Dan asked me if I’d seen the obituary. I had not because it was squeezed into a corner on the editorial page and I’d missed it. The death notice was only a few sentences long and gave little more than the essentials: the deceased’s name, his age and date of death last Sunday. A get together to remember him would be planned at a future time. A short enigmatic quote at the end indicated that he had loved “to ride” and was probably more than a little wild.

Dan had known Curt in his legal practice. I knew him from the food bank. He’d been coming for years when we were still located in the storage units. His were the all too recognizable symptoms of poverty: poor health and poorer options. He had difficulty breathing and walking the short steps into the building. I could see how the years had torn up his body. One hot afternoon as he was waiting to be served, he trembled and shook so badly from a diabetic attack that I considered calling the EMT’s, but he insisted he was quite all right. After a cooling drink of water, some granola bars and resting on a chair, he seemed better. He told me many times about his health problems and how the doctors didn’t seem to know what was wrong with him. In many respects, he merely accepted his lot in life.

Although I only interacted with him very briefly as he came through the food bank, over the years there was something else. I grew to love a stranger. I don’t know why I loved like that for we had little in common personally. But I understood Curt’s malaise which the doctors were unable to diagnose. There was a huge God hole inside of him which the doctors could neither fill up nor heal. Once I had the same emptiness inside my soul before the Lord took a hold of my life. Recognizing that gaping wound in another person does something in the heart. It ignites the merciful love which Jesus has for each one of us, lost without Him, eternally secure in Him.

During the last few weeks and prior to his death, Curt came to my mind at odd times. I wondered how he was doing. I felt an urgency to pull him out of the line at the food bank so we could have a few moments face to face. I wanted to offer him what he needed most: a word of hope in a personal Savior. But then, it is always busy during food bank hours. I seem to scurry from one problem to another, make decisions, answer phone calls, get involved in other conversations. The right moment to talk with him was never the right moment. And then one day I noticed he hadn’t been around for a while. I’d been too busy.

Jesus tells efficient and capable Martha that all her busyness keeps her from the “one thing necessary.” Her sister Mary sitting at His feet, paying attention to Him, hanging on every word out of His mouth, “has chosen the good part.” Mary has chosen love instead of duty. She’s chosen to be still and know Jesus instead of knowing everything that’s going on around Him.

But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42

The Lord’s admonishment to Martha still convicts us “Martha types “ through the Holy Spirit who directs us to “the one thing necessary” – to love as Jesus loves. In our well meaning, eager response to serve others well, we choose and do many good things, but like Martha sometimes we miss the whole point. It is not what we do for one another, but how we are for one another that leads us to love, especially to love the poor and the stranger. We serve God best by laying down our time and our efforts, allowing the Holy Spirit to filter what is distraction and what is truly “the good part. “

I never had that conversation with Curt. I missed a “Mary” opportunity with him but I won’t indulge in regret and self pity. Although Jesus gently chided Martha He loved her as much as her sister and never condemned her. God is always the God of second chances when we allow Him free access to our will. There are other faces whom God slips into our minds and there are countless other suffering hearts which need His healing Word of hope. Not very far off there awaits the next person toward whom God draws us.