This may be a 'red herring' but...Jesus was obviously was not a woman! Otherwise he would have been more understanding of Martha's duties, responsibilities and conflicts. How else could he tell Martha to not worry about the kitchen (or the children or feeding the chickens or emptying the slop bucket or...).I wonder what would have happened if no one had made the meal or attended to all the domestic chores, that day - or ever again. I imagine Martha would have been thought a very neglectful woman indeed....Not sure I will continue this book as (so far) it does not have a woman's perspective on pursuing spritual growth. Of course, the author is a man so can only speak from his perspective. I think some acknowledgement of the different spiritual circumstances of men and women is needed 'up front'.
I think the whole point of Jesus telling Martha not to worry about the kitchen duties was to show that she was allowing these temporal earthly duties to get in the way of what was really imortant, Jesus. It shows us that even today we allow other things to get in the way with spending time with Jesus.
Yes, I can also see that Jesus was saying to Martha to not worry about doing the dishes because it is unimportant compared to sitting down with the Son of God. And I totally agree.
And he probably meant 'just skip the dishes for today', not forever! :o)
But, I say, did he really understand Martha's dilemma? Personally, if I was Martha I could have easily felt hurt and misunderstood by Jesus' comment. He was saying that my concerns & contribution are unimportant ...aargghh, and here I am working my guts out to keep Thee and all these disciples fed and comfortable!
Yes, I / we / women can feel too pressured around the many daily chores in life, somuch so that it is hard to judge when it is time to put them aside. And of course, sometimes, we should. maybe that's the trick!
I don't think I will pursue reading this book. I don't like how certain people in history were called saints because of what they did in living their life. In the bible we who belive that Jesus died for us are called saints. We are saints not because of what we did but because of what Jesus did.
