
Any diversion, however impressive, must be regarded as secondary, low-grade, and certainly
dangerous. Martha and Mary provide a most beautiful scriptural paradigm of this outlook
and of this mode of activity. In looking after the Lord and His disciples Martha did a
very holy service. Mary, however, was intent on the spiritual teaching of Jesus and she
stayed by His feet, which she kissed and anointed with the oil of her good faith. And she
got more credit from the Lord because she had chosen the better part, one which could not
be taken away from her.
For while Martha was working hard, responsibly and fully intent on
her job, she realized that she could not do all the work herself and she demanded the help
of her sister from the Lord. ‘Does it not bother you that my sister leaves me to do
the work alone?’ she said. ‘Tell her to come and help me’ (Luke 10:40).
Certainly she summons Mary to a task that is not inconsequential but is a praiseworthy
service. Yet what does she hear from the Lord? ‘Martha, Martha, you are full of worry
and are upset over many things where actually it should be over a few or even one thing.
Mary has chosen the good part and it will not be taken away from her’ (Luke
10:41-42).
"You will note that the Lord establishes as the prime good
contemplation, that is the gaze turned in the direction of the things of God. Hence we say
that the other virtues, however useful and good we may say they are, must nevertheless be
put on a secondary level, since they are all practiced for the sake of this one. ‘You
are full of worry and are upset over many things when actually it should be over a few or
even one.’ In saying this the Lord locates the primary good not in activity, however
praiseworthy, however abundantly fruitful, but in the truly simple and unified
contemplation of Himself. He says that not much is needed for perfect blessedness. He
means here that type of contemplation which is primarily concerned with the example of a
few saints. Contemplating these, someone still on the upward road comes at last to that
which is unique, namely the sight of God Himself, which comes with God’s help. Having
passed beyond the activities and the ministry of holy men he will live solely on the
beauty and the knowledge of God. ‘Mary therefore chose the good part and it will not
be taken away from her.’ But one must look carefully at this. In saying ‘Mary
chose the good part,’ He was saying nothing about Martha and in no way was He giving
the appearance of criticizing her. Still, by praising the one He was saying that the other
one was a step below her. Again, by saying ‘it will not be taken away from her’
He was showing that Martha’s role could be taken away from her – since the
service of the body can only last as long as the human being is there – whereas the
zeal of Mary can never end."
We were deeply stirred by this. "So then," we said,
"the toil of fasting, the constant scriptural reading, the works of mercy,
justice, piety, and humanity will be taken away from us and will not remain as we remain?
And this when the Lord Himself promised the reward of heaven to the people who do these
things? ‘Come you blessed of my Father,’ He said, ‘Take possession of the
kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. I was hungry and you gave me to
eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink’ (Matthew 25:34-35). And all the rest.
These things which bring the people who do them into the kingdom of heaven, how can they
be taken away?"
Moses: "I did not say that the reward of a good deed must be
taken away, for the same Lord said, ‘Whoever will give even a glass of cold
water to one of these little ones because he is one of my disciples, Amen I tell you, he
will not lose his reward’ (Matthew 10:42). But what I do say is that an activity
which takes place as a result of the needs of the body, the onslaught of the flesh, or the
inequality of this world must come to an end. The dedication to scriptural reading or the
infliction of fasts only serve the useful purpose of purifying the heart and punishing the
flesh in this present life as long as it is the case that ‘the flesh indulgent itself
against the spirit’ (Galatians 5:17). These activities are sometimes lifted from
those who, wearied out by too much hard work, by sickness or by old age, are unable to
practice them continuously. All the more reason, therefore, for these to cease in the next
life when ‘this corruption’ will take on ‘incorruptibility’ (I
Corinthians 15:53), when this body which is now animal will rise as ‘spirit’ (I
Corinthians 15:44), when flesh will no longer indulge in conflict with the spirit. The
blessed apostle spoke clearly about all this when he said that ‘the exercising of the
body has a limited value, whereas piety’ – and no doubt he means love –
‘is useful for everything, holding as it does the promise of life both now and in the
future’ (I Timothy 4:8). What is said here about limited value is clearly right,
since this is something which cannot be done for all time nor can it by itself bring us to
the summit of perfection. The notion of limit can also indicate either the brevity of
time, for bodily exercise is not something to last throughout the present and the future
life, or else it refers to the minimal value of such exercise. The demands made on the
body are actually only the beginning of the road to progress. They do not induce that
perfect love which has within it the promise of life now and in the future. And so we
consider the practice of such works to be necessary only because without them it is not
possible to reach the high peaks of love.
"As for those works of piety and charity of which you speak,
these are necessary in this present life for as long as inequality prevails. Their
workings here would not be required where it not for the superabundant numbers of the
poor, the needy, and the sick. These are there because of the iniquity of men who have
held for their own private use what the common Creator has made available to all. As long
as this inequity rages in the world, these good works will be necessary and valuable to
anyone practicing them and they shall yield the reward of an everlasting inheritance to
the man of good heart and concerned will.
"But all of this will cease in the time to come when equality
shall reign, when there shall no longer be the injustice on account of which these good
works must be undertaken, when from the multiplicity of what is done here and now everyone
shall pass over to the love of God and to the contemplation of things divine. Men seized
of the urge to have a knowledge of God and to be pure in mind devote all their gathered
energies to this one task. While they still live in the corruption of the flesh they give
themselves to that service in which they will persevere when that corruption has been laid
aside. And already they come in sight of what the Lord and Savior held out when He said,
"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:8). END
from St. John Cassian’s "Conferences," (New
York: Paulist Press, 1985), pp. 42 - 45.
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