Christmas day,

Christmas day,
The biggest lesson I learnt today has been a deeper understanding into the story of Martha and Mary at Jesus' feet. I am now at my father's house with my younger brother. My dad's place is a house that is often dirty and this time my dad complained he found the kitchen really messy and a maggot infested dustbin, in spite of giving the key and the perks that come with having a house to oneself, to my 21 year old brother. My dad did his best cleaning, but unfortunately some things never change. "There is meat in the pot, just go ahead and warm it up" . And I proceeded to the kitchen, warmed the meat in the pot only to find a fly swimming in the stew. Closer inspection revealed the tell tale white clump of fly eggs just under the lid. So instead of preparing a meal I had to get ready to dispose of this meat, or at least save it for the dog. There was also a huge piece of pork in the microwave and dirty dishes in the sink (with the same tell tale eggs, flies in summer love kitchens in the Namibia summer). I ended up cleaning up. All the while my brother is watching Bob Marley videos and looking through my dad's old photos from our family life and his work trips in the 90s and his time in Bulgaria in the 70-80s. Ours is not a fairy tale, marriages happen and end, homes are build and they fall apart. Now my brother and I spend time with our parents at different occasions and thereby build two new home setups, though we live with our mom. So here my brother was being Mary Magdalen at Jesus' feet, while I was Marta, busy cleaning the kitchen.
I wanted to just drop everything and join in what they were doing but then I realizes the kitchen does need cleaning. The pictures and Bob Marley DVDs will not evaporate. I now realize when Jesus tells Marta that she should leave Mary alone because she chose the good part, he did not mean what Marta was doing was wrong. On the contrary it is good, the only thing is that Mary chose to spend quality time instead of fuss over the worldly things and that Mary's choice is just valid as Marta's and perhaps is more appropriate given Jesus' impending crucifixion.
My brother actually read this post and he asked "why am I Mary of Magdalene and why is Pancho Marta?"
He clearly does not know the story of Mary and Marta, one which my dad referred to as a long story and not one he would go into now, he preferred to share funny west african movie clips with my brother.
So go ahead and read the story of Mary and Martha of this is foreign to you.



Pancho