What is Enough?: July 20

 Year C, Pentecost 6                                                                Luke 10:38-42                            In the early 1970s, two Princeton behavioral scientists were interested in studying the psychology of prosocial behavior—which is why people do good things for others. They thought who better to take part in such a study then Princeton Seminary students, many of whom were preparing to be pastors. The intent of the study was to determine whether it would be people’s innate qualities that lead to kindness or situational factors.  They brought in a bunch of seminary students and asked them to fill out surveys that would discern why they were going into ministry, was it because they wanted to help people or was it something else.  Then the participants were told that they needed to prepare a brief talk about the Good Samaritan, which we heard last week. 

Participants were all told that they needed to walk to a nearby building to meet up with another member of the team where they would give their sermon. They then were given one of three conditions. They either were told that they: A. had plenty of time, and were early, B. were on-time, but should head over now so as not to be late. C. were running late, and needed to hurry.   Then the researchers put someone in their path in need of help.  The person was in a narrow passage, which meant the student had to step over the person to get to where they needed to go. 

Do you want to know what the students did? The majority who were early stopped to help.  Only half who were on time stopped to help.  And of those who were late, only 10% stopped to help. They were on their way to preach about the Good Samaritan!  It turned out their willingness to help had little to do with an innate quality, but a lot to do with how much time they thought they had.            

                Now you might be wondering why I am talking about the Good Samaritan when that was last week’s reading.  Today’s reading is about Martha and Mary.  It has nothing to do with the Good Samaritan.  That’s not true, because in the Gospel of Luke, the story of the Good Samaritan comes right before the story of Martha and Mary. The last sentence in the Good Samaritan is, “Go and do likewise.” Then we come right to today’s reading.

The author of the Gospel of Luke was intentional about how stories were grouped, which is why it’s always important to look at context when you are reading a specific passage.  The reading that we will hear next week is Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray using the Lord’s Prayer.  But before we put that all together, let’s look at Martha and Mary.

                Unfortunately this story has been interpreted in such a way as to create two basic archetypes for women.  Are you a Martha or are you a Mary?  Martha is the busy one always doing the work that needs to be done, the woman serving in 100 different ways, very busy but also underappreciated.  Mary is harder to characterize.  Presumably she is the one doing all the Bible studies, reading everything she can, maybe not cooking a healthy meal every night but still making sure no one starves.  But really we know very little of these women.  This is the only time Martha appears in the Gospel of Luke. There are several Mary’s in Luke, but it’s possible this Mary is only in this text, which means we know very little about either of them.

                One of the interesting things about Martha that we can glean just from this text, is that there is no mention of a husband, or any man taking care of her, which would have been unusual.  The Gospel says that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home.  If she was married, or living with her parents, Luke would have mentioned the man’s name, not her own.  She was an independent woman---not unheard of at this time, but also atypical.

At this point, Jesus would have been fairly well known in certain areas, and it was  a big deal to have him in one’s home. Is it really any wonder that Martha would be “worried and distracted by many things?”  Clearly Mary wasn’t helping her with the actual serving.  It’s appropriate that she would be frustrated by her sister just sitting at his feet and listening.

                Yet at the same time, it would seem that Jesus favors Mary’s demeanor over Martha’s. He says, “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.” This has led many to assume that Jesus was saying that Mary’s way of being was a better way of being, which is why this is an unpopular reading with the many people who identify with Martha. After all, Martha was the host and she had to  make sure that her guest was well cared for. 

                Is Jesus saying that he only wants people who listen and study his word to be his followers?  If so, what does that say about all the people who do the work and care for the people who need to be cared for?  Remember what came right before this story…the story of the Good Samaritan.  The last line was, “Go and do likewise.” There are times when action is required, like in the story of the Good Samaritan.  There are also times when we need to stop and listen. 

We don’t know what was going on with Martha but Jesus said that she was worried and distracted by many things…which means it was a little more than just her doing the basic things that were needed to care for her guests.  This was Jesus who was visiting.  He would have been fine with some bread and water.  But she was probably bustling around making sure everything looked nice, maybe providing more food than was necessary.  I know that happens when I have people over. I spend way too much time stressing over how things looks, worrying if there is enough food, if there is too much food, if it’s the right food.

                I think when we are in that headspace of making sure that things are just right, when we get preoccupied with the things that aren’t important, then we tend to miss what is really needed.  Those Princeton Seminary students who didn’t help the person in need weren’t cold hearted people.  They just had somewhere they had to be.  They were stressed about getting somewhere on time. They were probably so preoccupied with their own importance….the importance of sharing a sermon on the Good Samaritan, that they stepped over a person in need. 

                We don’t know how long Mary and Martha had to spend with Jesus, but my guess was there wasn’t a lot of time.  Jesus rarely stayed anywhere for more than a few days.  At this point, he probably only had a few more months before his crucifixion.  He didn’t care what kind of table Martha was setting….he needed people to hear his words.  He was trying to raise up disciples who could share his words when he was gone.  Perhaps Mary was a slacker who never helped.  However, I think the more likely answer was that she understood how special this time with Jesus was.  She sensed his urgency and knew that she had to absorb as much as she could with the little time they had with Jesus.

                Martha would have sensed this as well, if she had stopped to listen. But she was too preoccupied with her own business that she convinced herself she simply couldn’t stop.  She didn’t have time to stop and listen and to make it worse, she resented anyone else who did.

                When Jesus said, “There is need only of one thing” some commentators think that Jesus was literally talking about the food. Jesus was telling Martha, “I don’t need three courses…I just need one thing. Don’t waste your time with all these other things that you think I need.” So often we assume what others need, rather than just asking.

Consider all the times you have just done a little more than you had to do….but at the time, you just had to do all the things.  But you didn’t…did you? It’s so easy to convince ourselves that everything we do is so important that we don’t have time for compassion for the stranger.  We don’t have time to worship or pray. We don’t have time read the Bible.  Even as a minister, it’s so easy to get in that head space.  So please don’t feel bad if that is what you are experiencing. 

                If you look at the story of the Good Samaritan, Martha and Mary and then Jesus teaching his disciples to pray…what you will see is Jesus helping us with our priorities.  There are times when we have to act, when we need to help others and sometimes ourselves. We have to act.   There are times when we have to stop doing and start listening. We have to learn and listen. Then there are times when we need to pray and communicate with God.  Jesus isn’t saying that there is just one way we are supposed to be.  But he is saying that there is a time when we need to listen and a time when we need to act and the way we can figure that all out…is through prayer and contemplation.  

The good news is this…if you are here, or listening online, that you means you have set aside time for prayer and listening.  If you find yourself harried and just wondering how it will all get done….If you think your worth is determine by your work… I hope you can take a moment and tell yourself that all the stuff you are doing… is enough.  You are enough.

You can read more about the Princeton study here: My Favorite Psychology Study | Psychology Today