Interesting
things always seem to happen when Mary and Martha are involved. It was Mary and
Martha’s brother Lazarus that Jesus called out of the tomb and into new life.
And it was at a dinner at their house just before Passover that Mary anointed
Jesus’ feet with a pound of costly perfume. Makes me wonder if Jesus routinely
heads back to visit these friends because he felt most comfortable there, and
they provided a change of pace to the stress and hard work that occupied most
of Jesus’ time. In any case, here we are, once again, at Mary and Martha’s house
in Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem.
They
say that the biggest motivator to clean one’s house is to have a guest arrive
on their doorstep. How about if you have 70 guests show up? The disciples had
just returned from their travels, weary and probably hungry. Jesus probably thought,
“hey my friends Mary and Martha live around here. I bet they won’t mind if we drop
in!” As you could imagine, Martha went on a tear around the house – cleaning,
getting started on cooking food, putting out drinks, filling bowls of water for
people to wash their feet – all of the things a good host would do. Is it any
wonder that Martha felt a little annoyed when she looked in on the company and found
her darling sister Mary just sitting there, listening to Jesus teach. What
would you do if it were you? How would you feel?
Martha
put up a stink and complains to Jesus, trying to get him to convince Mary to
help her with the chores and the tasks. I suppose she has grounds for such a
complaint because, in that time, women were supposed to be servers not
learners. So, by sitting at Jesus’ feet instead of running around taking care
of their guests, Mary was going against acceptable customs. Martha’s
expectation that Jesus would chastise Mary for going against the rules makes
sense. Instead, Jesus takes Martha to task, telling her, “You are worried and
distracted by many things, but few things are needed – indeed only one. Mary
has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
The
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 as we fight
to win some sort of “I’m a better Christian than you” competition.
There
is no reason for this to be an either/or situation. There are times for listening
and there are times for action, with no need for debate on the priority of contemplative
listener and the dutiful activist. It’s not about choosing to be one or the
other, but about doing what is needed in the moment, being in the moment, and
focusing on God in the midst of duty and routine. As Rachel Held Evans states, “If
we censure Martha too harshly, she may abandon serving altogether, and if we
commend Mary too profusely, she may sit there forever. There is a time to go and do; there is a time
to listen and reflect. Knowing which and
when is a matter of spiritual discernment.” Jesus is not chastising Martha for
her hospitality for hospitality is very important to Jesus. The work that
Martha is doing is necessary and important, but it seems that she has put being
the perfect host above hearing the word of God. And that is the warning Jesus is
giving to Martha in this moment. It’s also a warning to us that if we make
ourselves too busy, we might miss out on hearing God’s message.
What
Martha needed was to just stop. Sit down. Listen. Sometimes, whatever we are
doing, even if we’re trying to do good, God really needs us to stop. Stop doing
so much, stop trying so hard. Stop trying to fix everything. Stop trying to
justify yourself by looking busy. Stop doing and start listening. Sit down at
Jesus’ feet and try to hear where God’s Spirit is moving in your life and in
the world around you. The world we live in is full of problems, problems we all
want to fix. But sometimes we want to fix problems more than we want to
understand them. The problems we are facing today don’t have easy fixes: how
best to protect the environment? How to distribute resources fairly? How to
protect ourselves while staying open and welcoming? All of these issues require
careful, prayerful discernment. At least, they do if we are going to respond
from a place of love and not fear. Jesus’ call is to come more and more into
the way of love. But finding love amid the fear that surrounds us takes some
work on our part. We have to seek out God’s presence. We have to set aside the
noise and distractions of the world before we can best hear God’s voice. Today,
we need to sit and listen. Tomorrow, we can act.
Mary
chose to sit still at the feet of her teacher, Jesus. Martha was asked to stop
and join them. And we too are called to stop, to put aside our many tasks and
all that distracts us, and to sit at Jesus’ feet. We can pray to God, read the
Scriptures regularly, be present to God and God’s presence in Christ to us, and
listen for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. It is there
and God is always reaching out to us in love. During St. Joan of Arc’s trial,
she was questioned as to whether the voice of God she claimed to hear wasn’t
merely a voice in her head. She responded by saying essentially, “How else do
you think God speaks to us?”
Amen.
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