To be or to disperse
The text says: Mary, sat beside the Lord at his feet. The Greek verb here is parakathìzomai, and it appears only once in all the gospels, exactly here in the Gospel of Luke, as if to indicate that the evangelist find himself before a curious, unusual reality and needs an unusual word to describe and impress it in the mind of the listener or reader. The verb is made of the prepositions parà, “beside”, and katà, “down”, linked to the verb ìzo, “I put beside, next to, I sit down close to”, or more precisely, “I rest, I dwell”, from the Accadic root izezum, “to stay, to be placed, to be put in one place”, parakathìzomai means “I let myself be placed next to, beside, I let myself be established, dwelled, camped in a fixed way next to, beside”. Mary sits beside the Lord at his feet, she is the servant of her Lord, but she is not a slave of anyone else on earth. Mary remains humble and determined at the Lord's feet as she does not bend to human conventions, habits, training; she does not sit at the feet of expectations and etiquette. Mary sits, she is comfortably "nailed" at the Lord's feet and at the same time her spirit is that of a woman who is solemnly and beautifully standing, as a free woman, regal, intelligent, grateful, autonomous, independent; she knows what is truly necessary, she knows what to choose, what her treasure is, which nobody will never be able to take away from her.
Martha (was) burdened with much serving. The Greek verb here is perispào. Again, this verb appears only here in all the gospels, and it is used in the passive form. Perispào means: “I pull, take around, tear, take away, take elsewhere, distract”, from the Accadic root sapachu, “tear away, fan out, discard”. So, with reference to Martha, it is literally written: “she takes herself away, she goes far from, she is distracted, dispersed by”. Martha is standing, she is very busy but in reality her spirit is distracted from its centre by preoccupation; hers is a bent spirit, a slave of circumstances, habits, manners, the fear of not being able to rise to the occasion, meeting other people's expectations.
Mary listens, she is settled internally, she dwells safely and permanently; Martha is making attempts, going round and round, dispersing her energy.
Mary, who is sitting and concentrating on listening to the Word coming from Jesus' heart, from the Lord of Life's inner dialogue. Martha, who is distracted, listens to the angry words coming from her own heart, from the deadly inner dialogue of her own mind. Martha, distacted and dispersive, puts herself at the center of the scene's attention using bitter, mocking, victimizing words, accusing Jesus and her sister of neglecting her, of indifference, unconcern, insensibility. Martha listens to and feeds herself with the words which come from her own mind, impertinent, peremptory words ordering Jesus what to do, as He does not seem to realize by himself: Tell her to help me. Bitter words, accusing her sister of not caring, of having left her alone to serve, revealing how Martha's heart and mind are immersed in envy, thinking ill of Jesus, in conflict with herself and others.
Mary represents the type of humanity that, in order to do good, sits, centers itself at the Lord's feet, with mind and heart communicating with Jesus' words, never thinking ill of God. Martha represents thw type of humanity that, while thinking it is doing good, disperses itself and is distracted by many duties, conventions, beliefs, expectations, thinking ill of God and of others, living immersed in tension and consumed by envy, living to draw other people's attention.
Mary wants to be rich and in order to become it, she makes room in herself for Jesus, whom she regards as her treasure, a treasure which noone will never be able take away from her. Martha wants to be rich and in order to become it, she wants to find room for herself in other people who, if they do not give it to her, become enemies to fight, in a constant state of tension and impatience which noone will ever take away from her.