O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Erma Bombeck, the author who wrote "If Life Is A Bowl Of Cherries, What Am I Doing Here In The Pits", tells of two moments in her husband's life:
There was a time when the children were growing up that her husband used to go and look at the back yard. Surveying the muddy patches where the lawn should be, he would wonder - Will the grass ever come back?
And then there was the time when the children were grown and gone that her husband went and looked over the beautiful green lawn, immaculate from lack of use and wondered - Will the children ever come back?
Some parts of life are temporary - some are eternal. Wisdom knows the difference. This if the fundamental issue at stake in the story of Mary and Martha.
The story Luke tells of Mary and Martha is a controversial one - it angers some people and confuses others, especially when they identify with one sister or the other, when they take the side of either Mary or of Martha.
Some people look at the story from Martha's point of view. They say that Mary let Martha down: that Mary should have helped Martha serve Jesus and his disciples, that she should of done her share of the work, that she should have been a better hostess.
Those who sympathize with Martha say that if we take Jesus' rebuke of her seriously, if we are to believe that Mary did the right thing - that she chose the better part and that Martha should have sat down with Mary and listened to the master, then who would have made and served the food? Who in the world would have done the work? A work that itself was an expression of love?
Martha's supporters assert that Mary is unfair to Martha, and that Jesus really doesn't help the situation very much by telling Martha that she is too anxious and that Mary has chosen the better part.
Other people of course look at the story from Mary's point view.
They say that Mary did the right thing when she chose to sit by Jesus and learn from him, that Jesus is, after all, the Lord - and that Jesus himself confirms this when he tells Martha that Mary has chosen "the better part".
Some of Mary's supporters them go on and ask the question - "besides, what business did Martha have asking Jesus to chastise Mary and tell her what to do...?"
I don't think there is any of us here today who doubts that what Mary chose to do when Jesus came was a good thing - that she chose a good portion or part as the Bible states, nor do I think anyone doubts that Martha was out of line asking her guest to chastise her sister, but the question still remains - what about Martha...
What, if anything, was wrong with Martha's choice? Did not Martha honour the Lord by her response to his presence? Did she not show love towards him by serving him?
As the commentator John Lewis writes "In the concrete situation in which Martha found herself, she attempted to answer and please her Lord."
This then is the dilemma of today's gospel reading.
Two individuals, both women, are portrayed welcoming Jesus, they both respond to his presence - one by working for him, by serving him, by feeding him and his disciples - and the other by listening to him and by learning from him.
Both responses have a lot going for them, they are both faithful responses, yet - as we see - they are responses that seem to end up contradicting each other.
Why?
John Lewis wonders why as well - and so he goes on to ask the question:
"Is there something more fundamentally wrong with Martha' response to Jesus than what we have seen so far?"
The answer is - Yes.
Martha not only does a rude and inappropriate thing by asking Jesus to chastise Mary, she also fails to show love as she ought.
In Martha's effort to love one neighbour - Jesus she takes love away from another neighbour - from Mary - her sister.
Truly Martha is worried and distracted by many things, so worried and distracted, so anxious, that it leads her to anger and ruins her effort to be loving.
But there is more yet to the story of Mary and Martha - to see what more there is it is necessary to look at the context within the gospel in which the story appears.
One of best biblical scholars of the past century - Reginald Fuller - suggests that the Mary and Martha story is a corrective to the activism portrayed in the parable of the good Samaritan.
That parable - which comes just before today's reading - is told in response to the question of a lawyer who asks Jesus - "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
As we heard last week, Jesus tells him that he must:
"Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbour as yourself. Do this and you will live."
And then in response to the lawyer's question: "and who is my neighbour?" Jesus tells the story of the Samaritan who shows mercy to a man who was the victim of thieves - concluding with the words: "go and do likewise"
The emphasis in the passage just before today's reading is on action: "do this and you will live" and "go and do likewise"
Immediately following this we get the story of Mary and Martha; we get a real life situation concerning being a neighbour and we see someone who is doing that which leads to eternal life, we see Martha doing, we see her labouring, out of love, to please her Lord.
But, and this is crucial, we also see Mary - who is not labouring out of love for her Lord, but who is instead, out of her love for him, simply being with him, and listening to him.
Martha is distracted by all that she is doing, and she comes to Jesus, and in her anxiety, in her frustration, she asks him to rebuke Mary:
"Lord", she says, "Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
The response of Jesus to Martha's plea is not a criticism of her work for him, nor of her love for him - rather it is a response to her anxiety and anger - and a response to how she regards the choice made by Mary:
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part - which will not be taken away from her."
There is need of only one thing...Only one thing is necessary...What is it...?
Well - the stories that appear next in the Gospel of Luke concern prayer, and that is important, for there is always a purpose behind the structure of the Gospels.
Reginald Fuller suggests what the purpose is when he says: "do this and you will live is applicable only as the doing the word flows out of the hearing of the word." as it comes out of prayer, study, worship and meditation.
The word must be heard before it can be followed: spiritual bread is required, is needed, by those who would be busy at making physical bread, otherwise they will perish.
Think about our church for a minute - what makes us here different from a service club? What makes us different from the Lions or the Rotary Club?
Do not they - like we - put on suppers, run programs, maintain buildings, and attempt to bring relief to the poor and the oppressed of the world?
Do not both the church and the clubs around it work, and work fairly hard, at helping others? At caring for others?
So what is the difference between us? What makes one group a church, and another simply a service club?
For years there has been a lot of talk about burnout - so much so that student ministers are required to read about it at seminary.
It is a well known fact that those who are in the caring professions often suffer from burnout - doctors, social workers, ministers, nurses, and so forth - many reach a point of terminal exhaustion - they work hard - they put themselves into their jobs with great intensity - they care deeply - and after a while - many come to a point where they have no more to give.
Their work goes down hill, they begin to do less while often taking longer to do it, they feel tired, unfulfilled, hopeless, they get to a point where they not only no longer care - but where they are no longer able to care.
People suffering from burnout often end up angry, anxious, and worried.
We see something like this in today's story of Mary and Martha when we see Martha getting so anxious in her attempts to care for Jesus that she is unable to care for Mary, unable to see the importance of what is going on around her.
In seminary we are taught that there are several factors that can help one avoid burnout:
One factor is ensuring that you a have a balance of activities in your life, that you do not spend all your time helping out - but take time for yourself.
Another factor that is helpful is having a strong belief system - one in which you have a firm grip on the whole picture - in which you believe that there are other forces and other people who can help the world besides yourself.
A third factor that helps a person avoid burnout is knowing how to receive help and care as well as how to give it.
Balance - faith - and receptivity; being able to take time for oneself to learn, to grow, to be strengthened.
The manna that fed Israel in the desert fell from heaven - they did not have to work for it - it came from God - but they did have to gather it in each morning.
In the same way that the manna they needed came from God, so the spiritual food we need each day comes from God as free gift - but like manna, it too needs to be gathered.
We do not live by bread alone - say the scriptures but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part - which will not be taken away from her."
Martha, Martha, you are so busy looking after me, so busy serving me, so concerned that the right things be done, that you are missing be with me, you are missing the necessary thing, the thing that Mary has chosen, the thing that I will not take away from her.
You know - sometimes the best way to treat a guest is not by doing something special for them, but by spending as much time with them as possible.
I know that in many homes when company comes - after the meal the dishes and all the cleaning up is set aside - and everyone moves to the living room out of sight of all the work that needs doing so that they can enjoy a few hours together without distraction.
That really is the point of the story of Mary and Martha. Some parts of life are temporary - others are eternal. Wisdom knows the difference.
Occasionally we need to put aside the work we do for the Lord and just spend some time being with him - some time learning from him - some time enjoying his presence - some time being refreshed and recreated by his Spirit.
The church is different from a service club because it recognizes this, it recognizes that is the word of God that gives life, and the word of God that strengthens us to do good, and so the church turns toward God and listens to the word, it pauses - and sits at the feet of the eternal much as Mary sat at the feet of Jesus.
It is the word that enables us to serve and to make a difference in that service. It is the word, in and through us, that allows us to have eternal love, that love which is never anxious, or worried, or hurtful to others.
No one is a Christian who simply does the word - you must also hear the word and dwell in the word - the word made flesh in Christ our Lord.
Yes - some of us are more like Martha - and some of us are more like Mary; but there is in all of us a built in need to combine the two within us, for without sitting and listening to God our work for God can only lead to anxiety and anger and angst - and without doing the word our faith is clearly nothing.
As Graham Hutchings, a Methodist minister once said - there is a need occasionally to get the visionaries in the kitchen and the kitchenaries in the vision.
Some parts of life are temporary. Some are eternal. Wisdom knows the difference.
May God bless you and help you both in your listening to the word and in your doing of it. AMEN
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment