Made for More by Hannah Anderson

Author:Hannah Anderson [Anderson, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-8764-3
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2014-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

One of my favorite literary heroines is Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables. Anne is that spunky kind of girl who can never quite find her place in the world and is often too smart for her own good. In the opening scenes of Kevin Sullivan’s 1985 film adaptation, we meet Anne walking through the woods with her nose in a volume of Tennyson. Lost in another world, she returns late to the Hammond homestead where she is working as a servant.

An already irritated Mrs. Hammond becomes livid when she discovers Anne’s book and exclaims, “Well! If you paid more attention to your chores than poring over them fool books of yours …” She throws the offending book into the woodstove declaring, “If I catch you reading any more of those books of yours while you’re supposed to be lookin’ after my young’ns, they’ll feed the fire too, missy!”

This scene sets up one of the key plot functions of the story and encapsulates what has been a tension for many women throughout history; when it comes to learning and education, a woman’s place is in the kitchen, not the academy.15

Interestingly, Luke 10 records a similar encounter between two women during Jesus’ earthly ministry. But instead of minimizing the importance of learning, this account strikes at the heart of the “don’t bother your pretty little head” mentality that can sometimes be directed toward us. A mentality that we sometimes adopt for ourselves.

The story opens as Jesus is teaching in the home of the sisters Mary and Martha. As was typical, His disciples were surrounding Him, hanging on His every word; but on this particular day, Mary was among those sitting at His feet. In first-century Judaism, this would have been unusual for a woman because sitting at Jesus’ feet indicated that she was learning from Him the same way that a student learns from a teacher.

In the background, Martha buzzed about, trying to fulfill her role as hostess, trying to feed all the extra hungry stomachs, trying to do what she knew to do. At some point she became frustrated and came to Jesus. “Don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” she said. “Tell her then to help me.” In Martha’s mind, Mary should have been serving not learning. That’s what women do after all, right? We’re the nurturers, we’re the hostesses, we’re the caregivers. Mary needed to be in the kitchen, not at Jesus’ feet.

But Jesus said something surprising. “Martha, Martha,” He said, “you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.”

The good portion.

And with these words, Jesus turned the idea of “women’s work” upside down. For Him, the greatest work Mary could do that day was to sit at His feet and learn from Him. The greatest work she could do was to become like her teacher—the Logos Himself.16 The greatest work she could do was to become an image bearer who reflected His knowledge.

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