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"Martha and Mary: A Lesson in Eternal
Life "
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-14
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
In the name of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Once there were three sisters, ages 92, 94 and 96 who lived
in a house together. One night, the 96 year old prepared a bath
for herself. She put her foot in, paused and yelled to the other
sisters, “Was I getting in or out of the bath?”
The 94-year old yelled back, “I don’t know. I’ll
come up and see.” She started up the stairs and paused.
“Was I going up the stairs or down?” The 92 year
old sitting at the kitchen table having tea was listening to
her sisters. Shaking her head, she said, “I sure hope
I never get that forgetful,” as she knocked on the wooden
table for good luck. She then yelled, “I’ll come
up and help both of you…as soon as I see who’s at
the door.”
We know so little about the two women in today’s reading
from Luke’s Gospel. What we do know is that their names
are Martha and Mary. We know they are sisters. How old are they?
92 and 94? Hard to say. We know the house belongs to Martha
but we don’t know why her sister Mary is there with her.
Is she a widow? Has she never married? And how has Martha come
to own this house? There appears to be no husband in evidence.
What does this house look like? I think it is often imagined
as several rooms, with Martha in the kitchen and Mary in the
living room, separated by a dining room and hallways –
like a southern antebellum mansion. In all likelihood, the house
was probably one big room. Remember it was a peasant village.
Why did Jesus choose this particular house. Again, we don’t
know. We don’t even know the name of the village. Jesus
was traveling with his disciples, which according to Luke (Chapter
8) included the twelve men as well as a number of women, including
Mary (called Magdalene), Joanna, Susanna and many others. How
many others? We don’t know. But it was quite a large group,
and unusual in that it included both women and men. So perhaps
the house Jesus chose seemed large enough to accommodate his
entourage. However, the lack of detailed information is actually
a good thing, because it allows each of us the freedom to paint
a picture of the scene, where we might be standing off to the
side as a silent, unnoticed observer.
I would guess that many of you have heard the story of Mary
and Martha before, if not many times. Unfortunately, the interpretation
of the story is usually presented as a face-off between Martha
and Mary, where Mary is the winner. It’s there in the
text. Jesus says about Mary, “she has chosen the better
part.” Which kind of person are you? A Martha type or
a Mary type: a type “A” or type “B”
person? The Gospel could suggest that it is better to be a Mary
who is not distracted by the chores that need to be done and
has the sense and right faith instinct to pay attention to what
Jesus has to say. Many preachers have tried to bridge the gap
and say that it is good to be balanced – a little bit
Martha and a little bit Mary. This is profound. What we all
need is some more advice about being more balanced, and not
being too busy in our hectic, fast-paced lives. I know that
I am a Martha type, having created a fresh and lengthy to-do
list after two and a half weeks of vacation in the northern
woods of Minnesota.
I think we need to look past the debates about Martha vs.
Mary. Luke chooses to include a report about a visit to this
particular house, these women in his gospel because they are
part of a larger theme and message for his readers. Seeing this
larger theme begins with a question that a lawyer asks Jesus.
“Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” As is customary, Jesus responds with his
own question: “What is written in the law?” The
lawyer answers: “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
– quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Many
of us can probably recite these commands. But Luke wants to
explore the meaning of them, and does so by offering two key
passages: the parable of the Good Samaritan and the visit to
Martha and Mary. It is important to know that both of these
stories are unique to Luke – a Gospel that challenges
its readers and hearers at every turn. The parable of the Good
Samaritan reminds us of what it means to “love your neighbor
as yourself.” You may recall that the Samaritan is an
outcast in the eyes of the Jewish people – yet he is the
one who bandages the wounds of man who is lying on the side
of the road, a man who has been robbed and beaten almost to
death. A priest and a Levite pass by and do not offer to help.
The Samaritan puts the man on his animal and takes him to an
inn where he gives money to the innkeeper to make sure he is
cared for. To love your neighbor as yourself means crossing
boundaries that keep people separated from each other. What
are these today? Race, economics, geography, sexual orientation
and yes, even religion. The more things change, the more they
stay the same.
The next passage, which is today’s Gospel selection,
tells of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary and helps us to think
about the second key to eternal life: to “love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your strength, and with all your mind.” Mary shows
us that this is to simply listen to Jesus. We remember the words
that come from the cloud, the voice of God, when Peter, John
and James see Jesus standing with Elijah and Moses on the mountain
and want to build dwellings for each of them: “This is
my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” I’m trying not
to imagine a starry eyed Mary, looking up lovingly at Jesus.
She is listening to serious, difficult teaching. What exactly
is the content of what Jesus is saying to Mary and the others
gathered in this house? Well, we don’t know. But a good
guess might be a continuation of the sermon on the plain: “Blessed
are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God….Blessed
are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile
you, and defame you.” This is the kind of teaching that
would have someone like Mary rapt, listening with hope, fear,
excitement and joy. No wonder she can’t lift a finger
to help her sister. It is not laziness or fluffy feelings for
Jesus- but words that are life-changing. What else might Jesus
be saying? The reading from Colossians offers a clue: Paul writes,
“God chose to make known how great are the riches of the
glory of the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages,
which is Christ in you.” Yes, Christ in you. Is this the
teaching? Perhaps, but we don’t know.
What we do know is that Luke challenges his readers to take
a hard look at the Biblical commands, to look at them in new
ways. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and
mind and to love your neighbor as yourself are simple enough
on the surface, but with the story of Jesus’ visit to
Martha and Mary, Luke challenges us to see how Jesus is upsetting
the traditional order of things. As Barbara Brown Taylor writes,
“Jesus is terrible at meeting people’s expectations
of him.” These are expectations of what a man of God should
be. Expectations of respect for age-old religious traditions.
Expectations of who is right with God. In particular, Luke upsets
the traditional expectations for women. Mary is allowed to sit
at the feet of Jesus as he teaches. This would have been unheard
of. There were other women there – Susanna, Mary Magdalene,
and Joanna, whose presence was an invitation for Mary to join
them. Martha then, if anything, is a foil, to ask the question
and test the role of women. Mary should be helping with traditional
work, shouldn’t she? The question Martha asks gives Jesus
and Luke the opportunity to clarify that indeed, it is right
for a woman to be a disciple, and that Jesus’ ministry
is for all people. This is not an isolated incident. In chapter
13, Luke tells another story unique to his Gospel. Jesus heals
a woman crippled for eighteen years. She was bent over and unable
to stand up. He says to her, “Woman, you are set free
from your ailment.” It is a woman who Jesus heals –
who is set free, and it is the day of the Sabbath. This is a
double dose of irregularity and shock for the traditionalists.
It is sad that only after two thousand years, the church is
recognizing the equal standing of women as leaders and teachers.
Having put forth a woman as our presiding bishop, the Episcopal
Church in particular is leading the way.
A message through all of this is that the more we have Jesus
figured out, the less we know him. Luke is telling us to expect
the unexpected as Jesus knocks on our door, always surprising
and challenging us to keep the commandment – to love the
Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to love
your neighbor as yourself.
As it turns out, it is Jesus, not Martha, who has been busy
making the meal for us, which we will eat together soon. It
is his offer of hospitality. It is God’s offer of eternal
life. It is Jesus himself. How will this Eucharist challenge
you, surprise you, comfort you and renew you today and in the
life ahead of you?
Amen.
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