Sitting with Jesus

A Reflection on Luke 10:38-42

I have spent the better part of this week with Mary and Martha’s story on my mind. No doubt, Sara’s sermon on the gospel of Luke planted a thought-provoking seed. As one embodying many of Martha’s personality traits, it’s easy to imagine Martha’s actions in the story. The cleaning, the cooking, the fixing, and constant do-gooding was all well inspired by a call to serve Jesus. What’s harder for me to envision are Mary’s actions and behaviors in this tale. We know that she is praised for setting aside responsibilities and protocol so that she can simply sit, or be, with Jesus.

I have wondered what sitting with Jesus really looks like for us in our everyday lives. Just who or what is enough to stop us in our tracks, to cause us to pause from the tasks at hand and be fully present. I wonder if Jesus wasn’t criticizing Martha’s actions so much as he was reminding all of us to honor encounters with the Lord, even the ones which take place without recognizable importance. These moments of holy wonder are our burning bushes, and if we aren’t watchful, we may miss them altogether. Jesus hardly ever appeared with fanfare, but almost always showed up in the unexpected margins-- dirty feet, stale bread, sour wine-- mundane banality turned precious. It’s easy to miss Jesus, even when He is sitting beside us.

The last moments I shared with my grandmother, a few weeks before she passed away, seemed insignificant at the time. In the middle of a whirlwind visit home, when I was attempting to share a meal with every friend I ever had while also preparing to leave for South Africa just weeks later, I made a thirty minute window to stop by her home and say hello. I was distracted by my own many tasks, the piles of fundraising letters I needed to send and the “to do” list which was pages thick. I was preaching the next morning in a local church and two attempts to write a sermon had fallen flat. The last thing I had time for that day, that week, and that summer was a drive to the other side of town without a productive purpose in mind. I did try to act present as I sat down to visit, but my grandmother was too perceptive. She saw right through me.

“You don’t have time for me, today,” she said. I tried to convince her otherwise, but with a quiet, firm raise of her hand she continued.

“It’s ok. I am happy just seeing you for a moment.”

We ended up having a good visit. When she died unexpectedly, just weeks later, it struck me how blind I was not to recognize the sacredness of a such a visit, what a blessing it was to have a living grandmother who cared to spend time with me. I almost missed those last moments with her. In my haste, I nearly neglected to take the sandals from my feet and honor this sacred ground. In these two years, I have often wondered if she realized that visit would be our last. Her grace for my harried disinterest has lingered with me, particularly on the days in ministry when the last thing I want is an interruption in my productivity. Just as I begin to maneuver away from whomever it is hoping for a longer audience, because I have a deadline breathing down my neck, I remember my grandmother’s face the last time I saw her alive. Now, I cannot fittingly show her how much she meant to me, or tell her that I value time with her more than any task I have ever accomplished. Yet, every time I pause to be present with someone else who is longing to be seen and heard, I know I honor her.

To sit with Jesus is simply to sit with another, old or young, rich or poor, empty or fulfilled, and to experience a shared and holy humanity. This may look like everyday stuff, lacking importance, grandeur, or significance, but this is just how God appears to us. For Moses, it was noticing God in a bush as he tended his flock. For Mary, it was pausing to sit and be with Jesus, in the midst of preparing for a party. As we tend to our chores, as we go about our frenetic lives, may we be tuned in enough to turn our head, pause, and witness the divine presence wherever it burns. May we take the time to stop and sit a while with Jesus, in whatever place we find Him.