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The Rev. Laura Matarazzo
July 22, 2007 --- The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
I have a dear friend
for whom the story of Martha and Mary raises hackles. I don’t think she
is alone in having a decided reaction to this story, for it does convey
a seeming lack of regard for Martha’s service; at the very least, a
mixed message about how we are to respond appropriately to Jesus in our
midst. Indeed, one of the notes in my study Bible reads, “Interpreters
find in the story of Martha and Mary conflicting messages on service and
listening.”
I disagree.
I do not hear
conflicting messages. I do not believe that Jesus is dismissing Martha’s
warm hospitality in favor of Mary’s devoted listening. Rather, he is
simply prioritizing for us…and some of Martha’s behavior is evidence of
the dangers inherent in getting our priorities confused.
First of all, let’s be
very clear about the value of Martha’s domestic activities. Jesus
wouldn’t even BE there for Mary to listen to if Martha hadn’t invited
him in. The text reads, “..a woman named Martha welcomed him into her
home.” Her home. She invited Jesus in. It is her offering
of place and provision that allows Mary to listen and Jesus to speak in
comfort. Martha’s work, then, is of unquestionable value.
We know that Jesus
characterized discipleship as servanthood. Martha is a true
disciple. Mary also is a true disciple. Another image of a disciple is
the one who sits at the teacher’s feet, listening to and learning the
wisdom given.
Each of these women has
chosen her response to Jesus in this particular instance. Each exhibits
a devotion to him in her own loving way.
That being said,
however, look at what happens to Martha. While Jesus surely was the
initial focus of her actions, something changes after he steps over the
threshold. She becomes distracted; she takes her eyes off of him, both
literally and figuratively. Her attention strays from her beloved guest
to herself and her work. Perhaps she is tired and feeling unappreciated.
Perhaps she wants to sit and listen to Jesus like Mary is
doing…ah!...then her attention comes to rest on Mary, who has chosen a
different way today. Mary, who has taken a freedom that Martha now seems
to resent. Do you see what is happening here? The lightness of heart
with which Martha opened her home to Jesus has faded into a begrudging
heaviness from which she seeks relief. “Lord, do you not care that my
sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help
me.” Now, all Martha can see is herself, her tasks, and her position in
comparison with her sister.
Which is why Jesus
reminds her of priorities. In the face of her distraction, which has
drawn her heart and mind away from him and into resentment,
self-righteousness, and judgment of her sister, Jesus declares to Martha
(with great love, I might add), “Martha, Martha you are worried and
distracted by many things…there is need of only one thing.”
This is the point at
which my friend might say, “Harumph!…only one thing, my foot! Hah! How
would he ever get fed if they all just sat at his feet?” She would have
a point, wouldn’t she? All contemplation and no action make for a
lifeless faith.
Jesus, however, is not
calling us to engaged exclusively in listening; he calls it “the better
part;” and he says there is need of only one thing because it is from
the one thing that all else derives. It is from our relationship with
Jesus, nourished by undivided attention to him, that our actions for
good emerge; and are done from a generous heart, out of love. It is from
this “better part” that we must always begin and to which we must always
return.
Look. Thursday morning
when I was reading these texts and praying for inspiration, I looked up
from my Bible and saw a curtain blown by a sweet breeze. And I noticed
that the window next to it was not open so I got up to open that one to
let in more air. Before I could open the window, however, I had to move
a bag containing our gifts from England and France. I went to move the
bag and discover3d an empty box I was saving to store the wine we’d
purchased. Rather than simply move the box, I decided to fill it with
the bottles and then mark it with magic marker from the drawer in the
kitchen…so I made my way out to the kitchen…need I say more? In a matter
of seconds, I was distracted for at least 20 minutes and my coffee was
stone cold by the time I got back to my Bible.
This is the way we
are—easily distracted. In this time of pre-campaign campaigning, doesn’t
it occur to you that most politicians begin from a place of good
intention? Don’t you think that the common good is the original goal for
those who dedicate themselves to public service? Only, in order to
serve, you have to be elected, so the candidate’s goal strays from the
common good to the election. To get elected, she has to garner the favor
of particular groups, and then those groups become the focus of her
energy; and so on and on and on.
This is the way we are.
Look at our beloved Anglican Communion. I contend that we all are
distracted by our own interpretation of scripture and our own adherence
to doctrine and our own cultural prejudices and our own distorted views
of our brothers and sisters. We are all so busy working “for our
side”—hear, “for our selves”—that we have ceased working for the kingdom
of God! If we could keep our priorities straight and, together,
start from listening to the teaching of Jesus—especially his command to
love one another and his promise of the Spirit who will guide us into
all truth—then we will have chosen the better part…ongoing and
intentional connection with the love that creates and binds us all. From
there, we could engage in joint mission—loving acts of justice
and mercy to our needy world.
Even when we are
engaged in Christian mission, in the good works that proclaim God’s love
to the world, we become distracted. We work very hard and then our work
becomes our exclusive focus. Then we look at what others are doing in
the field and it seems so much more effective than our work and we
become susceptible to unhealthy competition, envy, and even self-defeat.
We see a sister or brother not similarly plagued by self-doubt or
exhaustion, and we resent their peace and joy.
This is the way we are.
Our hearts and minds and souls are easily distracted and led away from
the source of all goodness, the source of our life. With Martha and
Mary, Jesus is simply setting the matter straight. God is well pleased
with all of our good work, with our loving hospitality to strangers and
our compassionate care of the needy and our conscientious fulfillment of
our responsibilities.
Only, first and
foremost and always, we need to sit at the feet of the master, and learn
the ways to accomplish all of that, and stay tuned to the love that will
make it all possible. And we need to return to that place of listening
again and again, in order to rest in Jesus, be filled with his truth,
fed by his love, directed by his will, grounded in his being, encouraged
by his promises and strengthened by his power.
Finally, I would say to
my dear Friend, we are disciples in both kinds—we are servants and we
are students of our Lord’s love and wisdom. Let us be students first,
however, so that our works will always bear the light of God’s love and
not the darker smudges—or grudges—of our own human frailty.
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