Brian’s Reflection: The Weekend, Sat July 17, 2010

"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted
by many things; there is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part, which will not
be taken away from her."

Luke 10 [from the Gospel reading for July 18 RCL]


Remember. Until the 3rd C., almost no one took these stories “literally”. NO illustrations about spiritual life were “literal” or “historical”. They were mythological stories, in this case the Judeo/Christian continuation of the Egyptian/Greek profound stories of the human Journey to Fullness.

“Mary” and “Martha” – who were characters in the Egyptian story of Osiris/Horus – are dimensions of our Selves. They are the “active” and the “contemplative” parts of our nature. No one denies that we have to “get on” with living our lives. It is critical that we understand that, once we have learned the underlying principles, we MUST ACT. This is Life.

“Mary” represents our need to immerse ourselves into the sublime truths and realities of Life. “Martha” is the part of our nature that must then incarnate those principles of human Life into daily manifestations of expression.

The lesson is: Integrate. We must become whole and functional.

In the story, the part of our human nature that is “Martha” has lost touch with that part of human nature which grounds our actions – and our “Martha” has become disordered. Jesus reminds us with this story to be grounded first in the Vision, then to act out of an inspired Vision to tease our Self and the World into Transformation.

Brian+