October 8, 2006 

Rev. Dr.  Jon Smoot   

Luke 10: 38-42  and James 1: 19-27 

 

 Ever wonder why some ancient books and gospels didn’t make it into the Bible while others did?  One that didn’t is the gospel of Thomas.  This book was made up of miracle stories and purported sayings of Jesus.  There is one story that directly bears on our text today from Luke.  It seems the male disciples of Jesus were getting awfully tired of having Mary crashing their good old boys circle, pretending to be a disciple.  She receives instruction from Jesus, the rabbi, making her a full equal with the Twelve, and they complain.  Not to worry, Jesus says.  In the 114th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says:  “See, I shall lead her, so that I will make her male, that she too may become a living spirit.  For every woman who makes herself male will enter the rule of heaven.” Hope the National Organization for Women never gets wind of that… But there’s one very good reason it fortunately didn’t make the Bible. This is no gospel, no good news for anyone.  No one is challenged out of their cultural or intellectual ruts; no one growing in grace or compassion.

 

I tell you this about the Gospel of Thomas because the cultural vantage point from which we view scripture is intensely vital.  Viewed from our perspective, from the 21st century, it’s easy to make a cartoon or sitcom out of this text from Luke.  As Preacher William Willimon notes, we could call it “The Martha and Mary show” - a petty, domestic score-keeping squabble we can all identify with.  We’ve all had our Martha days - there’s still lots of hard work to be done and you’re the only one doing it.  Martha, the neurotic whiner, comes bursting out of the kitchen, up to her eyeballs in soapsuds.  Mary, the contemplative mystic, sitting cross-legged and calf-eyed on the floor.  Jesus sides with Mary and tells Martha to lighten up and let the dishes in the sink pile up.  The audience laugh track gets louder…  The unhelpful moral of the story?  Don’t be too busy for God like Martha, and be contemplative like Mary.  This is no gospel. Where’s the good news in that?  We can either feel self-pity and shut down if we primarily identify with Martha, or self-righteous if we happen to be spiritually wired more like Mary.

 

Now, let’s go a little deeper with the text, to find the word of grace, for there is always a word of grace.   As with the Good Samaritan story which is linked to today’s text, Jesus is breaking all the rules.  To the lawyer in the Samaritan story Jesus says “Go and do” – go love your neighbor, for everyone is your neighbor, whether you like it or not. To Martha Jesus says “lose the doing just for once, and sit down, listen, and learn. Love your God.” Both stories capture the gospel message: Love your God, love your neighbor. In today’s text Jesus is thumbing his nose at social convention, in favor of the codes of God’s reign. He graciously invites culturally-bound, gender-bound Martha and Mary more deeply into full and free, life-giving discipleship of following him.  But a Jewish Rabbi which Jesus was, never entered the home of single women.  Furthermore, women never sat at the feet of a rabbi, which means they are disciples of that teacher.  Sitting at Jesus’ feet means Mary is acting like a male, violating a major social boundary. 

 

So When Martha objects to Mary’s behavior, sure she is jealous, she is peeved, but she is also shocked that Mary would bring such shame and dishonor on the house:  “Jesus, for God’s sake tell the shameless hussy to get back on her feet and help me in the kitchen where she belongs.”

 

But Jesus surprises both Martha and Mary with his response.  Both expected, “Now Mary, Martha is right.  Your desire to learn is admirable, but your first duty is to help your sister with the meal.” Then Jesus would say, “How about a round of applause for all the ladies in the kitchen!”  Instead, Jesus invites Martha to take the risk of discipleship which renders null and void all previous commitments and roles assigned her by her culture.  “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and distracted by many things.  You are internally ripped apart.  It’s a wonder that you don't kill yourself with all the effort it is taking you to hold your life together.   You are allowing secondary matters to distract you from hearing and obeying the Word of God.”

 

Martha’s problem is not that she works hard; or that she is busy. Jesus doesn’t criticize her work or the way Martha has chosen to serve. He is concerned instead with the attitude of her heart. Her resentment has taken over and clouded her joy in God’s word. She is worried and distracted by too many things.   She is held down and held back by traditional expectations. Her hard-working discipleship is flawed by anger, fear, and resentment. Does this sound familiar to any of you?  There is a world of difference between that activity that issues forth from a strong sense of God’s loving claim on us with our own joyful, purposeful and trustful response  -- and the frantic activity spawned by un-centeredness and un-trust.  As individuals and as a church we often ask the wrong questions: “Am I doing enough?” “If I don’t do it, who will?” “Am I doing the right thing?” “Who am I disappointing?” Do I measure up in the eyes of God, my friends, my spouse, my church?”  That attitude breeds disaster – it dishonors God and deflates ourselves and our community.

   

 Mary is lifted up for us as someone who chose the better part: someone who was unafraid to listen, to engage in wonder, to be transformed by grace.  Don't assume it was easy for her.  She had to jump extremely high cultural, religious and family hurdles.  Mary takes the risk of disappointing others, of being misunderstood, in order to be found at the feet of the one person who is most needful to us.  On that day in their home, Mary and Martha are confronted with liberating grace, and one responds by taking refuge in the words of grace and truth; the other takes refuge in restless activity.

 

To say that God’s presence and grace liberates is to beg the question, “from what and for what?” Well, that is a very long sermon series in itself – but here’s the Cliff Notes version: We are liberated from encrusted cultural codes that crush the life out of ourselves and our neighbor.  The Samaritan and the Mary-Martha stories voice Jesus’ protest against the rules and boundaries set by the culture in which they and we live. Jesus commands us to redefine just who is our neighbor; especially those who are the oppressed, the voiceless, and the victimized – you can fill in the blank: gays or minorities or immigrants, the poor, the widow, the orphan in all of their current guises – anyone who gets the sharp end of injustice or of societal complacence. We are commanded to not just sit there, but do something about it.

 

And then the Mary-Martha story confronts us to shake off the anxieties and distractions and the labels we wear that drive us to receive our worth and value through more and more doing. Jesus commands us to also sit down, listen, and learn. If we were to ask Jesus which example applies to us – the Samaritan or Mary; to go and do, or to sit and listen, his answer would probably be “Yes.”

 

The gospel is frightening and frustrating, isn’t it? It’s tough to have to grow up in our faith; to wean ourselves from an immature view of God and the world, where fundamentalism and rules and regulations reign. We know that’s not right or gospel, but we still look to some religious authority or for the spiritual magic bullet that tell us what to do to receive God’s favor. It’s also tough to wean ourselves from the reactionary temptation to just say the heck with it, cynically go about our business with just enough patina of faith to make us feel better about ourselves, but never do anything with our faith to advance God’s justice and love. Neither extreme will do.

 

I guess the bottom-line is that Jesus invites us to the gift of wonder: The gift of sitting in the presence of the Lord of all creation, rejoicing in and receiving the gift of each other, bringing us transformation and the desire to love God through loving action in our world. So the tension with being and doing, work and worship, in God’s world is not either/or, it’s both/and. It is a dance – a rhythm.

 

As preacher/commentator Fred Craddock puts it concerning this text: “So let’s not censure Martha too harshly, or she may abandon serving altogether, and if we commend Mary too profusely, she may sit there forever.” There is rhythm to grace: A time to go and do, and a time to listen and reflect. Knowing which and when is a matter of spiritual discernment. Do you have that rhythm? Where is the rhythm of grace for you? Is it important enough to you, for you to find it?

 

Let it be so, for you are more than a member or friend of Bradley Hills Church – you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower of the Way. And God demands and is worthy of your best, not your left-overs. So, find the rhythm of grace, and you will find your love for God and your love for your neighbor, and you will find life in all of its fullness. And it will not be ever taken away from you again.

 

Amen.