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| Let’s Hear it for Martha! Luke 10:38-42 July 22, 2007
We Marthas take a hard hit in today's Gospel reading. She is described as flailing around (that's what the Greek verb literally means), fussing over details. (Do you suppose Martha Stewart's parents were thinking of this story when they named her?) Then Martha fusses to Jesus about her sister who is not getting with the hospitality program Martha is bent on accomplishing. So much for mature, responsible behavior: when in doubt, triangulate! But Martha the superwoman gets her put-down in the pitying comments of Jesus that seem to imply she is like one of those circus clowns running frantically in circles and accomplishing nothing but raising dust. "Martha, Martha…" Feminist interpreters in the 1970's and 80's quickly jumped on this passage as warranting our escape from the kitchen. No more would we accept planning church suppers as our only role! Here was a story about Jesus praising Mary, whom we dubbed the first female theological student. We were vindicated! No more Martha chores for us! Following that logic, the word for us today at RUC would be to stop running around to committee meetings, CMR programs and everything else, and just sit and study and pray. A bit more of that balance might not be a bad idea for us (we do tend to flap and flail around: trust me on this—I've been on Council), but I think that would finally be a misreading of the text and of our call to be Jesus' followers. Besides, I like to cook and fuss over guests, so I have an interest in rehabilitating Martha and her sisters. Let's start back at the beginning of the story. We are told that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home. That doesn't strike us as odd, but in the first century Mediterranean world it would have been odd for a woman to be the head of a household, the owner of the house. As the head of a household in that culture, she would have been under a strict obligation to provide hospitality—even lavish hospitality—to any guests, expected or not. Apparently she understood that obligation and was doing everything in her power—and maybe even beyond her power—to fulfill it. Her flapping and flailing around was actually important and valued! We are told that she had a sister named Mary, which sounds a lot like the family from Bethany in John's Gospel (Mary, Martha, and Lazarus), though here we are not given the name of the village, nor is a brother mentioned. We assume they are the same women, though a close reading of both accounts shows them having opposite traits. In John Mary is the sister who acts out her discipleship by washing Jesus' feet, while Martha is the one who engages Jesus in a theological discussion about the meaning of resurrection. Here Mary is the student who listens to Jesus, while Martha is wrapped up in "great serving." The NRSV translates it "many tasks," but the word is a singular word, diakonia. The most basic meaning is "food service" (Seyda, take note!), but that work basic to hospitality is so important that the word comes to stand for "ministry." Martha's complaint to Jesus that sounds rather whiny is really that no one else is involved in ministering. Surely her sister ought to know better! Now, if I were writing a midrash on this story, a commentary in which I like a rabbi would get to embroider on the story and resolve it differently, I'd have Martha raise her legitimate complaint directly with her sister, instead of turning to a male authority figure to resolve it. And Jesus would tell the guys who had arrived with him to get off their sitter-downers and get into the kitchen to help. But in this context I'll have to rein in my imagination and deal with the hard words with which the passage concludes: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better…"—better what? The NRSV says the better "part," but the word means "portion" or even "dish." Clearly Luke is implying the nourishing food of the teaching that Jesus offers, which occupies Mary's full attention, and which is never taken away from us. In tending to the details, important though they be, Martha has lost her focus on what Jesus' ministry and mission are about, and the "menu" of her hard work doesn't hold together. She has the Jello salad and the pickles on the table, but she has forgotten the life-sustaining bread. I don't think I'm telling tales out of school if I say that one concern on Council's agenda this year more than ever is working with Duncan to discern a focus for our life and ministry at RUC. We are feeling the loss of our previous style of involvement with CMR and wonder where to go next. The temptation is to identify new programs or issues on which to work, in order to sustain our pace and level of activity. And certainly the pain of our world pulls us in many important directions: child welfare, health care, an end to war and all manner of violence, the threat of ecological disaster. We could be very busy just trying to tag all the bases. We could find ourselves flapping and flailing, just like Martha. But Beth Pattison is wisely leading the Council (and eventually the rest of us) in a process to get us to the heart of our call to discipleship and accountability. What is the word that Jesus brought to recall people of faith into the covenant of righteousness and justice that has defined the will of God from the very beginning of Israel's story? What is that word for our place and time? Can we listen to that and focus on that? And then what a gift to bring our wonderful Martha-energy and talents into living out that quest! Mary and Martha together! May it be so among us. As the echoes of the chimes fade away, allow them to lift before God the concerns and joys that are in your hearts this morning. Let us pray… God of grace and power and compassion: * We pray for all children, women, and men who face another day of war today. Keep them safe, and by whatever name they know you, assure them that you will never leave or forsake them. We pray to know the things that make for peace. * We pray for all of the hungry people, those who are homeless, those who must face life alone—without family or friends to accompany them. Keep them in your care and let your generosity move through the agencies and institutions charged with protecting them. * We pray for your healing presence with all who
are suffering in body, mind, or spirit. Strengthen their care-givers
and comfort all who hurt to witness their pain. Bring your peace
to all who have lost loved ones in recent days, until their tears
can turn to joy again. * You, O God, know the deepest places in our hearts, where the sighs dwell that cannot even find words. Be with us there. Breathe life, and healing, and hope. * And now with the strength that Christ gives, let us join in the prayer he taught the disciples: Our Father…
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Is Still Speaking www.stillspeaking.com |
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