First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck July 22, 2007
Now as they 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.”
What does a typical day in your life look like? For most of us, it’s usually busier than we would like. Maybe you’re a full-time mom, maybe you commute to work and then work long hours, even if you are a kid or if you are retired, you have a schedule to keep, and you probably love the idea of sitting and relaxing for just a few more minutes. Grab your favorite novel, curl up in a chair, and sip a glass of lemonade while the worries of the world slip away.
Contrast that picture with a picture of busily preparing Thanksgiving dinner in a hot kitchen for your entire family. You never know if the turkey will live up to everyone’s expectations, and there are just so many things to keep track of! Kids run around underfoot, and then the house has to be clean before the family arrives. We can suddenly see what is appealing about the story of Mary and Martha. Mary is the one who sits and relaxes, and she’s the one who does the right thing, according to Jesus! It sounds like Jesus is saying to us, “Sit down and stop worrying so much. Grab a glass of lemonade, the new Harry Potter book, and kick up your feet and relax.”
This sounds great, and in a way, I think that this is what Jesus is saying here. Our recreation time is very important, and many of us Americans probably need to take some more time to relax. In another way, though, an encounter with Jesus goes beyond just our down time. As he typically does, Jesus goes beyond our expectations here. Yes, Jesus wants the too-busy Martha to change her schedule, but he wants her to go further than just that. Martha knows that following Jesus is about serving, but in this story Jesus tells her that she first needs to listen to his word. Jesus tells Martha, and us, that our love and service to Jesus and to our neighbors needs to be rooted in our knowledge of Jesus’ love and service to us.
We can learn just how important by looking at another story by the same author: the book of Acts. Luke probably wrote both Luke and Acts, and there is a story in Acts 6 that reminds me of this story in Luke 10. On first reading our text for today, we may be tempted to quickly write Martha off as the “wrong” sister, but I think that when we read Acts 6 we see that there is more to Martha than first meets the eye.
In Acts 6, we learn about the very first deacons of the Christian church. Some widows in the community were not getting enough food, but the twelve disciples said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.” The “word” here is the same “word” that Mary listens to at Jesus’ feet. The word for “waiting on tables” is diakoneo, from which we get the word “deacon.” Martha does this exact same thing when she prepares the meal – she is “deaconing” for Jesus. I’ll bet that when Luke wrote Luke 10 and Acts 6, he had both stories in mind. Here’s how the story goes in Acts: “’It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.’ What they said pleased the whole community.”
The job of deacon, when it was instituted, was a very important job that only highly respected people could hold. They are described as “men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” These were the kind of people who would do the meal preparation, so Martha was a deacon before the church had even begun. She welcomed Jesus into her home and prepared a meal for him. This was a high and holy calling, to serve Jesus in a very practical way, and Martha lived into this calling in this story.
I don’t have kids, which I hear makes you very busy. For me, the busiest time in my life so far was my last couple of years in college. I had a lot of homework, a part-time job, and several student organizations to participate in. I was too busy. I knew I had to cut some of it out, but all of it seemed so good and worthwhile. After a while, though, the same thing happened to me that happened to Martha. I stopped thinking about how good and worthwhile everything was; I only thought about how much it was. Luke says that Martha was “distracted by her many tasks,” and Jesus says that she is “worried and distracted by many things.”
If we read the Bible as a whole, we recognize that all Christians, like the first deacons and like Martha, are called to hospitality and service. Our service should be like a name tag for us, identifying us as those who love Jesus. Martha showed her love for Jesus through service, but something went wrong. The story doesn’t tell us just what went wrong, but it is not hard for us 21st century American Christians to imagine. We too fill our lives with important, Christian service, but sometimes we forget our reason for doing it. We know how to show our love for Jesus, but sometimes we lose track of why. Whether this service is through the church, in our families, or in our professional lives, we forget that all of it is service to the God who created all of these things.
The Christian tradition has sometimes used the story of Mary and Martha to set up the active life against the contemplative life. That is, which is the better way to serve Jesus? Is it through service, through feeding the hungry and caring for the poor? Or is it through quiet devotion to Jesus, through prayer and meditation on the Scriptures? Jesus says that Mary has “chosen the better part,” so many Christians have said that contemplation is more important, and that service is only secondary. Martin Luther even made Mary and Martha into symbols of justification by works and justification by grace. He wrote, “Martha, your work must be punished and regarded for nothing….I do not want any work but Mary’s, and that is faith.”
Now, there were reasons for Luther to write this in the 16th century, but I do not think that we can write Martha off so quickly. In Luke, the story that Jesus tells just before visiting Martha’s home is very interesting. It is the story of the Good Samaritan. Right before Jesus visits the home of a certain woman named Martha, he has a conversation with a certain lawyer about what it means to love one’s neighbor. In the Good Samaritan story, obeying God is about service. The Good Samaritan stops to help the stranger by the side of the road, provides him with shelter and money, and goes on his way. Martha was on her way to being the Good Samaritan, but she lost her purpose in going there.
So, Martha may be more like a tragic hero than a villain. Even so, as we search for the best way to follow Jesus today, how do we avoid her fate? What does it mean for us to be like Mary? Well, I wonder why Luke places this story right next to the story of the Good Samaritan. It could be that, as we read through this part of the gospel, we are getting a lesson in what Christian discipleship looks like. The Good Samaritan tells us that following Jesus means serving those around us. Mary and Martha tell us that we can never keep this service up if we forget that it’s Jesus who we’re following. We need service, but not empty service. Not a busy schedule for the sake of a busy schedule, but a life rich in serving others because of what Jesus has already done for us.
Martha had the service part down, but she wasn’t able to sit and listen to the word of Jesus to her. What about us? We sometimes have the service part down, but why? Why do we serve? Christian service is not in contrast to quietly listening to Jesus’ word, but it is because we have listened to Jesus’ word to us that we serve. Flip a few chapters back to Luke 8:21, where Jesus says that his family includes “those who hear the word of God and do it.” “Those who hear the word of God and do it.” This is a great way to define Good Samaritan discipleship and Mary discipleship: hearing the word of God and doing it. So, is contemplation or action more important for the Christian? Fred Craddock writes, “If we were to ask Jesus which example applies to us, the Samaritan or Mary, his answer would probably be Yes.”
Some women from Dutch Neck went on a retreat this spring. The theme of the retreat was “Having a Mary heart in a Martha world.” I like this title because it emphasizes Mary’s heart. We are indeed called to service and hospitality like Martha, but the world does this with Martha’s heart. We are called to serve with a Mary heart. Do we serve because it makes us look good? Do we serve because it will give us a better chance of getting into a good college? Do we serve because being busy makes us feel important? I think this was why I made myself so busy in college. Or do we serve because we listen to God’s word and hear in that word the joyful news that God loves us in spite of all our bad motivations? Our service should consist not in being worried and distracted by many things, but in hearing the word of God’s love for us and in responding with joyful gratitude by serving those around us.
Another group from Dutch Neck gathered in Trenton to help build a Habitat for Humanity home a few weeks ago. One of the work days was followed by a festive dinner back at the church. This dinner reflects the true nature of the entire day of work: a celebration. For many of you who went, the service was done not out of drudgery or obligation, but out of joy and gratitude. We are a people who are loved by God. Because of that, we do not need to be worried and distracted by anything. Because we are a people who are loved by God, we can serve our neighbors. Because we are a people who are loved by God, hearing Jesus’ word enables us to do this service. Because we are a people who are loved by God, we can welcome Jesus into our hearts, sit at his feet, and serve him.
