July 17, 2022 Sermon

Sermon title:  "Mary and Martha"

Scripture:  Luke 10:38-42

(Other lectionary suggestions include Amos 8:1-12, Psalm 52, and Colossians 1:15-28.)

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

38Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But 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." 41But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

          If you were here last week, you heard a sermon on the Good Samaritan. The Scripture from which that story comes is immediately before what we heard today, the story of busy Martha and calm Mary. The author of Luke may have put them down side by side on purpose, or that may have been the exact chronological order in which those things happened. I kind of think Luke put the stories together for a purpose, and I'll get to that later.

          You may recall that in the ancient Middle East, being hospitable was VERY important. Modern day Jewish families still consider showing hospitality as very important. We non-Jews want to be nice....if it's convenient! But if we're out of everything just in case somebody stops by, it's no big deal. It IS a big deal in the Jewish community, and showing hospitality was a big thing for Martha, too. The trouble was, I think, that Martha was so busy following the RULES of hospitality that she failed to see what Jesus really wanted. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time, and maybe what he wanted was just a little peace and quiet and maybe a bagel to nosh on! I'm being facetious, of course! But Martha perhaps thought it was her obligation to offer Jesus a seven-course meal, and maybe all he wanted was a sandwich!

          Maybe something else the author of Luke is getting at is sometimes we get so busy with other things that we fail to see what's important to Jesus. Amy Elizabeth Hessel, a Lutheran minister in Minnesota, puts it this way:  "Life is full of things that need to be done. Obligations in the world abound. None of us can escape them. Even in the church, where the business of considering our relationship with Jesus is supposed to be our top priority, we can get distracted just like Martha did. We can get so caught up in all the many things that we are doing 'for' Jesus that we neglect our relationship 'with' him."

          Rev. Hessel goes on to say that "Jesus doesn't chastise Martha for DOING her many tasks. What he chastises her for is allowing those tasks to distract her to the point where she neglects the most important thing:  her relationship with him. When we neglect our relationship with Jesus we risk becoming like Martha - cantankerous complainers about all the work that needs to be done and about all the people who aren't helping us do it."

          At the beginning of my remarks today, I mentioned that the author of Luke may have put these two accounts - the story of Mary and Martha and the story of the Good Samaritan - together for a reason. Both accounts have to do with RELATIONSHIPS. In the tale of the Good Samaritan, the lawyer questioning Jesus wants to know how he can "inherit" eternal life, or what can he do to "earn" it. The point of the story has to do with compassion:  the Samaritan is compassionate because he is in relationship with his fellow human beings. He acted "Neighborly". The lawyer grilling Jesus had no idea of relationships, either with God or his fellow man. He wanted to know the RULES when what he needed to know was about RELATIONSHIPS. The same with Martha:  she was caught up in the RULES of hospitality which interfered with her RELATIONSHIP with Jesus. Did Luke put those two stories together on purpose, or was it just an accident? YOU decide!

          There is another aspect of this Mary and Martha story that may be even more important than what I just said. JESUS is TREATING MARY as ONE of THE GUYS! And what I mean by that is that Jesus thought that Mary, a WOMAN, deserved to be respected every bit as much as a MAN! Mary's needs and interests need to be recognized every bit as much as a MAN's needs and interests need to be recognized! We as 21st century people may miss that aspect in this short, simple story in the Gospel of Luke. As I have said before, Jesus did some RADICAL things, and THIS is one of them. He does it quietly, but for his day and age, it was a RADICAL thing to do! Women equal to men? PUH-LEASE! But that was what Jesus was doing. He did NOT say, "Hey, that's right! C'mon, Mary:  help your sister with the womanly duties that we men can't be bothered with. Go help out." He does NOT say that! I have not quoted N. T. Wright for a while - he is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. Here is what he has to say in his commentary, "Luke for Everyone." Says Bishop Wright, "Not only was he {{Jesus}} redrawing the boundaries of God's people, sending out a clear message about how the gospel would reach to those outside the traditional borders. {{He had just illustrated that idea in the parable of the Good Samaritan.}} He was redrawing the boundaries between men and women WITHIN Israel, blurring lines which had clearly been laid down. The real problem between Martha and Mary wasn't the workload that Martha had in the kitchen. That, no doubt, was real enough, but it wasn't the main thing that was upsetting Martha.....No:  the real problem was that MARY WAS BEHAVING AS IF SHE WERE A MAN. In that culture, as in many parts of the world to this day, houses were divided into male 'space' and female 'space', and male and female roles were strictly demarcated as well. Mary had crossed an invisible but very important boundary within the house, and another equally important boundary within the social world."

          Let me get away from the Scripture lesson for today for a moment to say that I believe whatever works in a relationship, works! And I am not trying to upset anything in your household as long as it works! Ladies, if you prefer that your men stay out of the kitchen, and they are okay with that, fine. Men, if you don't want the women in your household to mess with your tools in the garage, and they are okay with that, fine. Again, whatever works, works! But what if a woman wants to go into what has traditionally been thought of as a "man's" job? Should she be kept out of it because she's female? Of course not. And what if a man wants to go into what has traditionally been thought of as a "woman's" job? Should he be kept out of it? Of course not. I think major league baseball and the NFL deserve a tip of the cap, because both organizations have let women in. But who started this "Women are as good as men" stuff? I think you could say it was Jesus, and the story of Mary and Martha is one instance in which that idea is proclaimed.

          I have another thought........Christian theology and doctrine say that Jesus came to earth to die for our sins. And I am not necessarily disagreeing with that idea. But one reason he may have been killed is that he upset the status quo, and usually when you do that, there is a price to pay. I think Abraham Lincoln was killed because he freed the slaves. He UPSET the status quo. And those who fought for Civil Rights (some of them, anyway) paid the ultimate price because they dared to say that black people were equal to white people. One reason Jesus paid the ultimate price may be because he dared to say that women were equal to men. And he demonstrated that in today's Mary and Martha story. If you think about it, there were LOTS of reasons to get rid of Jesus!

          I quoted N. T. Wright earlier. Now let me quote the Scottish scholar William Barclay. He sees two temperaments in Martha and Mary, and we really do need BOTH. He says, "Some people are naturally dynamos of activity, others are naturally quiet. It is hard for the active person to understand the person who sits and contemplates. {{I just thought of Ferdinand the bull. He didn't want to fight. He just wanted to sit and smell the flowers!}} And the person who is devoted to quiet times and meditation is apt to look down on the person who would rather be active." And, he says, "There is no right or wrong in this. God did not make everyone alike." Barclay also says that God needs both his Marthas and his Marys.

          But the really good point he makes is that Martha is showing Jesus the WRONG kind of kindness. She wants to do it HER way, being insensitive to what Jesus wants and needs at that moment. Mary understands but Martha does not. Says Barclay, "Here is one of the great difficulties in life. So often we want to be kind to people - but we want to be kind to them in OUR way; and should it happen that our way is not the necessary way, we sometimes take offence and think that we are not appreciated. If we are trying to be kind the first necessity is to try to see into the heart of the person we desire to help - and then to forget all our own plans and to think only of what he or she needs. Jesus loved Martha and Martha loved him, but when Martha set out to be kind, it had to be her way of being kind which was really being unkind to him whose heart cried out for quiet. Jesus loved Mary and Mary loved him, and Mary understood."

          Let me close with this rather light-hearted poem which Barclay quotes. It's by Fay Inchfawn, and it goes like this:

          Lord of all pots and pans and things,

          Since I've no time to be

          A saint by doing lovely things,

          Or watching late with thee,

          Or dreaming in the dawnlight,

          Or storming heaven's gates,

          Make me a saint by getting meals

          And washing up the plates.

That could probably be Martha's prayer!

Pastor Skip