Year
C, Pentecost 6 Luke 10:38-42
Ever since the
story of Martha and Mary was first read, it has been interpreted and
misinterpreted in about 100 different ways.
Often times Mary and Martha are pitted against one another. You are
either Mary or Martha. And if you are
Martha, you better learn how to be more like Mary. Books like: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World,
Having a Martha Home in a Mary Way, Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who
Gets Things Done---have oversimplified this story. (At least the titles
have.)
People have used this story to create archetypes for all
women—you are either Mary or Martha. Mary is the devoted learner who sits at
Jesus’ feet as a disciple would. Martha
is the worker bee who can’t be bothered to stop and listen because she has too
much to do. At times, people seem to be trying to use this story to describe
the right and wrong way to be a disciple.
But really, it’s
about different ways of being a disciple and the challenges that arise when all
of the preoccupations of our life get in the way of being in relationship with
God. There is little doubt that Martha was a wonderful disciple of Jesus. Showing hospitality was incredibly important
at that time. One doesn’t have to look
any further than the story we have from the Old Testament when Abraham drops
everything to help three strangers wandering by his tent. Anyone who has spent any time volunteering in
the church knows that a lot of what needs to be done is the very stuff that
Martha was doing.
Then why would
Jesus be critical of Martha? I am not sure that is what is really happening
here. Notice that he’s not criticizing
her for what she is doing, not even for what she is complaining about. He said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and
distracted by many things….” If you look
at the Greek that this Gospel was originally written in, you might note that
better translation would be: “Martha, Martha, you are completely freaking
out.” The Greek word that is translated
to worried is describing someone absolutely panicked.
This was more than just dinner party stress. It was stomach churning, headache
producing---panic. I am sure there were a variety of things contributing to the
panic. But I don’t think it’s a
coincidence that we are at the point in the Gospel when Jesus has set his face
toward Jerusalem. Just a few chapters
before, Jesus had started talking about his imminent death. Maybe Martha was thinking this might be the
last time she would see him and here she is doing the dishes when what she desperately
wanted to do was sit at his feet like her sister Mary. But something was stopping her.
When Jesus told
her that Mary had chosen the better part and that was not to be taken away from
her—he wasn’t minimalizing what Martha had accomplished. He was simply reminding Martha that there was
a better part to play at that moment.
There was something else she could be doing. There was a way to step away from the anxiety
and panic. We don’t know how Martha
responded, but I hope she sat down for a few minutes, to absorb God’s
presence. Because there he was, the very
embodiment of peace, the balm for her weary soul. All she had to do was stop for a minute and
listen.
If it was hard
for Martha to find peace when she was in the presence of God in the flesh, it
is no wonder that we have a hard time releasing ourselves from the burden of
anxiety in times such as these. I could
start listing the many anxiety provoking things going on in our world, but I
fear that would not be helpful. We all
know what is causing us anxiety because it seems to be constantly with us. With the advent of smart phones, it’s
impossible to step away even for a moment.
And it’s not just smart phone causing the problems. The pandemic has
intensified all of life’s challenges.
In the last 2
years, the number of adults with anxiety disorders has increased by 26%. The
number of children with an anxiety disorder has doubled over the course of the
pandemic. The number of people with
mental health issues was increasing before the pandemic. The pandemic simply accelerated the mental
health crisis in our country. The rates of depression have also increased
exponentially, but that is a conversation for another time. The point is that we are in anxious
times.
Many people wonder
why Martha went to Jesus to complain about her sister rather than going directly
to her sister to ask for help. I think
it was because she knew that that the help she needed was not the help Mary
could provide. She needed (like we all
need) Jesus’ help. She needed healing
for her mind---a peace that passes all understanding.
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
there is need of only one thing…” The word for distracted also means to be
pulled in many different directions. Even
when we were in part of the pandemic when we were all locked down and limited
in what we could do and where we could go, our minds were still being pulled in
different directions. When that happens,
our lives become so fragmented, we can barely remember what the big picture
is. For Martha, the big picture was
right in front of her---God incarnate.
For us, the big picture—God’s purpose for our lives is a little more
elusive. We may hear God calling our name, but it’s a lot easier to ignore.
This is a hard sermon for me to preach because I struggle with
anxiety. I find that the distractions of
life can consume me at times. I wonder. I wonder if we could find a way to be
distracted by God. If our distractions have started to consume us, what if we
found small ways to let God break through and distract us from our own fears
and anxieties?
 |
| My view from traffic |
God’s peace is everywhere, if we look for it. Take some time to
consider what thing or person or place distracts you enough to experience some
peace and then make some space in your life for opportunities to search for God
presence. When you have found that
presence (that peace that passes all understanding)--- bask in it. Even for a moment. Because that moment, that moment leads to
other moments and those moments are the ones that will save you.
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