Luke 10:38-42
July 21, 2019
homily preached at St Stephen's, New Harmony
Luke is fond of a literary device I call a ‘narrative diptych’
A diptych is when two stories or two pieces of artwork
Are deliberately placed side by side
Because side by side
They are mutually interpretive
They are more powerful by being next to each other
They shed light…one, on the other
In the Gospel of Luke, oftentimes,
The diptych offers a female protagonist on one side
and male protagonist on the other
think:
think:
Zechariah and Mary
The Centurion of Capernaum and the widow at Nain
The shepherd and his lost sheep
- and the woman and her lost coin
The Stories of the Good Samaritan and Martha and Mary
Are set up as such a diptych…
And what holds the stories together is a thematic hinge
The hinge that connects these two stories
is the two-parted but ONE Great Commandment
If you remember last week
This section began with the lawyer asking
L: What must I DO?
J: What does the Scripture say
L answers: Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul etc, and your neighbor as yourself.
SO today
When we read about Martha and Mary
We can go back and notice
HMMMM
he skipped right over part 1 of the commandment
he skipped right over part 1 of the commandment
The Lawyer went straight to:
Who is my neighbor?
He went right to the 2ndpart of the Great Commandment which suggests to me
that he felt pretty darn sure he had Part 1 down pat!
But the Gospel of Luke/Lukan Jesus isn’t quite convinced!
Because the Gospel narrative continues…
Enter stage right:
Martha and Mary
---
This story of Martha and Mary
Is SO familiar
And my confession is that it never fails
to rub me the wrong way
So here’s what I tend to do whenever I hear this story:
As soon as I hear the first line
I start my defense of Martha…
She has worked so hard
I bet she plucked chickens and kneaded dough
She cleaned the house and ironed the linens
And what does she get?
“Martha, Martha…
ouch…It sounds like a verbal spanking to me;)
but then I’ll cool down a little
realizing of course
that I am protecting that overzealous Martha within
…and…I’ll end by admitting that I need a little more Mary in my life
…and that is about it…
…another Martha-Mary battle resolved for the time being
All this to say that that I have fallen into the trap set by a long history of shallow interpretation of this story
This story is not about a competition between Martha and Mary
In fact the word translated ‘better’should read ‘good’which really changes the tone
SO…THEN…what IS really going on here.
Most often our mistake is to take it as a zero-sum game
A game that one sister has to win
And one sister has to lose
But, my friends, Jesus is in the house!
And when Jesus is in the house
There just aren’t any losers
…No losers…But there are mistakes
Martha makes a mistake in this story
But the mistake is not her detailed and proficient hospitality Service---such service was expected and extremely important in the 1stcentury world. And Jesus highly praises its value throughout the narrative.
Martha’s mistake is that she is anxious and pre-occupied
Which she then dumps on Mary
---in an attempt to make Mary the problem
And then it goes even further when
Martha complains to Jesus
Which is a thinly veiled attempt to manipulate him into this messy triangle!
Her outburst testifies that she has lost sight of the object of her service
The focus is on her---not Jesus—the Guest
Theone needful thing
Is focusing on the right object of devotion---Jesus “the image of the invisible God” (to use Paul’s language from the 1streading)
Whether you are providing needed hospitality or listening at Jesus’ feet---the object of devotion is Jesus.
They are both acts of devotion if they are grounded in the great commandment: love of God and love of neighbor
Martha and the Lawyer
Have lost their grounding
…they are playing games
They are playing games
And Jesus refuses to play.
The Lawyers game? = HE wanted to justify himself—
He wanted to puff up his chest in sight of the crowd…showing off his religious piety
And Martha’s game? = She wanted to scapegoat Mary. She wanted to make Mary the cause of her anxiety and pre-occupation and she tried to manipulate Jesus into her drama.
All this Reminds me of that song from the 60’s…
“Oh the games people play now…
We all KNOW these games well.
Jesus. Is. tough. Here.
Jesus is tough because He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, Martha!
(Mary is a flat figure…a foil for the story of Martha)
Because he loves her
HE doesn’t want her
Or any of us
To miss this!
THE LOVE OF GOD
IS NOURISHED IN GOD’S PRESENCE
THE LOVE OF GOD IS
THE SOURCE
OF THE ENERGY
THAT MAKES POSSIBLE
THE KIND OF DOING
THAT FURTHERS THIS THING CALLED
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
(X2)
There are lots of kinds of doing…some just lead to burnout
The question I hear from this story is:
What is the needful thing…for me, for you, for the community?
What will help ground me more fully in the love of God?
What needs to grow in me so that I don’t fall into those oh so familiar games…or at least not as frequently?
I was a bit haunted by this preaching preparation
I journaled about a few poignant lines:
“…A WOMAN NAMED MARTHA WELCOMED HIM INTO HER HOME…”
LORD,
I WANT TO WELCOME YOU
IN MY HOME…Sure
BUT MORE
NOT JUST MY PHYSICAL DWELLING PLACE
BUT ALL OF ME…
YOU ARE WELCOME
I INVITE YOU
INTO MY WAY OF THINKING
AND MY WAY OF ACTING
I INVITE YOU
IT IS OK
I REALIZE THE RISK
YOU MIGHT HAVE A LITTLE RE-ARRANGING TO DO
THAT’S OK
BUT BE GENTLE
“…SHE HAD A SISTER NAMED MARY, WHO SAT AT THE LORD’S FEET AND LISTENED TO WHAT HE WAS SAYING…”
LORD
SISTERS ARE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER
NOT ONE VERSUS THE OTHER
IN CONFLICT
OR COMPETITION
BUT TO COMPLIMENT
TO TEACH…ONE TO THE OTHER
TEACH ME TO BALANCE
THE BUSY-DOER IN ME
WITH THE LISTENING LEARNER
…THE PRAY-ER
IN ME
GIVE ME EARS TO HEAR YOUR QUIET WORD
“TO HOLD IT FAST,
IN AN HONEST AND GOOD HEART”
And GRANT ME PATIENCE
TO LET IT “AGE” AND RIPEN IN ME
SO THAT WHEN IT bursts INTO “DOING”
IT WILL SERVE YOU
AND THE KINGDOM FOR WHICH YOU LONG
“…BUT MARTHA WAS DISTRACTED…”
THERE IS ALWAYS A “BUT”
A GLITCH…A HURDLE
ME TOO, LORD
I GUESS I HAVE A WELL-DEVELOPED MARTHA SIDE
SO EASILY DISTRACTED
TOO BUSY, TOO LITTLE TIME, TOO STRESSED
FIND ME… WHEREVER I AM
TEACH ME ABOUT MARY MOMENTS
TEACH ME THAT THEY ARE THERE FOR THE TAKING
“…THERE IS NEED FOR ONLY ONE THING…”
ITS JUST ALL THOSE SECONDARY THINGS
THERE ARE SO VERY MANY OF THEM
AND SOMETIMES THEY ARE WAY TOO LOUD
I KNOW WHAT THAT ONE THING IS
YOUR MESSAGE IS CLEAR
I WANT TO BE ROOTED
AND GROUNDED
AND SHORED UP
BY YOU O LORD
THE ONE THING
THE GOOD THING
IS TO STAY IN RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU
”…MARY HAS CHOSEN THE GOOD PART…”
LET IT BE SO FOR US.
