Luke 10:38-42
July 18, 2004
7 Pentecost C
Luke 10:38-42
July 18, 2004
Martha was a little put out with Jesus and her sister, Mary. She had invited Jesus into her home as a gesture of hospitality and faith. He had all these men, his disciples, with him, and so she invited them, too. It was the right thing to do. She wished she had known that he was coming to town, because she would have liked to go all out to impress him. After all, he was by now a famous teacher. It was a privilege to have him as a guest.
Jesus probably knew he could count on Martha to provide hospitality, even on short notice. That is, after all, what women of her time were expected to do. And so she set to work immediately, planning and working on the meal. I can see her bustling about in the kitchen, quickly and efficiently going from one task to another.
But then, she pauses. Martha realizes she hasn’t seen her sister Mary for a while. Where is that girl? Has she slipped off again, in order to avoid the work that had to be done? Martha began to look around for her sister. And then, to her horror, she sees her. Mary is with Jesus, listening to him teach, sitting with the men.
Now, it was unheard of that a woman should be there, sitting at the feet of the teacher, as if she were a disciple. Jesus was probably just being polite by not asking her to leave. Martha thought she would do them all a favor by getting her out of there.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I hate to interrupt, but Jesus, would you mind sending Mary in to help me with the meal? I know you men would like to eat soon, and there is a lot to do.”
Jesus’ answer must have shocked them all; “Martha, Martha, you’re doing too much. You don’t have to go to all this trouble. It would have been better if you had just put out bread and wine, and then had come to sit here with Mary and the others. For this time and place, Mary has chosen the right thing, and it shouldn’t be taken away from her.”
This story of Jesus and the two sisters has much to say to those who would be disciples of Jesus—both men and women.
At the time of Jesus, the roles of men and women were very clearly defined. Women just didn’t enter into men’s territory—and men’s territory included worship and the study of scripture—the Torah. Some rabbis even taught that it was better to burn the Torah than to teach it to a woman.
Just as last week’s parable of the Good Samaritan destroys old ideas of the neighbor, this story destroys old ideas about gender. Jesus pays no attention to the social taboos of his day. He enters the home of a woman, and encourages a woman to sit at his feet while he teaches. “Sitting at the feet of a teacher” is the common expression for learning from a rabbi. The rabbi would have sat on a cushion or a chair, slightly above his students, while they gathered around his feet to hear and to ask questions. Those who studied regularly with a rabbi were called disciples. These were all male disciples. Women could hear the Torah read, but they could not read or study it themselves.
At the home of Martha and Mary, Jesus made it clear that these were society’s rules, not the rules of the Kingdom of God. Both women and men could sit at Jesus feet, and be his disciples. Mary got it, but Martha was distracted by all the things that her cultural role demanded.
Now I doubt that Martha thought she was being distracted. She probably thought that Mary was being distracted by Jesus, distracted from her work on the meal. To Martha, the meal was the main event. That was most important.
In her desire to show hospitality, Martha got all wound up in what she had to do—preparing elaborate dishes for her honored guest, fussing in the kitchen, making sure that the best of everything would be on the table in abundant quantities, at the right time, and at the right temperature. She was so caught up in entertaining and providing for her guest, that she forgot the identity of her guest. Jesus tells her to slow down. Forget about serving. Sit and listen.
Which is more important? Devotion or action? Luke places this story right after the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that parable, Jesus tells us to “Go and do.” Now, he tells us to “Sit and listen.” So which is it?
These two stories do not contradict each other, as it might seem. Rather, they are complementary, like two sides of the same coin. Just as we cannot have true faith without serving others, we cannot truly serve until we have sat at the feet of Jesus. That’s where we learn what it is that we are to do. Sit and listen, then, Go and do.
The difficulty may come when we try to figure out just when we should reflect, and when we should act. In our culture, we are distracted by many things. Cell phones and pagers go off in restaurants, at home, in public or in intimate moments. And we answer them. We are get-it-done people, who derive our sense of importance from what we accomplish in a day or a year. It is into this culture that the words of Jesus break through, if we let them.
There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part.
Jesus offered Martha the same opportunity. Forget about social norms. Put away your obsessive desire to do and grab hold of the opportunity just to be in the presence of God.
So, all you Marthas, men and women alike, put down your aprons, your planners and calendars, your laptops and your obsession with accomplishment. Sit at the feet of Jesus for a while, and see how that changes you. Experience the freedom that comes from letting go of all that has to be done, and listening for the voice of God. AMEN