Title Bout: Mary Versus Martha!

Photo by Michelle Leman

Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.

**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.

Introduction to the day

Perhaps the church, at its best, is “all ears.” God urges the faithful, again and again, to “listen up!”—to heed the word that gives life. So it was with Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Martha, and the early church at Colossae. So it is today as we join the assembly to hear the word of God, the word of life.

Gathering Song – Gather Us In (ELW #532)

            Listen Here

Greeting

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And also with you.

Prayer of the Day

Let us pray.

Eternal God, you draw near to us in Christ, and you make yourself our guest. Amid the cares of our lives, make us attentive to your presence, that we may treasure your word above all else, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Readings

A reading from Amos. (8:1-12)

This is what the Lord GOD showed me—a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me,

 “The end has come upon my people Israel;

  I will never again pass them by.

 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”

 says the Lord GOD;

 “the dead bodies shall be many,

  cast out in every place. Be silent!”

 

 Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

  and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

 saying, “When will the new moon be over

  so that we may sell grain;

 and the sabbath,

  so that we may offer wheat for sale?

 We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

  and practice deceit with false balances,

 buying the poor for silver

  and the needy for a pair of sandals,

  and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”

 

 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

 Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

 Shall not the land tremble on this account,

  and everyone mourn who lives in it,

 and all of it rise like the Nile,

  and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

 

 On that day, says the Lord GOD,

  I will make the sun go down at noon,

  and darken the earth in broad daylight.

 I will turn your feasts into mourning,

  and all your songs into lamentation;

 I will bring sackcloth on all loins,

  and baldness on every head;

 I will make it like the mourning for an only son,

  and the end of it like a bitter day.

 

 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,

  when I will send a famine on the land;

 not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,

  but of hearing the words of the LORD.

 They shall wander from sea to sea,

  and from north to east;

 they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,

  but they shall not find it. 

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 52

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Why do you boast, O mighty one,

    of mischief done against the godly?

    All day long you are plotting destruction.

Your tongue is like a sharp razor,

    you worker of treachery.

You love evil more than good,

    and lying more than speaking the truth.

You love all words that devour,

    O deceitful tongue.

But God will break you down for ever;

    he will snatch and tear you from your tent;

    he will uproot you from the land of the living.

The righteous will see, and fear,

    and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,

‘See the one who would not take

    refuge in God,

but trusted in abundant riches,

    and sought refuge in wealth!’

But I am like a green olive tree

    in the house of God.

I trust in the steadfast love of God

    for ever and ever.

I will thank you for ever,

    because of what you have done.

In the presence of the faithful

    I will proclaim your name, for it is good.

A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians. (1:15-28)

[Christ Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Holy Gospel according to Luke. (10:38-42)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Now as [Jesus and his disciples] went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “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.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

May our eyes see, our ears hear, and your words be written on our hearts. Amen

 

The gospel passage this week is the very familiar story of Mary and Martha, two sisters seemingly pitted against each other about who is serving Jesus better.

 

This competition between Mary and Martha has always been the typical understanding of this story.

 

Mary, the ever-loving disciple who sits obediently at Jesus’ feet and is often described as the ultimate goal for all Christians.

 

Martha, the always-busy never-just-sitting-and-listening host who cries to Jesus about how she has to do all the work while Mary just sits there at Jesus’ feet.

 

The common lesson being a plea for us to be less like Martha and more like Mary.

 

But this is an awful lesson, one that pits two sisters against each other, that pits women against each other, and pits each of us against the other.

 

And it’s high time we changed the tune on this sisterly story.

Two things can be seen in the intro verses: Martha received Jesus alone, and BOTH she and Mary were his disciples. Lots, if not most, translations skip the word “ALSO” which is clearly present in the Greek, indicating that Mary AND Martha were “sitters at the Lord’s feet.”

This notion of “sitting at the Lord’s feet” was common vernacular at the time indicating discipleship. These two sisters were disciples of Jesus — Martha in the village of Bethany; Mary out with other disciples in the countryside as a traveling disciple.

Two sisters, two followers of Jesus, and two diverging possibilities for discipleship.

Martha is described as the “active” one, rushing around, busying herself with the demanding practicalities of life.

Mary, on the other hand, is the “contemplative” one, resting attentively at Jesus’ feet, engaged in a more conventionally prayerful, intellectual encounter with her Lord.

So here’s the trick question: Are you a Mary or a Martha? Busy or mindful? Striving or tranquil?

Because the scripture says, “Mary has chosen the better part”, Mary’s prayerful receptivity is the one to which we are taught to aspire.

But is Mary’s discipleship better than Martha’s, or just different? Asking yourself if you are Mary or Martha is a trick question.

It is a trick question because it is not the choice that Jesus, by way of this text, asks us to make. Jesus is not pitting the sisters against one another, nor is he creating a hierarchy of modes of discipleship.

The dichotomies that we read into the text are our own fabrications, borne of our own desire to render the world intelligible through categories and labels.

We do this all the time, in ways both benign (like the roles we take on in a group of friends) and destructive (like the reductive stereotypes that continue to harm people at the margins).

This is not Jesus’ agenda. When he tells Martha that Mary has “chosen the better part” he is not challenging Martha’s “personality,” nor is he even rejecting Martha’s present busyness, but is instead gently calling her back to the fullness of herself, reminding her of both the ground of her being and the purpose of all of this good, hard, and necessary work: namely, himself.

Martha lives and serves, as we all do, in the name of Jesus. The word used throughout the New Testament is diakonian, which means ministry – the work of ministers, deacons, apostles, disciples, pastors, prophets.

In this passage, however, translators have used “tasks” or “things”. In reality, Martha, a disciple of Jesus, is overwhelmed not by menial tasks but by ministry.

The cooking and the cleaning and the mending and the tending of small, daily things – all of this holds the possibility of divine inbreaking, but only when those things are done in mindfulness of God’s ever-present love.

But It’s not just cooking and cleaning; it’s all the work related to ministry. Meaning Martha is making meals for the community, getting groceries for the poor, praying with people, visiting prisoners, taking care of kids, and doing all the other daily labor of a minister.

And Martha is tired.

Have you ever wondered why Mary does not speak in this passage? Mary does not speak, because Mary is not there! In the passage, Martha and Jesus discuss Mary, but the subject of their conversation never chimes in.

Martha approaches Jesus with a question, “Do you not care that my sister regularly leaves me to minister alone? Tell her therefore that she may give me a hand.” We can surmise that Martha wants Jesus to relay to Mary that she needs help with her many unnamed diakonia obligations.

Jesus answers Martha, “Mary has chosen agatha.” This word does not have to be translated as “better or best.” It can simply mean “good.” Jesus is saying that Mary has chosen “good”, and he is not going to call Mary away from her activity to go back to the village to help Martha. In this moment, Jesus confirms the validity of Mary’s choice.

Martha has confronted Jesus and told him to command Mary back home, and instead he calls her into herself and names all the real anxiety and fatigue that she’s tried to bury with the busyness of ministry.

This passage from Luke is an endorsement of women in mission or ministry away from home. But, at the same time, Jesus does not denigrate the in-village discipleship of Martha. Jesus defends Mary’s calling but does not dismiss Martha’s call to practical service.

Two sisters, two followers of Jesus, two different callings according to their abilities and circumstances.

What Jesus offers is not a competition between Mary and Martha as archetypes of greater and lesser discipleship, nor a distinction between the relative virtues of being and doing.

Instead, he provides the continuous and crucial choice that each of us must make, in all that we do, between remembering Jesus or forgetting him.

This is a Gospel story that calls us to remember. This is a Gospel story in which Martha is asked to do all of this, everything, in remembrance of him. This is a Gospel story in which we are asked to all our ministry in remembrance of him.

And how badly we need that reminder, especially now, caught up as we are in the continuous maelstrom of those “many things” that trouble the world around us.

How tempting it can be to look at the state of the world, or even the state of the Church, and to feel a low-grade panic rise in our throats, repeating to ourselves like a mantra, or a plea: more to be done, more to be done, more to be done.

Of course, there is more to be done. Much more, and much of it will be different from what we have done before.

Back to the trick question: Are you a Mary or a Martha?

All of us are both, and neither, for love requires us sometimes to strive and other times to be still. They are not separate paths, but merely the varied landscape of being a follower of Jesus.

And both are needed.

To the Mary’s of the world, whether you’re traveling doing the speaking circuit or the politics and lobbying circuit — keep doing it because it is your good portion.

And to the Martha’s doing the tireless, thankless, endless work of ministry and activism at home,

·         the community organizer who doesn’t sleep because police violence doesn’t sleep,

·         the church mother taking in and feeding the kids after finding their mom a suitable outfit to wear to an interview and making sure she had a ride and a few copies of her resume,

·         taking meals to the home-bound while preaching at house church every Sunday,

·         making sure someone is there to greet Jesus when he comes to town.

Keep doing it because it is your good portion.

The Kingdom requires us to roll up our sleeves. But as we do so, as we make our lists and tend to the cracks and the spills and the dusty corners of our days, we cannot forget that we do not act by ourselves or for ourselves. We do so in the name of Jesus.

It is a necessary reminder whenever we sit down, as individuals or as a community, to consider who we are and where we are going.

We must ask ourselves not only what to do, but why, and for whom?

Why do we work so hard to keep our faith communities healthy?

Why do we persist with our traditions in the midst of widespread apathy and violence?

Why do we dare to dream of a world that is guided by love and justice when too often we see a world burdened by fear and inequality?

Over the next 12-18 months, Pastor Jennifer and I will be taking the IRSM on an intentional journey of asking these types of questions, and of rediscovering our vision and focus. There will be deep conversations, meaningful meetings, and a whole lot of spiritual work.

And we will need all the Mary’s and Martha’s to help the us through this journey.

We will work hard because of our love for Jesus and our communities.

We will persist because of our love for Jesus and our communities.

And it is because of Jesus’ love for us that we dare to dream of the wonders that the IRSM can be for us and for our communities.

Amen.

Hymn of the Day – Will You Let Me Be Your Servant (ELW #659)

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Apostles’ Creed

Let us declare the faith of our baptism as we say together the Apostles’ creed.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

 

Prayers of Intercession

United in Christ and guided by the Spirit, we pray for the church, the creation, and all in need.

Silence.

Ever-present God, in Christ you fill all things. As your church gathers to hear your word, share your meal, and receive your blessing, teach us to welcome strangers as we have been welcomed by you.

God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Through Christ you created all things, visible and invisible. Teach humankind to honor and protect all creation, including living things that remain hidden from our eyes such as air, atmosphere, molecules, and microscopic creatures.

God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Through Christ you reconcile all things. Motivate those in power to end enslavement, dehumanization, or brutality of any kind and to protect and improve the lives of Indigenous peoples.

God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Through Christ you bring peace. Assure all who are worried and distracted by many things of your constant presence. Soothe those suffering in mind, body, or spirit. Sustain all who are afflicted and those who serve as caregivers.

God of grace,

hear our prayer.

In Christ you make your word fully known. Inspire this worshiping community to abide fully in your word as we sit at the feet of Jesus. Bless the ministry of teachers and Bible study leaders.

God of grace,

hear our prayer.

We pray for the National Lutheran Bishop Susan Johnson, the Anglican Primate Linda Nicholls, the Interim Indigenous Archbishop Sidney Black, the MNO Synod Bishop Jason Zinko, the Diocese of Rupert’s Land Bishop Geoff Woodcroft, and all clergy and lay leaders within our parishes. Foster our relationships with partner synods and local ministry partners, that our visions and actions are Spirit-led.

God of grace,

hear our prayer.

God of every time and place, in Jesus’ name and filled with your Holy Spirit, we entrust these spoken prayers and those in our hearts into your holy keeping.

Amen.

Peace

The peace of Christ be with you always.

And also with you.

Offering Hymn – Jesus Loves Me! (ELW #595)

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Offering Prayer

Let us pray.

God of abundance, you have set before us a plentiful harvest. As we feast on your goodness, strengthen us to labor in your field, and equip us to bear fruit for the good of all, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Dialogue

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Preface

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,

that we should at all times and in all places

give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,

through our Savior Jesus Christ;

who on this day overcame death and the grave,

and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.

And so, with all the choirs of angels,

with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy

            Listen Here

Thanksgiving at the Table

Holy God,

our Maker, Redeemer, and Healer,

in the harmonious world of your creation,

the plants and animals,

the seas and stars

were whole and well in your praise.

When sin had scarred the world,

you sent your Son to heal our ills

and to form us again into one.

In the night in which he was betrayed,

our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;

broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:

Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

Remembering, therefore,

his acts of healing,

his body given up,

and his victory over death,

we await that day when all the peoples of the earth

will come to the river to enjoy the tree of life.

Send your Spirit upon us and this meal:

as grains scattered on the hillside become one bread,

so let your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth,

that all may be fed with the Bread of life, your Son.

Through him all glory and honor is yours,

Almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit,

in your holy Church,

both now and forever.

Amen

Lord’s Prayer

Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those

who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and forever. Amen.

Invitation to Communion

This is the table of Christ. It is made ready for those who love him, and for those who want to love him more. Come, whether you have much faith or little, have tried to follow, or are afraid that you have failed. Come. Because it is Christ's will that those who want to meet him, might meet him here. These are the gifts of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Sharing of the Eucharist

Table Blessing

The body and blood of our Lord

Jesus Christ strengthen you

and keep you in his grace.

Amen.

Prayer After Communion

As we have feasted around the table, let us pray.

Life-giving God, through this meal you have bandaged our wounds and fed us with your mercy. Now send us forth to live for others, both friend and stranger, that all may come to know your love. This we pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Blessing

The God of peace,

Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit,

bless you, comfort you,

and show you the path of life

this day and always.

Amen.

Sending Song – God Be with You Till We Meet Again (ELW #536)

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Dismissal

Go in peace to love and serve your neighbor.

Thanks be to God.