Mary and Martha

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

A few years ago a woman named Laurie Beth Jones wrote a book entitled Jesus As CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership. The book explores the leadership techniques of Jesus Christ to provide guidance tips on inspiring and managing others. Jesus As CEO has since become a national bestseller but after reading today's scripture, one must wonder-- would Jesus really make a good CEO?

Our scripture opens with Jesus and his disciples happening upon a village. They are just returning from a mission where Jesus sends out seventy-two of his followers to go two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go (10:1). When they arrived at these towns, they were to rely upon the hospitality of strangers since they were traveling very light: no money, no knapsack, no sandals. They had nothing but the proclamation of the kingdom of God and the power to heal the sick. As it turns out, they return with joy from their mission and announce it to have been a great success! They report that even the demons were subjected to them in Jesus' name.

There is reason to suspect, then, that the seventy-two have visited this village before Jesus enters it, since they were to visit the places Jesus was about to go. Upon entering this village, Jesus is welcomed by Martha into her home. This, indeed, is a strange occurrence. A woman welcoming a man into her home? Luke makes no mention of Martha outside of this passage. Perhaps Martha previously welcomed a pair from the seventy-two on their mission? It is not clear. What is clear, however, is that Martha--- a woman --welcomes Jesus into her home. This implies that Martha is the leader of the household, an atypical arrangement in the ancient near east.

So also is it scandalous that Jesus-- a man --accepts Martha's invitation. They make their way from the village square back to Martha's and, upon arriving, Martha's sister, Mary, meets Jesus. Unlike Martha who we see to be a go-getter, a woman of action, Mary, we learn, is content to sit at Jesus' feet listening to what he had to say. Meanwhile, we can almost picture Martha going to-and-fro trying to accommodate to her visitor.

Welcoming a visitor is no easy task. Anyone who has ever welcomed someone into their home knows that there is no room to pander to their own desires. Everything quickly revolves around the visitor, ensuring the visitor's continued comfort. Martha may begin by offering Jesus a drink and a comfortable chair and then set about preparing the meal and the place where he was to sleep. These are just the large tasks; within each of these tasks there lies a multitude of work with additional considerations to be made. It's one thing to welcome a family member or a close friend into your house, where you can maybe slough off in a couple of these areas; it's an entirely different thing to welcome someone of importance - a boss, an official or, you know, the Messiah.

Consequently, I would be just as exasperated as Martha if I saw my sister sitting at the feet of Jesus. How dare Mary not help Martha? Women in those times were expected to be responsible for a visitor's comfort, and most certainly were not allowed to sit at the feet of a rabbi. That would indicate the woman was a disciple of the rabbi's. How could a woman, uneducated and illiterate as many of them were, how could a woman possibly engage with Jesus as a disciple, shirking their domestic, societal role?

Clearly, Mary stepped out of her bounds and Martha needed to rectify the situation. She went straight to the top: Jesus. Surely Jesus would be on her side. Surely Jesus is familiar with the role women were to play in society. Surely Jesus is annoyed with Mary's forthrightness in sitting at his feet. Surely Jesus will put an end to this nonsense.

Approaching him, Martha says in her exasperation, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" She wants and expects Jesus to respond by saying something like, "Martha - you are right. There are important duties that need to be done and your sister needs to step back in her place. I'll see to it that she comes to you immediately to help. So sorry I let this whole sitting-at-my-feet business get so out of control." But instead of hearing the three words that women desperately yearn to hear ("you are right"), Martha hears Jesus respond by saying, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

What? Can she be hearing Jesus correctly? Did he really just say that? Does he not understand what it takes to make a visitor feel welcome? Did he really praise her sister for just sitting there, doing nothing ?

Clearly Martha would have something to say to Laurie Beth Jones as she wrote her Jesus As CEO book. It probably would have gone along the lines of, "Yeah, right. Jesus' technique as CEO would be great - if you want your company to fail." As the leader of the household, Martha probably knows a bit more about leadership than Jesus considering his latest remark. She knows as well as CEOs that business will go nowhere if workers are allowed to search the internet all day long, or if workers do not do their duty. She and all housewives know that the house simply does not take care of itself. Maintaining a house can be as big of a job as maintaining a corporation. Neglecting duties and details in either a household or a corporation invites serious problems.

Jesus' forthright rejection of her request attests not only to his extreme ignorance of what it is to manage a household, but also demonstrates incredible insensitivity toward Martha's plight. Here Martha attempts to take some amount of self-care by delegating her duties to Mary. But Jesus does not seem to care about Martha overworking herself. In fact, he almost pits sister against sister. Martha is no longer the "good" one because she does her duty; Mary is now the "good" one, even though she acts against her societal role. Is Jesus really this ignorant and insensitive? Why does he respond to Martha in this fashion?

Indeed, Jesus' reaction to Martha looks both ignorant and insensitive on the surface, but in actuality it is quite radical. Jesus is giving permission for Martha to step outside of societal norms and duties in order to be his disciple. No longer are women to find the message that they are excluded from worship or partaking in theological education. No longer are women told the specific duties that they must do simply because they are a woman. Jesus is granting both Mary and Martha direct access to him, as he is the one thing that holds importance in this life. It is not our societal duties, not the details, but Jesus.

What then about the details? What then about duties and obligations that need to be fulfilled in order to maintain order and any sense of progression? Are we to let everything fall to the wayside? Does focusing on Jesus as the one important thing mean that we are to neglect everything else?

No. In fact, when we read Luke's gospel as a whole, we often find that his stories inform one another. Oftentimes there is one story about a man and the following story is about a woman and, despite their segregation, the stories speak to each other and shouldn't be read in isolation. Our story this afternoon of Mary and Martha should be read with the passage immediately before it. Jesus is approached by a man, a lawyer. The lawyer wants to test Jesus, so he asks, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (10:25). Jesus turns the question back upon the lawyer and the lawyer proclaims that to inherit eternal life, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" (10:27). Jesus affirms that, yeah, that's a good answer. Do that and you'll live eternally. But the lawyer persists and, wanting to justify himself so as to prove that he not only has the right answer, but also that he is doing the right thing, he asks, "Who is my neighbor?" (10:29).

Here Jesus tells the lawyer the parable of the Good Samaritan. We are often familiar with this parable regardless if we do not know it by name. The story Jesus tells is of a man who is robbed and beaten, thrown upon the side of the road to perish. He is passed by some people who we think ought to stop and help the man, but they regard him and, thinking of their worries and burdens, leave the man to remain in his distress. But someone totally unexpected and, indeed, despised by the Jews, a Samaritan, cannot leave the man to suffer. He stops and takes care of the man, showing him mercy. Eventually the Samaritan takes the beaten man to an inn and provides for the man's continued recovery and care. This man, this Samaritan, this is the picture of a true neighbor. Jesus commends the lawyer to go and do likewise.

In the instance of the Good Samaritan, Jesus appears to be telling the lawyer that a disciple of Christ, a follower of God will go and do. It almost is not enough to simply love God. We must also serve our neighbor. And yet in our text we precisely see Martha going about, doing various things and Jesus tells her that doing those things are not important, that the thing of central importance is to sit and listen. Which is it?

It is both. Jesus is neither pleased with those who are all action but no contemplation, nor those who are all contemplation with no action. For those who are all action but no contemplation will not be rooted in a sense of purpose for their actions. Likewise, those who are all contemplation with no action will have no purpose for their contemplation. As commentator Fred Craddock says, "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."

Which leads me to conclude that there is a reason why the passage stops short of giving us Martha's response. It is rather odd, don't you think? Here Martha is, all upset, and Jesus gives her this response that I imagine might make her even more upset. Afterall, if it were me, I am almost certain that I might be inclined to tell Jesus he can go find somewhere else to stay tonight. Mary too, while we're at it.

So why no response? I think Luke leaves the story open for us to remember that we have a place in discerning our own discipleship to Jesus. We are like Martha, right? Who among us does not worry about all of the various details and tediums of our lives? We women are even more prone to doing this than men. Women wade through this thick, complex marsh of traditional and contemporary mores that dictate who we should be. We are to be wife and mother, yet we are also to be colleague and partner. In the end, we essentially become all things to all people in quite the opposite and positive sense that Paul wants us to be, because we end up running ourselves ragged to the point where we abandon our own self for the sake of others.

So why does Luke not give us Martha's response? Because just as Martha welcomes Jesus, so we are welcomed by Jesus to be his disciples and there is a choice in that. Luke leaves us with Jesus' words to Martha so as to consider our own agenda in light of Jesus' agenda and nothing else. We are given the freedom to both sit and listen or to go and do, but to not neglect one for the other. It is our responsibility to check our discipleship. It is our responsibility to discern whether it is appropriate to go and do, to actively serve, as well as when it is appropriate to sit and listen, to slow down and lead a contemplative life.

We are commanded to both love God and love neighbor. Men are not commanded to live a contemplative life, examining theological problems and insights and women are not commanded to live an active life, serving those around them. As women and men, as people of God, we are all commanded to devote ourselves to both God and neighbor, to lead a life both of contemplation and action.

As you navigate your way through life's complex marsh, may you remember Jesus welcomes you to be his disciple and may God grant you grace and mercy as you discern the time to go and do and the time to sit and listen.

O the depth of the riches and wisdom of the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are God's judgments
And how inscrutable God's ways!
For from God
And through God
And to God are all things.
To God be glory forever.
Amen .

[Originially written in April 2007 as a sermon for my Women's Preaching Traditions class.]