Is it a particularly American thing (“there’s no such thing as a free lunch”) or a human thing but the constant temptation believers face is imagining that we need to do something to deserve God’s love. When Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me?” you can imagine Peter thinking of all the things he had done for Jesus which would have proved his love. The story of Martha and Mary reverses the polarity. Instead of fretting over what we do in order to get God’s love we should instead be receptive to the love God showers upon us. Martha worked hard to demonstate how much she loved Jesus. Jesus wanted her, and wants us, to understand we don’t need to do anything to get God’s love. God just loves us and we can bask in that. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.” Maybe the question we need to answer is not so much “do you love me?” as it is “will you let me love you?”
