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

November 24, 2013: Colossians 1:11-20

Year C, Last Sunday after Pentecost                                      

 

 

      One of the most inspiring people I ever known was a woman named Roxie.  There were a couple of things I loved about Roxie.  The first was that she came to every funeral.  Whether she knew the person or not, she was there.   Whenever I mentioned it, she would act like it was no big deal. I mean, why wouldn’t she go to every funeral?  She was a tiny woman but feisty.  She had been a teacher for decades and I don’t think people often crossed her.  But what I admired most about Roxie was her ability to be grateful for almost anything and everything.   Every time I visited her, she talked about how thankful she was about everything in her life.  I can still feel her gripping my hand telling me, “I’m just so thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful.” 

            It is no surprise that I would think about Roxie so close to Thanksgiving.   But it was not Thanksgiving that reminded me of her, it was the reading from Colossians.  Paul, another rather feisty individual, started most of his letters with a prayer of thanksgiving, either for the community or the person to whom he was writing. The New Testament mentions some form of thanksgiving approximately 62 times and Paul accounts for ¾ of those references.  Colossians is no exception.  In verse 11 he wrote, “May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”   

A lot of times Christians are criticized for our emphasis on the afterlife. Critics claim that it’s a lot easier to talk about life after death and the joys that will come in paradise, rather than dealing with the difficulties of the present life.   It probably sounds like that is what Paul was talking about when he referred to “the inheritance of the saints in light.”  Inheritance clearly means heaven and saints are the good Christians who have died and attained a place in heaven. Everyone knows that. 

Well, most people probably think that.  You don’t have to die to become a saint.  When Paul used the word saint, he was almost always referring to those who were alive.  According to Paul, all of us who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ are called to be saints and worthy to not only be children of God, but saints of God.   Not only are saints alive, but they are not necessarily perfect or sinless.  It’s not just for the upper echelon of Christians.  So if we can be saints now, then we can also share in the inheritance now.  The inheritance doesn’t take the form of a trust fund.  The inheritance is redemption and forgiveness.  It is unlimited potential and hope. This is not some future glory that Paul is giving thanks for; this is the here and now. 

I find this to be both comforting and a little terrifying.  If I am already a saint and am already sharing in this glorious inheritance, then there is not a lot of room for excuses.  While Paul starts his letter to the Colossians with a pep talk worthy of a Joel Osteen sermon, he ends with, “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains.  Grace be with you.”   It was common for people to use scribes to write letters during this time period.  However Paul was probably in prison at the time, so he had to write with his own hand.  My theory was that this statement was a bit of a challenge/guilt trip.  He was saying: If I can spread the Gospel and do my part while in prison, surely you all can do likewise as people who are free.

Paul was never afraid of providing a challenge, even to people who probably did not feel like saints.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like a saint most of the time, even Paul’s definition of it.  There are times when I would rather not call on Jesus Christ because while Jesus loves all people, he also has high expectations of the saints of light because we have been given so much.   Jesus gave every part of himself not only in his death and resurrection, but in the way he lived.  He freed us from the power of darkness.  While that can be a profoundly liberating experience, I think sometimes it is easier to hide in the darkness and pretend that we are not strong enough, wise enough, good enough to be saints of God.  It is a lot less risky to stay in the dark. 

            Paul knew that we would have those fears because he had experienced them himself.  That is why his prayer for the Colossians and for all of us was “to be made strong with the strength that comes from Jesus’ glorious power.”  We don’t have to depend on our own strength because Jesus provides us with an unlimited bounty of strength, wisdom and goodness.  The question for all of us then is what do we do with that unlimited bounty?

            For starters, we acknowledge it and give thanks for it.  We don’t have to be specific about it because we might not always feel like we have an abundance.  We might not even know what we are giving thanks for.  What I loved about Roxie was that most of the time when she was saying how thankful she was, she was not connecting it to anything specific.  She was just thankful.   I think maybe that is why she came to all the funerals because she was so very thankful for life, for the very basics.  How often do we thank God for just giving us life? Not often enough.

            I hope it is not a surprise to you all that today is Stewardship Sunday…also called Pledge Sunday or Celebration Sunday.  It is a day when we focus not on what we need but what we have.  We focus not on the scarcity that demands so much of our attention, but the many gifts that we so frequently overlook.  We give out of thanks, not out of fear.  We give not because we love St. John’s, but because God’s love for us is so abundant that we have to share it in some way, some form.  We all share in the same inheritance.  In our giving, we are acknowledging that inheritance.  We are thanking God for letting us be saints of light.  It’s time to claim our freedom from the darkness.