“Mary & Martha” by He Qi, 2002
Are we do-ers like Martha - busy, busy, busy? Or are we contemplatives like Mary - just sitting with and listening to Jesus? Do we have to choose to be like one or the other? When we divide people and groups and place them in one of two groups, and then pit those two groups against each other, we oversimpilify complex human relationships to each other and to God. When we "us and them", we lose the "we" - we see what divides us instead of what unites us. No one needs to be defined as always a "do-er" or always a "contemplative". We don't need to simplify this Gospel story into "all women are either Marthas or Marys, and Marys are better than Marthas".