Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." 

But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;

one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."

 

Luke 10:38 – 42

 

There are two kinds of churches – the Martha Church and the Mary Church.

 

The Martha Church has a lot of activities. The worship is very noisy (“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”) and fast-paced. They have a lot of things going on: door-to evangelism, neighborhood Bible-Studies, children programs, etc. The commitment and spirituality of a Christian is judged by how involved he or she is in church activities.

 

The Mary Church is like Martha’s sister, Mary of Bethany (this is not to be confused with the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene). Mary just wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus. Martha did not understand this – there was work to be done. But Jesus said that Mary chose the good portion.

 

In my exposure to Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, this Bible passage helped me to understand the crucial difference between Protestant churches and the Catholic Church. Protestant churches tend to be the Martha churches – very big on organization and activity. The Catholic Church tends to be the Mary church. This does not mean that there is no activity in the Catholic Church, but that is not their emphasis.

 

I used to think that the Catholic Mass was dull. There were no shouts of joy. The priest did not pound on the pulpit and yell at us. No, instead it was so quiet at times that you could hear a pin drop. I still had the Martha mentality. I wanted noise. I wanted excitement. But Catholic Church was reflecting what God said in Psalm 4:10 – “Be still and know that I am God”. The most important activity the Catholic can do besides Mass is Eucharistic Adoration. That is sitting still in front of the Eucharist and just adoring Christ – just as Mary of Bethany sat at His feet and adored Him.

 

I have gone to Catholic retreats and Protestant retreats. At Protestant retreats, the time is filled up with activities, and getting to know others. But Catholic retreats are different. You are expected to stay silent through the whole retreat. It is a time of reflection and devotion to Christ.

This is why there is such a big rift between Protestants and Catholics about salvation. When a Protestant automatically hears from a Catholic that we are saved by faith and works, the Protestant automatically interprets that to mean that we are saved by doing busy activities. The Protestant thinks that the Catholic gospel is performing a checklist of rules. But this is not what we Catholics means when we say we are saved by our works as well as our faith. We agree with the Protestants that external observances of the law could never save us. The Catholics Church teaches that we are saved by faith apart from works of the law.But we are not saved by faith apart from works of love. Rather, we must have love working through faith. True, if we love God we will keep His commandments. But we can keep His commandments and still not have a love for God. And if this is the case, we are living by the letter of the law and not the spirit. The letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life.


This is why Protestants have such a big problem with the Blessed Virgin Mary. They do not understand why she is exalted to Queen of heaven. After all, she did nothing that spectacular. She did not part the Red Sea as Moses did. She was not a great preacher like John the Baptist or Peter. She was not a great theologian like Paul. Even the Virgin Mary marveled that God regarded the low estate of His handmaid.

 

But just like Mary of Bethany, the Blessed Virgin was completely devoted to God. She pondered everything about her Son in her heart. Her attitude always was that she was the maid servant of the Lord, and let everything be done to her according to His word. She had a perfect devotion to her Son. She is not exalted because she did spectacular things. She was exalted because she was devoted to God.

 

When I was no longer a Protestant minister, I was very depressed that I would never do great things for God. I will never be a preacher again. But as a Catholic, I realized that God is not impressed by my doing spectacular things for Him. He is more pleased by my having a quiet, obedient, loving devotion to Him.