The sermon for week July 18, 2010
Sylvania UCC
July 18, 2010
Genesis 18:1-10a
Luke 10:38-42
When our daughter, Sara, learned I would be preaching on the story of Mary and Martha she did some preaching of her own. “Take it easy on Martha, Mom!”
Sara is probably not alone in identifying with Martha in Luke’s account of the two sisters who were visited by Jesus. Luke tells us that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, but when, faced with the responsibility of meal preparation and providing hospitality for this special guest, Martha becomes “worried and distracted.”
I suspect that even Martha Stewart might let the pot boil over or misplace her lemon zester when faced with the prospect of entertaining Jesus!
This brief account of the visit of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha is found only in the gospel of Luke. Taken alone it is no wonder that we have often heard the story of Mary and Martha developed in a manner that polarized the two sisters and strongly favors Mary, the sister who sat at the feet of Jesus.
Yet Mary’s behavior would not have been considered a virtue at that time. Mary would have been expected to help her sister prepare the meal for their guest. Ever since Abraham and Sarah offered hospitality to the strangers who appeared at their door in the passage we read this morning from Genesis, hospitality was considered a virtue which promised the reward of God’s presence in its performance. But sitting at the feet of Jesus was a privilege reserved for men. Martha is clearly within the role established by their tradition in expecting her sister’s help in the kitchen.
But Martha does not go directly to Mary to request her help. Instead, she attempts to enlist Jesus to take sides with her against her sister! “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” Which prompts us to wonder how many similar requests go forth in prayer each day, seeking God’s help to change the behavior of another?
Martha’s complaint may be legitimate; but it is hardly appropriate to the occasion. Which leaves us to wonder: why would both these women so shamelessly flaunt the established tradition for the treatment of such an honored guest in their home?
Perhaps it is in these differences from the norm that we may begin to find the deeper significance hidden in this encounter. For surely there must be another way to look at this story than to continue to perpetuate a tiresome feud between two sisters.
The gospel of John rounds out Luke’s portrait of Mary and Martha and may provide a clue to their relationship with Jesus by providing more details. In John’s gospel both Mary and Martha confront Jesus concerning his delay in coming to them in Bethany when he had heard that their brother, Lazarus, was ill. “If you had been here our brother would not have died,” they both cried. Jesus wept with the two sisters, sharing their sorrow at the death of their brother. Then, shortly thereafter, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, a notorious event that galvanized the Jewish opposition to Jesus and sealed the fate that awaited him in Jerusalem.
Shortly after this event Jesus shared a meal with the family at Bethany on his way to Jerusalem. Martha served and Lazarus, alive and well, sat at the table with Jesus. It was on this occasion that Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with the precious ointment the family had stored in an alabaster jar, then wiped his feet with her hair. It was a gesture of recognition and tender devotion. Jesus’ disciples objected to the extravagance of this gesture saying the ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor; but Jesus responded, “She has done this for the day of my burial. The poor you will always have with you; but you will not always have me.”
John’s gospel expands the portrait we have of the relationship Jesus enjoyed with the family of Mary, Martha and their brother, Lazarus, and helps us to interpret this morning’s scene from Luke. It is apparent from John’s gospel that Jesus shared more than just a few social occasions with the family he visited in Bethany; Jesus shared their lives.
Jesus is the most significant guest to have ever come into the world; but he did not always find a welcome in many of the villages he visited on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus found a home in Bethany. When Mary and Martha welcomed Jesus, it was not as a guest. Jesus was family! In the ease and familiarity of home the rules for the treatment of guests is often suspended and disputes have been known to arise over something as simple as who will wash the dishes.
What constitutes a family? It is a word that denotes relationship. Jesus defined family as “those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 18:21) To Jesus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus were family!
But while that may explain the relationship between Jesus and the two sisters; it doesn’t resolve the feud. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen the better part,” and Martha is not likely to forget it!
What we must remember if we are to understand this story is that Israel had been waiting for hundreds of years and with great anticipation for the promised Messiah. When Jesus paid a similar visit to Zacchaeus (Luke 19:9) he said “Today salvation has come to this house!” The waiting is over! Jesus is here! The “better part” is the recognition that in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come; and Mary has found it!
Jesus didn’t say Mary was better or more loved than Martha, he said Mary had chosen the “better part.” The “better part” is the realization that the waiting, the fasting, the praying and the hoping are over. The Messiah is here! This is no time to be in the kitchen!
Martha is just as devoted to Jesus as her sister, Mary. She is busy and dutiful, qualities that are highly valued at any time or place, but especially in the kitchen. But Jesus observes, “Martha, Martha you are worried and distracted by many things.” Her urgency is misplaced. How could she have known that by raising her brother, Lazarus, from the dead; Jesus had placed his own life in jeopardy? How can any of us know how brief and precious are the moments we have to spend with our loved ones?
“Take it easy on Martha, Mom,” because Martha is a lot like you and me. Martha is family.
Like Martha, you and I can be grateful that Jesus did not say, “Come unto me all you who are cool, calm and collected.” Instead he said, ”You are worried and distracted about many things.” Jesus’ words describe Martha; but they often describe us, too. We get distracted as we multi-task while we worry that our resources may be running low or our time is running out. Like Martha some of us are learning how easy it is to get lost in the kitchen!
Yet we need to remember that Jesus’ words to Martha were not intended as a rebuke, but rather an invitation…an invitation to come out of the kitchen and join Jesus and Mary in the family circle. At the feet of Jesus everything we accomplish in our brave attempts to love and serve God is interpreted and given meaning.
“Come unto me all you who labor and I will give your rest.” Jesus makes us an offer few of us could refuse.
Luke’s hospitality narratives, such as this one, encourage us to recognize Jesus in his role as the ultimate guest and host. The word hospitality comes from the root word hospes, which means both host and guest. Like Jesus we are both guest and host. We are like Martha, who welcomed Jesus into her home and like Mary who chose to sit at his feet and listen. We are both host and guest to Jesus and he is host and guest to us.
Jesus came into a world that frequently did not welcome him, from the inn keeper at his birth to the people in his own village of Nazareth.
The gospel of John records:
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not; but to those who received him-to them he gave the power to become the children of God.” (John 1:11, 12)
If we listen carefully we will hear Jesus call each of us by name inviting us to come out of the kitchen, out of the work place, or whatever situation that has caused us to be worried and distracted. Jesus assures us “there is need of only one thing.” In the company of Jesus we discover the mystery that only his presence can reveal. In the company of Jesus we are no longer host or guest. In the company of Jesus we are home.
Thanks be to God!