Bucket lists are the rage nowadays, as people eagerly select adventures they’re yearning to savor before death.
Sky-diving, mountain climbing, taking an African safari and going on an Alaskan cruise are typical goals.
What’s rarely mentioned is that the fellow who crosses sky-diving off the list will soon contemplate more unusual and costly outings.
A scene in the Bible suggests a different kind of bucket list, which doesn’t involve hiking, running, traveling — or falling from a plane.
When Jesus visits the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha, one is scurrying around preparing a feast for their guest.
Martha — who reminds me of Martha Stewart — is busy slicing and dicing and cooking in the kitchen, and soon becomes overwhelmed with her tasks.
Meanwhile, Mary is sitting calmly with their guest, drinking in his every word. We don’t know the topic, but Jesus attracted huge crowds when he spoke, so it’s little wonder she was enthralled.
Soon, poor Martha gets so fed up with her sister’s apparent slacking off, she bitterly complains about her plight to Jesus.
Much to her surprise, he replies, “Martha, you are worried and anxious about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Frankly, when I first read this story, I was baffled by this answer.
“But what if Martha hadn’t been working so hard in the kitchen?” I thought. “They’d have gone hungry!”
And because I have a sister — and we had our share of childhood skirmishes about sharing chores — I also thought, “Besides, it wasn’t fair that Mary wasn’t helping Martha.”
It’s possible to see this story through a different lens, though, when we recall Jesus chiding his disciples for fretting: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink.”
Instead, he suggested seeking the Kingdom of God first — and everything else would fall into place.
This is an ongoing struggle for yours truly, who learned the art of worrying at her mother’s knee. My mom was a definite Martha type, who worked all week as a teacher and spent weekends anxiously cleaning every cranny of the house.
The world, as it was then — and still is today — values frantic, non-stop activity, just like my mother was pursuing.
We’re expected to busy ourselves in the kitchen with meal preparation, while simultaneously checking text messages, watching the baby and listening to the evening news.
Little wonder, the average bucket list is crowded with far-flung adventures, which involve danger and expense, because being content at home seems absurd in our multi-tasking lives.
What if Martha had abandoned her stressful work, stopped worrying about food and joined her sister, sitting quietly with their guest?
It’s wrong to conclude they’d go hungry, since Jesus might have surprised them by providing the repast.
After all, he had changed water into wine at the wedding feast, fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes — and assured his disciples nothing was impossible with God.
In the Bible, the “better part” is listening to God in prayer, while ceasing our anxious, seemingly endless quest for the perfect meal, the flawless house — and the most exciting experiences.
True, our to-do list before we die might lack sky-diving, cruises, swimming with dolphins and scaling mountains, and instead resemble Mary’s list, which I imagine containing one crucial item: “Grow closer to God in prayer and silence.”
And, really, that would be the most amazing bucket list in the world.
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