Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
I remember the first time I preached on this text. I was still in seminary and had been invited to be pulpit supply at a church far north of here. And I fleshed out the text. And I thought, it's not uncommon to pit Martha against Mary and portray Mary as the “gentle and the faithful one”, while demonizing Martha as the controlling perfectionist. I unraveled all of the unpleasantness and the humanistic and negative traits of Martha. And while I was doing this, there was a couple in the congregation by the name of Dorothy and Michel (they’ve both now gone onto their great reward), and as I'm unpacking Martha, he's elbowing his wife. After worship, when I got to coffee, I told Michel that I had seen him elbowing his wife. Dorothy's comment to me was, “Well, someone's got to get dinner on!”
Dorothy’s not the only one who absolutely defends Martha, because of idiot preachers like me, who pit them against each other. I thought I was being faithful, but in reality, what I did in my ignorance and my inexperience, was to set up a division. I furthered the divide between those who value and enjoy study and prayer, against those who find that their prayer life is carried out in action. The fact is, to make ourselves truly and fully vulnerable and sit at Jesus’ feet and just listen, will send many scurrying to the kitchen to see what else needs to be done! And for many, staying busy serving the Lord is a very important way of living out faith.
But Luke's Jesus is actually not showing us Martha and Mary as a comparison of choosing the contemplative life over a life of service. Anytime we make binary choices and either/or or demonize the other, the whole community suffers, (which is sadly evident in the political climate we've been living in for the last number of years). Martha's role is actually crucial to this story. Her role and her efforts are expected for the eldest in the household in first century Palestine. They are charged to care for anyone who comes to their home--a friend or even a stranger, let alone a prophet who preaches love and forgiveness. Martha is also the oldest woman and, like many cultures even today, the eldest woman manages the kitchen and all the hospitality. And then all the other sisters and daughters pitch in.
So Martha's role is valued and critical. Notice Jesus doesn't criticize her for her role as host. It's her attitude; for being overly focused on someone else's choices, and carrying an attitude of complaining. That's what's being called into question. And if we drill down even deeper, “…the welcome that Jesus seeks is not for domestic performance”, as scholar Joel Green points out. I call it anxious perfectionism which is often the way I am feeling when I host a dinner. Everything's got to be “just so” to the point where I sometimes I don’t give my guests my full attention. The welcome that Jesus seeks is a patient and gentle attending of the guest; the guest whose very presence is a foreshadowing of the divine plan.
So in short, these verses, even though it's a very small story, tucked in at the end of Chapter 10, have a really big challenge. It's a call to be more authentic as disciples. The invitation is to be more mature which includes service, and listening, and prayer, and learning. What it excludes is the worrying, the measuring, the comparisons, the complaining and the critical eye at others or of self. These are not the roles that Martha really wants to be or that we want to be, because they're authentic obstacles to faith.
We just heard this beautiful anthem a few moments ago, “[I Want Jesus To] Walk With Me.” It's a beautiful African-American spiritual and we can assume that Mary was the kind of person who would sing this. Maybe she might even hum it before she would go to see Jesus, or after she left seeing Jesus, after spending time with Jesus; because she wanted Jesus “to walk with her” as she sat at his feet and listened. But now I wonder… if Martha, and maybe we, might learn to sing or pray this, too.
While the lyrics of this song are mainly focused on trials, the desire is still for Jesus to meet us. [choir begins to hum the anthem] If we began to pray and sing this (along with Martha) as we do our chores, as we create hospitality for the stranger, how would others feel differently about being with us? How differently we might treat our own siblings, our own spouses, our children, our neighbors? I think it would stop the fight over masks… and vaccines… and voting. We would come together as a community of faith and show others that whether we're more comfortable in the kitchen or listening to Jesus talk, we all need Jesus to walk with us on our journeys, in our trials, when our hearts are breaking, and especially when we're in trouble or our heads are bowed in sorrow. That's especially when need Jesus to walk with us.
Friends, we are all Martha and Mary and we all need Jesus to walk with us, not matter what, in all ways, always.
Amen.