<p>10:40 <i>But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said: Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me</i>- We can so easily be like Martha, &quot;distracted&quot; even by the secular dimension to our supposed service of the Lord. The parable of the sower can be interpreted as fulfilling every time we hear the word sown in us. Thus some seed is &quot;choked with cares&quot; (Lk. 8:14)- exactly the same words used about Martha being &quot;distracted&quot; with her domestic duties so that she didn't hear the Lord's word at that time. We bring various attitudes of mind- stony, receptive, cumbered etc.- to the word each time we hear it. And it is our attitude to it which determines our response to it.</p><p>&quot;Do you not care?&quot; is the language of the distracted disciples in the boat at Mk. 4:38. His whole life and death were because He <i>did</i> so care that they would not perish (Jn. 3:16). It&rsquo;s so reminiscent of a child&rsquo;s total, if temporary, misunderstanding and lack of appreciation of the parent&rsquo;s love and self-sacrifice. We note in Mk. 12:14 that the Lord was again accused there of 'not caring'. The most ultimately caring person was at times perceived as not caring; and when our care is ignored or misread, we can take comfort from this.</p>