Luke 10:38-42 (The Voice)
Jesus continued from there toward Jerusalem and came to another village. Martha, a resident of that village, welcomed Jesus into her home. Her sister, Mary, went and sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him teach. Meanwhile Martha was anxious about all the hospitality arrangements.
Martha (interrupting Jesus): Lord, why don’t You care that my sister is leaving me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to get over here and help me.
Jesus: Oh Martha, Martha, you are so anxious and concerned about a million details, but really, only one thing matters. Mary has chosen that one thing, and I won’t take it away from her.
Last week we talked about our life in Christ in terms of Praxis, that process of contemplation or prayer leading to action, then returning to contemplation, which now includes the recent action and thus leads to further action – and so on and so on. Not works alone, not faith alone, but both – working together to lead us into deeper union with God and furthering the building of the reign of God on earth.
But with this reading today we seem to be right back where we started – with contemplation and action in opposition, rather than complimenting each other. With this reading are we meant to follow Mary’s way of contemplation and quiet absorption with Christ, or Martha’s building up of the kingdom through working for her brothers and sisters? And to further confuse things, in this reading, Jesus appears to be choosing sides. Mary, he tells Martha, has chosen the only thing that matters.
That would seem to be that – faith over works, contemplation over action ..... except ..... his actions here seem, in many ways, very un-like Jesus. Yes, Jesus spends a lot of time in prayer – a lot of time refreshing himself in his father – but he spends a whole lot more time out there doing – calling, healing – for Pete's sake, the man walked all over Israel teaching and preaching, mostly among the poor and powerless – reaching out – inviting people in. Not just sitting around praying.
I suspect that most of us are responsible people – the kind who take care of things when something needs to be done and no one else seems to be stepping up. The kind who recognize that when people are hungry, someone has to prepare the food, and yes, sitting around talking is interesting and good, but the dishes aren’t going to wash themselves. I suspect many of us secretly side with poor old Martha and think she’s getting a raw deal here.
And yes, I recognize that this isn’t just any old meal and that’s Jesus sitting in the front room – but I’ve often imagined this story as if Martha had come in to sit down with the others – and wondered how long they would have gone before someone began complaining about “where’s lunch?”
And this is when I am reminded that in order to even begin to understand the message of the gospels, we need to read all the gospels, and when we do we find that in some stories action is emphasized, and in others – like today’s – it is contemplation – reflection – that is praised. And we are firmly back again on both/and – the need for both prayer and action. It’s pretty much like the old song – you really can’t have one without the other.
In this story – at this moment in the lives of Mary and Martha, sitting with Jesus is the right choice for Mary– and Martha needs to get over it and let her make her own choices. And if Martha is feeling put upon, Martha – and all those like her – need to accept that they are the only ones we see making demands on them. Jesus, so far as we know, didn’t tell Martha to go do the work. Martha took that on herself. We do that a lot – don’t we? Take too much on ourselves – because we can’t manage to say ‘no’ – and then feel angry and ill-used. How many of us spend our lives running in circles when we would be much better off quietly spending more time with God?
I’m beginning to suspect that God and I have been talking about this very issue lately. I didn’t recognize it at first because it hasn’t looked or sounded like “conversation,” but I’m pretty sure now that’s what has been going on. I’ve told you before that some of my own deepest moments with God have been out in nature – away from “the world.” Well, one of those moments has been right in the forefront of my awareness a lot recently – it just keeps popping into my thinking. I’m becoming pretty darn sure that God is reminding me off the wonder of that time – and suggesting maybe I need some more — hmmmm.
When have you felt closest to God? And how long ago did it happen? And have you taken time to go there again? Taken time to just let God tell you – again – how much you are loved? Why not?
But with this reading today we seem to be right back where we started – with contemplation and action in opposition, rather than complimenting each other. With this reading are we meant to follow Mary’s way of contemplation and quiet absorption with Christ, or Martha’s building up of the kingdom through working for her brothers and sisters? And to further confuse things, in this reading, Jesus appears to be choosing sides. Mary, he tells Martha, has chosen the only thing that matters.
That would seem to be that – faith over works, contemplation over action ..... except ..... his actions here seem, in many ways, very un-like Jesus. Yes, Jesus spends a lot of time in prayer – a lot of time refreshing himself in his father – but he spends a whole lot more time out there doing – calling, healing – for Pete's sake, the man walked all over Israel teaching and preaching, mostly among the poor and powerless – reaching out – inviting people in. Not just sitting around praying.
I suspect that most of us are responsible people – the kind who take care of things when something needs to be done and no one else seems to be stepping up. The kind who recognize that when people are hungry, someone has to prepare the food, and yes, sitting around talking is interesting and good, but the dishes aren’t going to wash themselves. I suspect many of us secretly side with poor old Martha and think she’s getting a raw deal here.
And yes, I recognize that this isn’t just any old meal and that’s Jesus sitting in the front room – but I’ve often imagined this story as if Martha had come in to sit down with the others – and wondered how long they would have gone before someone began complaining about “where’s lunch?”
And this is when I am reminded that in order to even begin to understand the message of the gospels, we need to read all the gospels, and when we do we find that in some stories action is emphasized, and in others – like today’s – it is contemplation – reflection – that is praised. And we are firmly back again on both/and – the need for both prayer and action. It’s pretty much like the old song – you really can’t have one without the other.
In this story – at this moment in the lives of Mary and Martha, sitting with Jesus is the right choice for Mary– and Martha needs to get over it and let her make her own choices. And if Martha is feeling put upon, Martha – and all those like her – need to accept that they are the only ones we see making demands on them. Jesus, so far as we know, didn’t tell Martha to go do the work. Martha took that on herself. We do that a lot – don’t we? Take too much on ourselves – because we can’t manage to say ‘no’ – and then feel angry and ill-used. How many of us spend our lives running in circles when we would be much better off quietly spending more time with God?
I’m beginning to suspect that God and I have been talking about this very issue lately. I didn’t recognize it at first because it hasn’t looked or sounded like “conversation,” but I’m pretty sure now that’s what has been going on. I’ve told you before that some of my own deepest moments with God have been out in nature – away from “the world.” Well, one of those moments has been right in the forefront of my awareness a lot recently – it just keeps popping into my thinking. I’m becoming pretty darn sure that God is reminding me off the wonder of that time – and suggesting maybe I need some more — hmmmm.
When have you felt closest to God? And how long ago did it happen? And have you taken time to go there again? Taken time to just let God tell you – again – how much you are loved? Why not?
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