Scripture
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Sermon
There are a lot of Marys in scripture. A superabundance, you might say. The first of them is the prophet Miriam, the sister of Moses. She is the one who plays the timbrel and dances and sings after the Israelites have passed safely through the sea and escaped the Egyptian army. She also seems to bear some responsibility for the presence of water with the Israelites as they wander through the wilderness. Miriam is the Hebrew version of the name; Maria is the Greek version of Miriam, and in English we render it, Mary.
In the New Testament, of course, we have Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is highlighted in the stories of Jesus’ birth and death, and also shows up when the family is concerned about Jesus’ public behavior; and is present at Pentecost. Then there are other Marys—Mary the mother of James and Joseph, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary the mother of John Mark. Some of these Marys may, in fact, be the same person. We don’t know. There is another Mary whom Paul refers to in the letter to the Romans—she is, apparently, a hard worker. And, of course, there is Mary Magdalene. She is the disciple out of whom Jesus cast seven demons. She is also the chief witness to the resurrection. Her name may mean “Mary the Tower.”
There are a lot of Marys in scripture, and it’s hard to keep them all straight. It’s complicated.
Today we encounter the sisters Mary and Martha. We meet them in a moment of conflict and frustration. If these are the same Mary and Martha we meet in the gospel of John, when their brother Lazarus dies, they are Mary and Martha of Bethany. That’s a bigger “if” than you might expect, but today’s not the day to talk about that.
Today we are with these sisters, in this moment. Jesus has been traveling, slowly and deliberately, toward Jerusalem. He turns aside to a village, our passage tells us, and Martha warmly welcomes him. Martha, therefore, appears to be the head of this particular household. Martha is also the one who takes on the responsibility for hospitality. If Jesus is there, so are at least twelve of his closest friends, which means Martha feels called to put on a large spread for all these hungry men.
While Martha works, Jesus sits and teaches. This was a typical thing for rabbis to do—they would sit while imparting wisdom from scripture, and their disciples would sit at their feet and listen intently. Disciples are learners…they want to know everything their rabbi has to say. Everything. And Mary is one of those disciples. I don’t know whether that means Mary is inclined to follow Jesus on his journeys, but it’s a real possibility. We know from Luke’s earlier chapters that there were women who followed and learned and supported the work Jesus and the disciples did with their own money. Mary Magdalene was one of them. Is Mary of Bethany one of those women? It’s possible.
But today, that’s not the issue. Today the issue is: Martha is trying to prepare a meal for at least fifteen people, and she is the only one in the kitchen. She is distracted by many things—all the tasks that involves, maybe?—so she reaches out to Jesus for some help.
I think this is a familiar scenario to many of us. Whether we’re talking about memories of being the only one in the family who did the dishes/ laundry/ weeding/ you can fill in this blank; or whether we’re thinking of very current scenarios of bearing the burden of a busy household all by ourselves; or whether we are part of an overburdened committee where the 80-20 rule seems to apply (that’s when twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work)…Whatever your memories, whatever your current reality, many of us recognize ourselves somewhere in this picture.
Martha reaches out to Jesus for help. She wants him to tell Mary to help her. Notice, Martha is triangulating, she is not going directly to the person she wants to get the help from. That may be because she doesn’t want to interrupt Jesus’ teaching, but, she seems comfortable interrupting him to make this request. Whatever the case for her decision to approach him, it’s possible she is dismayed by his answer. I know for a fact that many people, especially woman, who read this story, are dismayed by Jesus’ answer to this woman, in this story.
After all, isn’t Jesus living a ministry of action? Yes, he teaches and preaches, and he also lays hands on people and heals them of all sorts of afflictions. He casts demons out of them. He feeds them when they are hungry. Last week, in this very same chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus told a parable about a man who acted as a neighbor by helping another man who’d been beaten and left for dead, while religious people walked on by without lending a hand. Isn’t that a life of action—much like Martha is trying to supply by her ministry of hospitality? I think the answer is yes.
Jesus says “Martha, Martha.” In scripture, it’s important when God calls people twice. Remember the burning bush, and God calling, “Moses, Moses”? Jesus does that here. The double call of God is a signal to the reader or listener that Jesus is going to tell Martha something important.
First, let’s note what Jesus doesn’t do: Jesus doesn’t tell Martha what she’s doing is unimportant, or even less important. Jesus doesn’t tell Martha to stop doing what she’s doing. Hospitality is a deep and important tradition in the Middle East, and as we have seen, Jesus and his disciples depend on hospitality, every day.
Here’s what Jesus says—and the narrator says it too, just to make sure we don’t miss it. He says, “You are distracted by many things.”
Let’s ponder that. How many of us get distracted by many things? This may just be me, but do any of you ever start to do one task, go into another room to, say, finish that task, and then get distracted by something else you decide to do there? I have done this to the tune of 6 or more distractions, and in the end, found out I never finished the first task. This is one issue that some of us may have.
Now, how many of us can be distracted from doing something we really want to do—like, say our morning walk? Or keeping an attitude of gratitude throughout the day? Or making an important phone call? We can be distracted from doing things that are important to us. We can be distracted from paying attention to people who are important to us.
I believe Jesus is saying, Focus on the main thing.” What in this scenario, is the main thing? That would be Jesus. Jesus is in their home. This is not an everyday event. But it is an event that is happening now. This isn’t about Mary doing something better than what Martha is doing. Both are good. Neither is bad. This is about Martha getting distracted by someone else’s behavior, when the focus of everything should be on Jesus. As in, I’m making this meal because Jesus is here.
Jesus saying, “Mary has chosen the better part,” is doesn’t mean that Mary listening to Jesus is better than Martha cooking his dinner. Mary has chosen to keep her focus on God… which Martha probably started with, but got distracted from.
I found this next story earlier in the week and knew I had to share it with you:
There is a famous legend told about Martha of Bethany that was popular in the Middle Ages. In this story, which takes place after the resurrection of Jesus, she becomes a traveling preacher and ends up in a small town in France that, unfortunately, has a chronic dragon problem. She manages to slay the dragon and, in doing so, wins the whole town over to Christianity. In that same story, her sister Mary, on that same trip, ends up starting a monastery in the wilderness, meaning they both live out the roles assigned to them in Christian history: Martha acts and Mary studies. Martha represents an active faith, while Mary represents a contemplative faith.
Both are good. Neither is bad. Whatever way we feel called to live out our faith is good. We may live it out by spending our lives focused on scripture and prayer; we may feel called to live out our lives focused on helping God’s children who are in need. Both of these are the work of devoted disciples. Mary chose to listen and Martha chose to host, and both of these are faithful callings. We just have to keep our focus on what matters most: the God whose word we’re listening to, and whose lovingkindness we are striving to embody.
Thanks be to God. Amen.